Hello from Montana!

Hi there, I am a longtime reader, but never actually joined the forums before. I have been raising animals outside Missoula, Montana since 2010 for both food and breeding stock. I have utilized livestock guardian dogs since the day I moved here with my little herd of expensive dairy goats, and they have proven my greatest investment in keeping my livestock and family safe from our many apex predators. I am married to a wonderful man who works to improve the property every year, and we have two boys who are growing more helpful by the day.

Since moving here, I have raised a little bit of everything. Currently I focus on Katahdin hair sheep (meat), Kunekune pigs (meat, breeding stock), laying hens(meat, eggs), a dairy cow(milk), and my working guardian dogs(keeping everything else alive and well). My animals pay their own way, and I work teaching people about livestock guardian dogs online. So often the same missteps are repeated by each new LGD owner, and my goal is to cut the learning cycle to a few weeks, rather than years of wasted efforts.

I look forward to interacting here on the forums!

Hello Missoula,
I lived in Missoula in 1994 during a National Student Exchange program at college and loved the area. I thought I might move back someday. Instead, I moved back home almost 2 years ago, which is eastern Oregon, where I bough 88 acres of sagebrush. I got excited when I saw your post because Missoula has a similar climate, dry (but maybe a few more trees) and thought we could learn from each other. I'd like to grow some dryland crops to feed my pigs or at least decrease feed I buy. Right now I have 1 Mama Pig who is due in about 10 days and 2 "babies" born in August. I'm about to  get 2 more gilts who will be ready to breed in April or May. My idea is to raise pasture pigs and chickens to improve soil and vegetation variety here.
-Heather