posted 8 years ago
I choose not to have any Livestock Guard Dogs even though I have a considerable amount of sheep, quite a bit of land, and live in Maine that has the biggest coyotes in the nation size wise.
Why?
I simply do not need them at this point. The cost of Livestock Guard Dogs is rather expensive when you calculate in the cost or having them in relation to what they are protecting and what I have for losses. A sheep is worth $150 after all, a chicken $10 and a duck $5. In 9 years of having sheep, I have lost 1 lamb to predation, and that was by a crow. A Livestock Guard Dog would not have prevented that. Instead I rely on good fences which not only keep my sheep in, they keep coyotes out. So for the money, that fence gets double duty and deducted over its 30 year life span, it is extremely cheap. If I am going to have to install a fence, I minds well make it a better one and just eliminate the hassles of having a livestock guard dog altogether.
I do not think realistically I can ward of predators with a gun, but I do have a wonderful relationship with my local hunters. Not only do they get my dead livestock for use as coyote bait, they are allowed and encouraged to hunt coyotes here. When I found out they had to take roads some 3 miles around in their hunting of coyotes, I took my bulldozer and built a road across my farm so they could get from spot a to spot b so much quicker, and for that they always start hunting for coyotes here first. Now I say coyotes because I do not allow deer hunting. That is because coyotes are rather lazy and only get what is easy. The more venison they dine on, the less interested they are in lamb. Add in an almost unpenetrable fence and they are limited to finding food elsewhere.
On my farm every animal has to earn its keep, so I honestly never envision myself having a livestock guard dog. I MIGHT (though I doubt it) have a livestock guard animal at some point, it would probably be a donkey. Not only do they eat similar feed as sheep, their long lives (50 years versus the 8 working years of a dog) makes them a lower cost in the long run.