Meet Judge, Our New Livestock Guardian Dog!
Last month, we traveled up to Lachenbock Farm in La Fayette, Georgia to purchase our Great Pyrenees puppy, Judge!
Judge was raised with goats, but we have carefully worked on integrating him with our other farm animals. Since he was only 10 weeks old when we introduced him to the chickens, the rabbits, and the horse, he has done extremely well.
Guardian dogs are a must for a farm of any size. We cannot tell you just how thankful we are for our two Australian Shepherds, which have done an incredible job protecting our farm from predators, but since our farm continues to expand, we realized that we needed more "paws on deck"! We have worked with countless families who have lost animals to predators and garden produce to deer. They are shocked when they hear that we have never experienced this. We firmly believe that our success is due to the work of our guardian dogs. Last summer, a young family came to us to purchase two Nigerian Dwarf goat babies. In the course of conversation, they told us that they had lost all of their 30 chickens to predators. We were immediately concerned about the safety of the 8-week-old goats they wanted (which aren't much bigger than chickens!). We happened to be fostering two guardian dogs at the time and strongly encouraged them to adopt one. They agreed, with some reluctance. They brought the guardian dog and the baby goats to their home on the same day. The very next morning, when they went out to feed their new pets, they saw where a fox had tried to dig into the goats' pen. It was obvious that it had not been able to get in. This family was a little shaken, but completely thrilled with their guardian dog! They realized that they could now successfully raise chickens!
How do you pick just one?!
Luke & Judge
On the drive to his new home.
Judge was raised with goats, but we have carefully worked on integrating him with our other farm animals. Since he was only 10 weeks old when we introduced him to the chickens, the rabbits, and the horse, he has done extremely well.
Going to help with the milking for the first time!
Cloud & Judge
Learning his job.
Guardian dogs are a must for a farm of any size. We cannot tell you just how thankful we are for our two Australian Shepherds, which have done an incredible job protecting our farm from predators, but since our farm continues to expand, we realized that we needed more "paws on deck"! We have worked with countless families who have lost animals to predators and garden produce to deer. They are shocked when they hear that we have never experienced this. We firmly believe that our success is due to the work of our guardian dogs. Last summer, a young family came to us to purchase two Nigerian Dwarf goat babies. In the course of conversation, they told us that they had lost all of their 30 chickens to predators. We were immediately concerned about the safety of the 8-week-old goats they wanted (which aren't much bigger than chickens!). We happened to be fostering two guardian dogs at the time and strongly encouraged them to adopt one. They agreed, with some reluctance. They brought the guardian dog and the baby goats to their home on the same day. The very next morning, when they went out to feed their new pets, they saw where a fox had tried to dig into the goats' pen. It was obvious that it had not been able to get in. This family was a little shaken, but completely thrilled with their guardian dog! They realized that they could now successfully raise chickens!
Young, but serious.
Judge will be around 120 pounds at maturity...we are enjoying every pound!
Comments
Post a Comment