RE: A break between cloudbursts to enjoy some sunshine... ♥ @WalkWithMe
I'd love to free range our chickens and ducks, but between our resident foxes, coyotes and bobcats, and our own dog, ummmm . . . no. I'm too focused on them living out the night to experiment with their lives.
Our neighbor to the north has a huge Catalpa tree in her front yard, which she hates, but Marek and I have been wanting to get seedlings for a while now, so that we can plant a few by the river to use the caterpillars as fishing bait.
And the suckers are huge - a good two inches long, and there are tons of them. I hadn't thought about planting the trees in the barnyard, but it's a great idea, so thanks for that. Nothing like free protein to help boost egg production!
Judging by my neighbor's experience, make sure that you plant them where you won't be parking vehicles or equipment, as the caterpillars exude a sticky substance that covers everything.
Wow! Someone who actually knows what a catalpa tree is! Every time I mention it, I get blank looks... Yes, we have them planted far away from any vehicles or buildings. That's the main thing we want it for, free protein for the chickens. We dont fish too often, but Im sure we will try them as bait when we do. ;)
We are lucky to not really have predator problems where we are at. We have a chain link fence around all our property, which helps a lot, and are surrounded by neighbors, which I do not like, (the neighbors are okay, I guess, I just would rather be isolated), which keeps them at bay, I supposed. There are bobcats, hawks, foxes etc, around here, but they never bother us. Ive got our dog trained, too, so I am really lucky, predator-wise. ;)
Yeah, my neighbor is from around here, and calls them "Tobbie" trees (not sure what spelling they use), so it took me a while to find out the actual name, but I finally did. They are all around here, but we've yet to spot one on our place, so I'm planning to beg a few seedlings from them soon, which she'll be more than happy to get rid of.
The tree is actually quite pretty, and is a legume so fixes nitrogen, but she doesn't like it because of how ragged it looks at the height of caterpillar activity, not to mention the caterpillars being everywhere. ;-)
We've been lucky regarding predators, as we've yet to have any animal lost to a wild predator, though we did lose a guinea pig to one of our cats, and one of our breeding Silver Fox does to our dog.
Both losses were on me, though, not our dog and cat, as it was my responsibility to make certain their cages were properly secured, in which case they wouldn't have escaped in the first place. Neither of our domestic predators got punished for their "crimes."
That said, we're currently saving/raising funds for better housing for all our animals, including the cross fencing, movable tractors for our rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens, and enlarging (and making taller) the enclosure for our ducks.
Once we have a substantial number of them, I'll allow a couple of dozen to free range in the woods, as Muscovies are pretty good at surviving predators, but I definitely want to fence off a sizeable area to keep out the foxes, coyotes and stray dogs first.
As for bobcats and the occasional cougar, wolf or bear, if any, hey, we tried. I'm not putting up a 13' bear-proof fence. And bobcats will be able to climb up any tall tree and jump over, so we'll just have to deter them as well as possible with the solar powered flashing lights, and similar deterrents.
I guarantee that livestock guardians will be in our future, whether they are Great Pyrenees or similar breeds, or llamas, donkeys or camels. A friend of mine had a black bear come on her place when she was gone, when she was raising sheep and alpacas, and her neighbor caught on camera her guard llama chasing the bear away. I'd love to have seen that! ;-)
Oh wow! A llama chasing away a BEAR?! How crazy is that?!
Livestock guardian dogs are something Ive been interested in for a while now, but at the moment we don't have enough land or animals to make it worthwhile. I am hoping for more land in the future though, and to expand my goat herd, and when that time comes, Ill put some serious thought into a livestock guardian of some type. Sounds like llamas can also be very effective! :D
Yeah, I know - wouldn't you just love to see the video? Hilarious!
A lot of people in our neck of the woods use donkeys, as they are very territorial, but generally get along well with other herding animals. But they have also been known to scare off predators much larger than themselves.
And a camel or llama isn't out of the question, especially since I've recently learned of the many health benefits of camelid milk.
What we would ultimately like to have are Polish Owcharkas, aka Tatra Mountain Sheep Dogs, which are long-haired, all white and resemble Great Pyrenees; but tend to be friendlier and not as standoffish with new people. Though, like any good LGD breed, they won't tolerate strangers near the animals in their charge without the owners present.
For that reason, they were almost extinguished as a breed during WWII, as they tried to protect their families and villages as invading forces came through, and were slaughtered for their efforts. They remain quite rare today, even in Poland, though they are highly regarded throughout Europe.
Which is why we don't have them yet, because extreme rarity equates to quite expensive, and there are so few currently in the States that I'm concerned about inbreeding.
When we do get them, we will bring unrelated dogs directly from Poland, which will bring much-needed new blood into the American breeding lines. They are an amazing breed, and I would like to help perpetuate them, so their genetics are not diluted and/or lost.
In the meantime, we will probably wind up with a couple working stock Pyrenees, which are common where we are, and considerably more reasonably priced. They do tend to wander though, as a breed, so we need our barn fence repaired or replaced first.
I'm hoping to get a seasoned working pair, already used to free ranging chickens and other fowl, from a farm that is downsizing. Perhaps they can teach Lolo some manners around the smaller animals, or at least respect, so he'll leave them alone. ;-)
Good luck finding the perfect dogs for your farm!
The ovcharkas sound fantastic. I have seen photos of them in some LGD facebook groups, and they look amazing.
Good on you wanting to keep the breed from being diluted, and keep it high quality. Many people nowadays just breed dogs willy nilly and do not care about what they are even breeding.
Roaming is one of the issues that concerns me. I keep hearing about peoples' LGS leaping or digging out and roaming around, which does make sense, being that the dogs feel like protecting a larger territory than what the humans generally give them... Not an issue I would look forward to dealing with though.
I hope you post about the dogs whenever you do get some! I would love to follow along and see how it goes for you!
Yeah, we came close a couple of years ago, when our neighbor's dog across the street had pups, and one of the females developed a crush on Lolo, which was mutual. They were hilarious together.
They had sheep, and she followed me to the barn a couple of times, and got to know the goats. But, by the time I got a chance to talk to him, he had already found her a home. Sigh.
If we fence the barn for deer, at seven feet, it will keep the dogs in too.
Oh how disappointing about the pup! :(
Yes, I would hope 7ft would work, for jumping anyway. Our is only 5 and I know a LGD could fly over that... A lot of people put a strand of electric around the bottom to prevent digging out. A lot of work, but potentially worth it if predators are an issue...
Yeah, nearly all our neighbors have electric wire around the base.
Seems to be the done thing around here.