Margali's Griffin Wood Ranch

[Ridgetop]

How old is Hera? If you bring her into the house yard will she stay there? Let her bond to your kids in the back yard.

Since she tends to dig out, I would make sure the fence bottom wire is staked into the ground. If you have old tree trunks or limbs, they can be used to anchor the fence bottoms. Buy a small roll of chain link fencing and take 3' pieces of it to anchior the fence bottims. Turn the chain link on its side so it relaxes like a piece of cloth to cover the bottom of the fencing. Attach the chain link to the fencing wire and spread it into the pasture. Then attach the bottom of the chain link into the ground with either dirt on top of it, logs, concrete blocks, or weed cloth wires (they look like giant wire hairpins). You can also sow grass seed on top of the dirt. Eventually the roots will hold the chain link strongly in place. I plan to use blackberry vines. The sheep will eat the bushes when they get too large, and you can pick the berries. You plnt the first bush and chop some of the vines off into smaller lengths then plant those. They will root and spread along the fence line giving yoi a natural thorny fence as well as anchoring the chain link to the ground..

Rika is 10 now and has semi-retired herself from guarding in the pasture. She trained 3 others and now prefers to stay by the house. In fact, if the weather is too hot she likes the cookl tile floor in the kitchen. In her prime she never would come in the house during the day when on duty. She would agree to come at night when the sheep were put up, but only stayed in for about 2 hours then would go back out to patrol. Now, she has signaled she is semi-retired. If a predator came in she would snap into LGD mode, but for now she has 2 younger dogs doing the major part of her duties.

Sounds like a true bond was never really completed with you and your sheep. Got started but fizzled out for whatever reason.

Absolutely. Leo is another problem. His earlier experiences and training (lack of) make him a poor candidate for a sheep guardian. I would suggest rehoming him. Since he seems to be the wanderer, enticing Hera to follow him out and away from the pasture, get rid of him and she may settle down.

 

[Ridgetop]

She was a working LGD on the Howell's farm with a group of several dogs to cover the couple hundred sheep. I don't know if it heartbreak from leaving the Howells or what... she doesn't want to engage with or stay with the sheep. She barely tolerates me and the kids.

Rereading your post - if there were that many sheep, and that many LGDs, it is possible that the munber of predators there were much higher than what you have. She may be bored watching a smaller number of sheep with fewer predators. If she is bored, she may be leaving the property for that reason. Once you get rid of Leo, she may adjust to the number of sheep you and the number of predators you have. Some Anatolians are not as people oriented as others. For tht reason she may not have bonded to you, the family and the flock. If there were other LGDs working on that ranch, she may not have been as good an LGD there either. The owners would not have know that since they had a lot of sheep and multiple dogs. It is possible you may need to rehome her as well.

The number of predators is what determines the number of LGDs you need, not the number of sheep or acreage. In Texas there are lots of coyotes but not that many surrounding our 45 acre ranch. We only hear them occasionally in TX. In California we had 3 coyote packs right outside the fenced 6 acres singing every night. We also had the occasional cougar and bear wandering into the neighborhoods. In Texas we have miles of open pasture/hay area around us. In CA we had 100 acres of open area behind us, but across several neighborhood streets we have the Tujunga Wash leading into the Angeles National Forest and into the mountains. For some reason we seemed to have more coyotes in our area in CA, probably because city coyotes have more to eat with fruit trees, garbage, pets, and willingness to live closer to humans. Maybe because there is more wild stuff to catch in the miles of hayfields around us in NE Texas, they don't come in after the sheep with the dogs.

Sorry you are having this much trouble with your LGDs.

 

[Margali]

The creek at back of my property is a major pathway for the coyotes and feral dog packs per sheriff's office and coyote hunters. The area is also building up rapidly in the last 3 years I've lived here unfortunately. Coyotes have been spotted in downtown. They regularly come into properties backing up to the creeks attacking pets.

I have 12 ewes right now aiming for 16 - 20 total. The attacks I've witnessed were trios of stray / feral dogs. I also lost a week old lamb between lunch time and about an hour after sunset to unknown predator. So I thought one senior LGD with some mobility issues and a trainee was about right.

 

[Ridgetop]

With good fences you should be ok with just one trained dog. Particularly if she doesn't leave the property. She should be patrolling the creek area at night and early morning. If she doesn't think it is safe, she will round up the sheep and move them away from the creek. If she is leaving the sheep and property even with the coyotes there, that is a problem.

 

[Margali]

@Ridgetop Hera left property a couple of times while sheep were out grazing. More often she would stay in sheep while they were 300ft away. The long wanders were mostly overnight while sheep put up.

 

[Ridgetop]

At night she realizes the sheep are safe afterthey are put up in the night pen. Can you bring her into the fenced back yard near the house at night?

It sounds like she got bored at night afterthe sheep- were locked up. After patrolling several hundred sheep on a large property she may have decided she didn't have enough to do when they were confined in the shed.

Getting rid of Leo would be the first step. Then see if she remains with the sheep again.

 

[Ridgetop]

You can call Erick for suggestions too. He is a great guy and very helpful. He wants everyone to be successful with their Anatolians.

 

[Margali]

All 4 posts are concreted in for water tower upgrade. Important because current height is low enough for no flow once tank is down to half. It's a combo of slopes and minimal pressure needed to go thru auto waterers. Top of the posts will be about tote water level in current pic. Still need to screw in 2×8 rails to hold tote, diagonal bracing, toe, and top rails.

 

[Margali]

2×8 ledger boards in and first deck boards cut. It ended up sloped slightly to west (right) in picture since I only have a 2ft level and no help. It will help tote drain completely oh well.

 

[Baymule]

I think you have done an awesome job. Looks good to me! And it will work for what you want it to do.