Saturday, June 11, 2011

Morning experience with our livestock guardians

I've debated on whether or not to write a post about the eventful morning we had, before we even began working the goats.  All I can do is be completely honest about our farm happenings in order for others to possibly learn from our experiences; bad or good. If blood makes you squeamish, I don't recommend reading any further.

Shane went out first thing this morning to bring the goats across the road to our working area so we would be able to get the kids separated from their dams and also get their weights.  I stayed in the house making breakfast and coffee to provide the "fuel" we would need for the day.  Of course, when we move our herds, our Anatolian ( livestock guardian dogs; LGD ) stay with the goats.  They stay with them wherever they go.  Shane got the goats across the road, moved into a small holding area, and left them to come home and get breakfast. 

On our way to the small holding pen, it was obvious from a distance that something had happened with the LGD's.  This is what Kimba looked like when we arrived. 

Kimba

We knew right away that Kimba had been in a brawl with Sinbad our other male Anatolian.  Kimba stays with our does, while Sinbad was in the adjacent field with our bucks.  We're not certain who started it, but there was evidence that they started fighting through the net fence and it carried on right on the other side, while tearing down the net fence.  You can only imagine what two 130lbs dogs fighting could do to a net fence.  We went to check on Sinbad and this is what he looked like. 

Sinbad
The reason that I am posting this is that I feel like we only need one intact male LGD on our farm or they should NEVER be close within eyesight of each other.  Even though they are in separate pastures, they sometimes are in close proximity to each other and it most always provokes a fight, even though there is always fencing separating them.  I'm not sure if this will solve the issue, but something has to be done.   We can't risk the chance of this happening again.

1 comment:

  1. Sigh.... Tough choices are just another part of farm life, but that doesn't make them any easier. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete

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