Predator control

animal and mechanical methods for keeping your flock safe

What’s it all about, Alfie? Remembering our gentle giant

What’s it all about, Alfie? Remembering our gentle giant

We were minding our own business in May 2012 when the breeder of our LGDs called, asking us to buy a six-week old male puppy who had tested as bold, fearless, stubborn and unusually assertive. The breeder thought the puppy needed experienced Anatolian owners to manage his outsized personality in what would become his outsized […]

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Livestock Guardian Dogs For Your Flock: A Pictorial Primer

Livestock Guardian Dogs For Your Flock: A Pictorial Primer

I leave my Soay flock to their own devices today in order to talk about an essential part of any heritage sheep operation – predator control. For today’s essay, livestock guardian dogs, or LGDs. In the last 14 years, we have acquired nine LGDs: two mixed Maremma/Anatolian/Great Pyrenees and then a wonderful succession of seven […]

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The 2016 Soay Shepherd’s Christmas Wish List

The 2016 Soay Shepherd’s Christmas Wish List

With both the World Series and the election almost over, it’s time to start thinking about that special Soay shepherd on your Christmas list. The last time I made gift suggestions here was several years ago, so I guess an update is overdue. Disclaimer: everything on this list is a personal favorite of mine. I […]

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Vespers on a Soay sheep farm: sweet music to our ears

Vespers on a Soay sheep farm: sweet music to our ears

Our indispensable livestock guardian dogs are an endless source of delight and amazement, and never more so than in the late afternoon when they provide a brief recital that echoes across our Little Applegate River Valley. It is so lovely and so sweet we have dubbed it “Vespers.” Let me explain. We have six Anatolian […]

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A farewell tribute to Hank, guardian llama for our heritage sheep

A farewell tribute to Hank, guardian llama for our heritage sheep

Our junior llama, Hank, went to a new home a few days ago and we owe him one more blog post before he fades from our collective memory. Never as storied as his mother Llucy, Hank simply hung out with our British Soay rams in the bull pen and kept them safe from the ever-present […]

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Happy Birthday, Hank!

Happy Birthday, Hank!

We occasionally pause in our lives as Soay shepherds to celebrate notable anniversaries or milestones, this time the eighth birthday of our guardian llama Hank, and to recall how dumb, and dumbfounded, we were when he arrived on our farm. Let me explain. Shortly after we began our heritage sheep adventure, we fell heir to […]

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