Livestock Guardian Dogs Protect a Kansas Flock

Reader Contribution by Carolyn Welch
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After 10 years of relatively calm, successful lambing seasons, last year brought calamity to our Kansas farm, Rancho Cappuccino, in the form of the coyote. For a decade, we had tolerated the occasional loss of a small or weak lamb, figuring that the coyotes were here first and that they had a right to make their living off the land as well.

A year ago, however, they started hunting in a pack, digging large holes under our fences faster than we could block them, and picking off our lambs at a ferocious rate. We lost 40 percent of them (about 2 dozen lambs), and the predation continued for months. Even sizable young rams with horns were taken.

We had no interest in shooting the coyotes. A friend recommended the application of wolf urine to the perimeter of our property, so I got online and bought a pint of the foul-smelling stuff. I spent the better part of a Saturday diligently dribbling a little on each and every fencepost. It didn’t work.

Our next line of defense was a livestock guardian dog. After many inquiries, we heard from a woman who had sold her flock in anticipation of a move, and whose 2-year-old Great Pyrenees, Sam, needed a new home. “Maybe you should bring some tranquilizers”, she said on the phone. “He weighs 175 pounds.”

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