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WE ARE ALL ABOUT SHARING! TOGETHER WE ARE TRANSITIONING TO THE FUTURE OF FARMING.

Here Abby and Jake from the Applecreek Farm in Bowdoinham, Maine share  ~

We’re adding a new member of our farm team for this season. In the job description you’ll find requirements such as an attention to detail, a big bark, a thick coat and an ability to work from 6 pm to 5 am daily.

Who is this new employee? A Great Pyrennes pup! She’s been raised alongside goats and chickens at a farmstead in Massachusetts and will be joining us in March. This photo of the whole litter (below) may give you the same sense of excitement we have!

Our new girl will have her work cut out for her. Our latest blog post entitled, Who Else Lives on the Farm is about some of the other critters that call Apple Creek home and the recent uninvited guests who have been calling up on our hens! We have plenty of land and it can support an abundance of wildlife, but we’re finding it more and more challenging to ensure our animals stay safe while enjoying the great outdoors.

As you know our broilers, laying hens and turkeys are outside every day and while this is critical to our farming philosophy and their innate desires — it makes them susceptible to predation. Our new pup will be trained as an LGD or Livestock Guardian Dog in order to spend her days (and nights) patrolling the fields and deterring owls, hawks and other would-be predators. In doing so we’ll have happy, healthy animals that thrive outdoors and we’ll sleep better at night knowing everyone is safe.

This is the case we made to Food Animal Concerns Trust, FACT as part of our application for their Fund-A-Farmer grant. I’m happy to report they agreed! The grant award will offset the purchase and first year “start-up” expenses of our new canine. This is our second grant award, our first helped us install water lines in two of our fields ensuring clean, fresh water for all animals.

www.applecreekfarm.me

This is Otto and his human partner

He lives in Maine in the United States. But his ancestors are from Turkey. They have for centuries been the guardians of sheep, working alongside their shepherds.  Sharing here a short video of the life they continue to live there. Note the relationship they have with their shepherds, and how the very young pups are incorporated into the flock along with their adult companions. Note the spiked collars the adult dogs wear for their protection.   Click below:

video

Wanting to share a true life happening that took place last week during the destructive California fires

ODIN a Great Pyrenees guardian dog refused to leave the baby goats he had been guarding, despite the explosions, heat, and the fast moving fire that forced his family to evacuate. The family returned, finding their way past police barricades and still dangerous areas, intent on seeking Odin and the goats…..with thoughts that they were all lost to the fire.  But once back they found Odin weak, whiskers singed, limping, his white fur all yellow and burned paws with the small goats surrounding him. Not only that…..young deer sought Odin’s protection as well.

THIS IS THE COURAGE OF GUARDIAN DOGS. THY WILL SACRIFICE THEIR LIVES FOR THOSE THEY ARE TO PROTECT.

*Odin will have a full recovery, thanks to his caring family

OUR FARMERS ARE DAILY NEEDING TO LEARN THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS TO CARE FOR AND SUPPORT

GUARDIAN DOGS IN THE IMPORTANT ROLE THEY PLAY

Below is a link to a valuable facebook group “Learning about LGDs”  Very experienced breeders and long time owners of these guardians often answer questions that are posed. One of those is Jan Dohner, who we have highlighted here on our Network.  It is good to have a place to go to support each other.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LearningAboutLGDs/806443969441053/?notif_t=group_comment_reply