Livestock Guardian Dog
Blog Entries
We have created this blog categorization system as a way to organize and preserve the daily blogs written about our farming life. We hope you find this categorization system helpful.
The following blog entries are all related in some way to the topic of livestock guardian dogs. They may cover any one or more of the following topics:
predator control
care, feeding and housing
training
behavior and behavioral challenges
regulations and liability
dog/livestock interactions
Or they may simply be essays about some aspect of keeping livestock guardian dogs. We hope you find something useful here, or at least some pleasant reading.
If there is some way we can improve our archiving system, please Contact Us and we'll take your recommendations into consideration.
Enjoy!
Team Anatolian
April 4, 2011
Preview for this blog entry:
"We’ve had livestock guardian dogs for several years now. And the longer we have them, the more we learn about all the different skills, and challenges, they offer us. Like any valued friend, family member, colleague or employee, it’s usually a mixed bag.
Sometime last week, as the weather finally broke for a few nice days of warm sunny conditions, the goats did something they do every spring. Namely, they found a weak spot in the fence and went for a walk. Unfortunately for their ambitions, they met up with two of our Anatolian Shepherds, who knew they weren’t supposed to be out and about..."
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
Pamuk
February 24, 2011
Preview for this blog entry:
"This month has been busier than usual (and February is the start of the busy season around here), because of a new project. We have agreed to once again take in an Anatolian Shepherd dog as part of our work with the National Anatolian Shepherd Rescue Network (NASRN). It’s a huge responsibility, not merely because of the size of the dog, but also because of the size of the commitment..."
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
Predator Control
January 30, 2011
Preview of this blog entry:
"During the wee hours this morning, one of our three livestock guardian dogs sounded off. Within a few heartbeats, the other livestock guardian dogs had added their barking to the song. Which could only mean one thing - something was on the farm that shouldn't be. I hastily put on some clothes in the dark bedroom, stumbled to the back door, shoved on my mudboots and thankfully remembered to grab a flashlight. While I had been putting on clothing, the dogs not only continued to bark but all the chickens began sounding off with alarm calls of their own..."
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
Bad Days and Good Dogs
January 17, 2011
Preview of this blog entry:
"Today I had one of those days where nothing went right. Well, almost nothing.
There's a sense amongst urban folks (and I used to be one of them) that life on the farm is easy. Pleasant. Relaxed. Lemonade under a shady tree, baby animals bouncing around green pastures (perfectly fenced and clipped), and laser-straight rows of corn, tasseling out under a perfect July sky. While that occassionally happens, there are also days when the weather is terrible, the animals have gotten out, the crops aren't doing well for whatever reason and that alarm clock goes off way too early (or the day stretches way too late). Happily, most days on the farm are somewhere in between those two extremes. But today I spent most of the day towards the "this is not a good day" end of the spectrum..."
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
Our Successful Farming and Ranching Books
We released our very first self-published book. The Chicken Coop Manual in 2014. It is a full color guide to conventional and alternative poultry housing options, including 8 conventional stud construction plans, 12 alternative housing methods, and almost 20 different design features. This book is available on Amazon.com and as a PDF download. Please visit The Chicken Coop Manual page for more information.
Rabbit Colonies: Lessons Learned
We started with rabbits in 2002, and we've been experimenting with colony management ever since. Fast forward to 2017, when I decided to write another book, this time about colony management. The book is chock-full of practical information, and is available from both Amazon and as a PDF download. Please visit the Rabbit Colonies page for more information.
The Pastured Pig Handbook
We are currently working on our next self-published book: The Pastured Pig Handbook. This particular book addresses a profitable, popular and successful hog management approach which sadly is not yet well documented. Our handbook, will cover all the various issues involved with pastured hog management, including case studies of numerous current pastured pig operations. If you have any questions about this book, please Contact Us.
Weblog Archives
We published a farm blog between January 2011 and April 2012. We reluctantly ceased writing them due to time constraints, and we hope to begin writing them again someday. In the meantime, we offer a Weblog Archive so that readers can access past blog articles at any time.
If and when we return to writing blogs, we'll post that news here. Until then, happy reading!