Animal to Protect Herd: Choosing a Livestock Guardian

By Sue Weaver
Updated on January 29, 2024
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by Adobestock/Reinhard Tiburzy

Looking for an animal to protect herds? One of the best ways to protect against predators is to keep a livestock guardian or two.

Livestock owners everywhere agree: It’s a heartbreaking, financial disaster when predators raid your flocks and herds and kill your animal friends. Predators are everywhere, from free-roaming suburban dogs to packs of ubiquitous coyotes to mountain lions in up-country meadows, and they all pose a threat to miniature livestock. One of the best ways to protect against predators is to keep a livestock guardian or two.

USDA Statistics Tell the Tale

Consider losses among full-size sheep and goats. The United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) keeps track of what kills American sheep and goats and periodically publishes findings in a report titled “Sheep and Goats Death Loss.” According to the report, predators killed 280,000 sheep and goats during 2004, accounting for slightly more than 37 percent of each species that died of all causes that year! These sheep and goats were killed mainly by coyotes (more than 60 percent of the total) but also by dogs, mountain lions, bears, foxes, eagles, bobcats, and other species (among them wolves, ravens, and black vultures).

Predation is a serious problem, and one you’ll have to address in order to raise small livestock anywhere in North America — even in relatively populated areas, where dog predation poses a serious risk.

When NASS surveyed sheep and goat producers to ask how they managed predation in 2004, almost 53 percent indicated they relied at least in part on predator-proof fencing; 33 percent also penned their stock at night; and 55 percent kept livestock guardian animals with their flocks and herds.

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