# Guard animals for different pastures



## meganannunziata (Apr 21, 2015)

I am just getting started with planning out our smaller homestead, and this is probably a really stupid question, but if we plan on breeding sheep, and having different paddocks for the rams and ewes, would we need a LGD for each paddock? Or how does this work? Sorry for the stupid question, just wanted to preplan!


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## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

That's no stupid question at all!
We have two LGDs and they jump fences to be where the protection is needed.


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## meganannunziata (Apr 21, 2015)

Awesome! good to know. Can I ask how high your fence is? What livestock do you have?Thank you SO much!!


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## aleefarms (Jul 23, 2014)

Meagan, my perimeter fence is 6 strand high tensile with one 16' x 4' gate. The dogs never jump the gate but had to be trained not too. My cross fences are 4 strand high tensile with 4' gates and the dogs jump back and forth when they see fit. They can also jump gates in the barn to get to their feed. I have sheep that do not jump so it is relatively easy to manage with this setup. A few years ago I had a Kangal and a Kiko Billy that would jump my 5' electric fence like a deer. You just need to plan your homestead accordingly.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

There is no such thing as a "dumb question". We all had to start as newbies. I've never raised sheep, only dairy goats; and I have only one LGD. My place is small, i.e. only 6 acres and I have it cross fenced. What I've done is to create what I call "doggie doors", being a V-shaped opening low on the fence that my dog can go thru and my grown goats cannot get thru. This has worked well. (I don't like to encourage my dogs, especially my LGD, to jump fencing as this type of dog has a tendancy to enlarge its guarding area. My Karakachan thinks she needs to protect the guineas who wonder around outside my homestead and this I'm constantly discouraging.)


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## evranch (Mar 23, 2014)

We have two Akbash acting as LGD for our 50 heads of sheep (plus 60 some lambs). When the sheep were on our home quarter, rotating between two pastures of 5 and 15 acres, the dogs easily run all the distance needed to protect everything within the home quarter perimeter. I think if your farm is small, having just one LGD will be enough, even if the animals are in separate paddocks. Our sheep are often scattered into 2 or more groups and the dogs are fast enough that they don't seem to care. Also, a lot of the LGD work is letting the predators know of their presence, by barking and by being a large aggressive canine. We have watched our LGD work, and at least for coyotes, it seems that just the dogs' deep growling bark while aggressively chasing towards the direction of the predator is enough to keep the coyotes at bay. Our dogs claim a territory a large radius from our farm and even our neighbors are protected.


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## PracFarmgirl (Jul 4, 2015)

Hey there, I'm new around here, but I've run LGDs for 5 years now. How many/where you have them should depend on your predator load and your area/flock size. 

Here, we have Wolf, Griz/Black Bear, and Cougar (plus their smaller cohorts). So it's pretty irresponsible to just run a single dog with stock and pray that we don't have any losses. Setting up functional working teams is paramount to running a successful LGD operation. 

You can make jump gates in your fencing for your dogs to get through to move between pastures unrestricted.


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## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

PracFarmgirl said:


> Hey there, I'm new around here, but I've run LGDs for 5 years now. How many/where you have them should depend on your predator load and your area/flock size.
> 
> Here, we have Wolf, Griz/Black Bear, and Cougar (plus their smaller cohorts). So it's pretty irresponsible to just run a single dog with stock and pray that we don't have any losses. Setting up functional working teams is paramount to running a successful LGD operation.
> 
> _*You can make jump gates in your fencing for your dogs to get through to move between pastures unrestricted.*_


Pics?


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

My sheep are small and don't jump. So I have short fencing to jump over and A frame coops the dogs use to climb over to other pastures. 

Google LGD gates. Tons of pics out there and lots of ideas.
Sometimes a triangle hole works, or a horse jump gate, where the horizontal blockage is wide, not tall. Doggie doors sometimes work and dark tunnels can work.


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## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

secuono said:


> My sheep are small and don't jump. So I have short fencing to jump over and A frame coops the dogs use to climb over to other pastures.
> 
> Google LGD gates. Tons of pics out there and lots of ideas.
> Sometimes a triangle hole works, or a horse jump gate, where the horizontal blockage is wide, not tall. Doggie doors sometimes work and dark tunnels can work.


Yep, have googled it before...but when I see someone mention using them, I ask if they can show theirs and how well they work.


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