Tails from the Night Shift on the Farm

Hello to all you thoughtful eaters and food system changemakers!

Let’s talk about the four-legged farm crew that really earns their keep - our livestock guardian dogs (LGDs). After a wet spring and early summer, things are finally drying out. That’s great for chickens, but not so great for the critters that like to eat chickens. As wild food gets harder to find, predators like raccoons, skunks, owls, bobcats, and even bears start prowling.

That’s when our dogs kick into gear.

We currently have five LGDs on the farm. During the day, they nap in shady spots. But when night falls, they go on duty, patrolling chicken pens and keeping predators away. They’re bred for this job, and their instincts (plus a lot of training) make them incredible guardians.

This week, we’ve had a bear testing our boundaries. As long as the dogs are near the pen, it stays away. But when they move to check other areas or rest, the bear returns. We finally caught it on the game camera. It tore into a pen and got a few birds, but thankfully didn’t do more damage. I’m setting up electric fencing now to reinforce the dogs’ work and keep the bear at bay.

Caught on camera - unwanted night time visitors and Bandit patrolling their scent

These dogs work hard. Just the other night, they took out a raccoon and probably ran off a skunk. Their presence alone is often enough to deter most predators but when it’s not, they step in. Once, they even helped me with a wild boar that got too close to the chickens!

Our dogs are more than workers, they're part of our "farmily". Snake, our oldest, is pushing 15 and still insists on doing his rounds. Pat, a rehomed Akbash, is the muscle of the team. Honey is gentle but brave, and once treed a bear at six months old. Smaug and Bandit, the youngest, are finally growing into their roles and love hanging around the cow when I’m milking because they know that’s where milk comes from.

Snake, Pat, Honey, Bandit and Smaug resting before another night on patrol.

One of my dreams is to fence all the chicken fields with woven wire and a hot wire on top to keep dogs in and bears out. Right now, the dogs roam our 600-acre farm, but a highway cuts through the middle. We've only lost one dog to it in 15 years, but that’s one too many.

We're starting by fencing 60 acres for sheep, and I hope that’s the first step toward a future where each field has its own guardian team. Smaug and Bandit may be our last generation of totally free-range LGDs.

Thank you for supporting our farm, our "farmily", and farms like ours across the country. Your food choices matter more than you know. Every dollar you spend shapes the food system we all live in.

With gratitude,
Farmer Andrea
Falling Sky Farm, Arkansas