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Grandview, TX | I live in North Central Texas and I am trying to get into the goat business. I have 2 pyrenees-anatole cross puppies that have a couple of months left before I feel they are old enough to turn out in the pasture. I had planned on buying a set of goats in the fall when the dogs were old enough to start guarding. Since there is currently a large drought in most of Texas, everyone in the major goat producing areas out west are cutting way back and prices for replacement nannies have dropped significantly. I would like to buy in now since I have plenty of pasture, but I have no dogs to protect them from coyotes.
A friend of mine that runs all sheep told me that he had too many dogs and if I could catch a couple of grown ones, I could have them. These dogs are full grown pyrenees-anatole crosses and have been on the same place all of their life and have seen nothing but sheep. They also probably have never been touched with human hands. If I could catch them with a hog trap and dump them in a 50 acre pasture with a pen of goats in the middle of the pasture, would they get used to them after a couple of weeks and start guarding them? I would let the goats out of the pen after a couple of weeks. Or, would I be better off just waiting on the dogs I have? I don't think they would roam that much, because all the fences are new 4''x4'' square wire that is 4' tall and one strand of barbed wire running across the very bottom.
Like I said before, my main concern is coyote problems. 75% of this pasture is thick brushy creek bottoms where coyotes tend to stay, but the fifty acre pasture is an open field on high ground. What do you think? | |
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Guard dogs. From sheep to goats.
