Category: California

The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Your Livestock Guardian Dogs and Farm Animals Cool this Summer

7/12/2023

As a Maremma Sheepdog breeder and admin of the Maremma Sheepdog Open Forum, a large Maremma Sheepdog Facebook group, one question I often hear is, "How do Maremmas handle the heat?" Summertime can be challenging for Livestock Guardian Dogs as they seek relief from the sweltering heat.

The heat is equally brutal on the livestock these brave dogs guard, whether that means goats, sheep, cattle, horses, poultry, or other species. As responsible owners and caretakers, it's essential to prioritize their well-being and implement effective cooling strategies. This comprehensive guide will provide expert tips and techniques to keep your Livestock Guardian Dogs and the animals they guard cool and comfortable throughout the summer months.

I own a small farm in Lemoore, California. I breed MSCA-registered Maremma Sheepdogs and registered Mini Nubian and Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats. I also own a variety of other animals, including horses, mini horses, donkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and barn cats. In the Central Valley, temperatures regularly reach around 110-115 degrees in the summer. We have "excessive heat watch" warnings regularly from June to September. People always say it's "a dry heat," but no matter how you look at it, that's hot! 🥵

However, my Maremmas do very well in the heat. In fact, they do better than the goats and other livestock they guard. That could be because dogs are more resourceful than goats or poultry. Or maybe dogs are just hardier. But I haven't had any real problems with the dogs or horses and few problems with the goats. Though sadly, I have lost a few birds to the heat. 😢

High temperatures can put animals at risk of heat stress, dehydration, and even death. So, I ensure that my Maremmas, goats, and other animals are kept as cool and comfortable as possible throughout the summer. Below are some strategies and tips that you can use to help your Livestock Guardian Dogs, and other animals beat the heat, too. And most of them are very inexpensive and easy to implement.

Provide Adequate Shade

One of the simplest ways to keep your Livestock Guardian Dogs and livestock cool is to provide adequate shade. Trees, barns, or other shade structures can all offer protection from the sun. Here at Prancing Pony Farm, we have almost no trees left because of the drought conditions we have suffered in Central California for over a decade. Our property had dozens of trees when we first bought it, but most died due to the drought and either fell or had to be removed. We've planted new trees that are young and don't yet provide much shade. Instead, we primarily use a variety of man-made structures to provide much-needed shade for our animals.

Barns and Other Outbuildings

Our best source of shade is our main barn, which is roughly 90' long by 25 feet wide. It's just a tall, flat roof with sides of welded steel pipe and horse panels, so it has plenty of ventilation, which is super important for preventing heat stroke. We hang shade sails to block the incoming sun in the summer.

We also have a one-sided hay barn that's usually empty of hay in the summer. (We stack our hay outside in the summer since it doesn't rain anyway.) We use that as extra shade for the animals.

We have a 16 x 8' mobile office trailer in our barnyard that we converted into a dog grooming room and backup milking parlor. It's several feet off the ground, so the dogs and goats love to lay under this to cool off, and the shadow it casts provides a lot of shade later in the day.

Our Puppy Parlor (puppy whelping room and milking parlor) was made from a 16 x 30' garden shed built on a concrete pad. It is completely enclosed, insulated, heated, and air-conditioned, with two industrial fans hanging from the ceiling. Dog doors going out to the goat pastures are on two sides, so the pups and mama dogs can come and go as they please. We don't run the AC that much, but the fans make a big difference in keeping the building cool. The dogs enjoy lying on the cool concrete floor under the fans during the hottest part of the day.

Other Shade Structures

Our property came with several horse shelters sprinkled throughout the pastures. These are tall metal structures with flat roofs and no sides. They work well and stand up to the wind, rain, heat, and animals pushing on them. A dead tree fell on one of them a few years ago, crushing the roof, but the structure is still intact enough to provide shade for our Maremmas, horses, and goats. We plan to get it repaired one of these days. But we have higher priorities right now, and an ugly shelter still works to keep the animals cool.

One thing we tried a few times for shade that didn't work well was pop-up canopies that are popular for parties, sporting events, and camping. They are convenient and look nice, but they don't hold up well to wind, rain, goats, dogs, and horses pushing on them. We gave up on that idea after buying a few that quickly ended up in the trash.

We use calf hutches from Calftel and Polydome in our pastures, but they are primarily for providing shelter in the wintertime. They are too hot to lay inside during the heat of the day, but sometimes the goats, Maremmas, or birds will lay in the shadows cast by the sun.

Easy Homemade Shade Structures

Next, we made shade structures out of t-posts and shade sails. We buy the shade sails from Amazon or Costco and the t-posts from Lowes or Tractor Supply. We learned early on that these structures must be extra tall, or the goats will tear them up. The goats stand up on their hind legs to pull the sails down so they can use them like hammocks. The silly goats love laying in them, so the posts soon get bent, the sails sag, and eventually, the sails get torn to shreds.

It works best if the posts are at least 8' tall, with 10' being better. You measure out a rectangle slightly bigger than the dimensions of the sail, pound the posts in and attach the four corners of the sails to the top of the posts. And voila, you have a shade structure!

Where we live, we get no rain for most of the year, so the ground is like concrete, and it's hard to pound posts into the ground. Because of this, we mostly do our fence work in the wintertime. Otherwise, we must water the ground for several days to soften it. I may buy a gas-powered fence post-pounder someday to make this job easier.

These shade structures aren't pretty, but they work reasonably well. It's hard to get them super tight and straight and even harder to keep them that way. Over time they start to sag, and the goats tear them up, leaving nothing but a bunch of bent t-posts sticking out of the ground.

After putting all that work and money into building those structures, we've determined there are better choices than this. But they are a quick way to provide your Livestock Guardian Dogs and livestock shade on a budget. They are suitable temporary structures that will last a year or two if you build them right. Or a day or two if you don't make them high and tight!

Another quick and inexpensive trick we've found is to attach sections of shade cloth to existing fences. Our fences are 5' high, so we buy 4 or 5' wide panels in whatever length we need in a particular area. These are made for lining patios and backyard fences and have rivets along all four sides, which makes attaching them to the fence with zip ties a breeze. This method only works for part of the day, but if you install it in the right spot, the animals can lay in the shadow cast by the sun. We use this as a backup for additional shade in a pasture, not as the only shade source.

Our Favorite Solution for Fast and easy (But More Costly) Shade

We've found that dog kennels with canvas roofs and sides provide the best shade for our Maremmas and dairy goats. We have several of these, and they can serve multiple functions. They can be used as mini "barns" for the goats or Maremmas. They provide shelter from rain, cold, and heat. We can put the goat minerals in there during the rainy season to keep them dry. They are an excellent place to feed the dogs so the goats can't steal the food, which can lead to resource guarding. And they are great when we need to temporarily contain an animal or group of animals, such as when we need to work in the pasture without the animals getting in the way. We have kennels for this purpose in most of our pastures and plan to add others eventually.

You can buy kennels from places like Tractor Supply or Lowes. We have a few of these, but the quality could be better, and they are not very easy to assemble. Our favorite kennels come from K9 Kennel Store. These kennels are much more expensive than the ones bought locally, and the shipping is costly, but the quality is worth it. They assemble with pins, like the corral panels used for horses, so it takes mere minutes to put them together or take them apart. They come in different sizes, or you can buy individual panels and use whatever you need to make different sizes and configurations. I prefer to buy configurations that use 4' and 6' panels since they are easier for me to move than the 8' panels.

You can also buy canvas roofs and side covers that provide additional shade or protection from the weather and keep the rain and sun off. These are super easy to put up and take down as needed. Much, much easier than the ones from Tractor Supply or Lowes!

There are many other ways to provide shade for your livestock guardian dogs and goats. If you are handy with carpentry work or can hire someone to build a structure, you can provide something nice. I'm not talented in that area, so I have devised other measures that work well for us. But eventually, I would like to have some more permanent structures built. Structures that are a few feet off the ground and can double as climbing structures for the goats and shade structures for the dogs and goats would be perfect.

Digging to Keep Cool

Another way most dogs like to keep cool is by digging holes. If you provide them with a place to do it, they will take care of it themselves. Usually, they will find a shady, sandy spot or a spot that is already mostly bare dirt, and they will dig themselves a nice little Hobbit hole. Then they will lay in it to keep cool. If you don't have such a spot, you could give your dogs a sandbox in a shady area or build a sandbox with a roof so they have a nice soft spot to dig and lay.

Since we don't have grass and only have an endless supply of dirt, I don't have this problem. My dogs make their own Hobbit holes to keep cool in. Usually, I manage to step in these holes when I'm out in the pastures and have fallen flat on my face many times because of these "Maremma death traps." Texting and walking in a pasture is almost as dangerous as texting and driving.

Water, the Essential Element for Keeping Animals Cool

Water is crucial for hydrating and keeping your Livestock Guardian Dogs and other anaimals cool when temperatures soar. They should have easy access to plenty of water, and you should refresh it as needed.

You may find that your Livestock Guardian Dogs like to submerge themselves in the water because it keeps them cool. (Most of my Maremmas love water, but a few don't. )Because of this, you will need to change your water regularly. The dogs will pollute the water so that no one wants to drink it, especially if you own goats, who are more picky about having clean water than dogs.

What works well is to provide drinking water for the animals and "swimming" water for the dogs in two separate containers. You can use a child's wading pool for the dogs, but using a shallow trough for horses or livestock works better. These are sturdier than wading pools and are easier to empty and clean. And they hold up better to dogs and livestock than children's wading pools do.

For providing drinking water, you want to use smaller containers to discourage the dogs from using them for wading. The easiest way to do this is to use a flatback horse bucket of approximately 20 quarts. Then you attach an automatic waterer designed for livestock to that bucket. (You can find these on Amazon or Tractor Supply, usually for less than $20.) Attach that to a hose and clip the whole thing to a fence or other stable object. That way, the water will continually fill, but the bucket is small enough that the dogs cannot usually play in it. The animals will always have clean water, and then you provide separate water for the dogs to swim in. These smaller buckets are also easy to dump, scrub, and clean periodically to keep algae and other nasty stuff out.

You can use the automatic waterers to fill the swimming water or fill those with a hose. But those need to be dumped and cleaned up more often because the dogs will get them quite dirty when using them. The animals sometimes choose to drink from them, but that is their choice. I do always provide separate water so that they have clean water available.

If you own ducks or geese that share a pasture with your Livestock Guardian Dogs or other livestock, you'll have to dump and clean the water at least daily. They make a terrible mess of the water, and it's not fit for other animals to use or drink. I will cover keeping poultry cool later in this article. 🐓🦃🦆

Of course, you can always have however many buckets you need and fill them with a hose by hand, but I have a lot of animals, so this method works much better for me. I prefer to put as much on autopilot as I can. This way, I only need to check that everything is working instead of filling the waters daily.

Automatic Waterers

In addition to the portable automatic waterers described above, I love a great tool called a Lixit. You can find these on Amazon and sometimes at pet stores or hardware stores. They attach to the faucet, and the animal learns to lick the end of it and make the water come out. I install Lixits in all of my pastures so that the animals can always access clean water in addition to the water provided in other containers. My goats, in particular, love these and prefer them over drinking out of buckets. (Remember what I said about goats being picky about clean water? 🐐) Most of my pasture faucets are 5' off the ground, so I use a 3' leader hose to bring the Lixit to a better height for drinking and zip-tie it to the nearby fence.

Another really great option we use for water is a product called a Nelson Waterer. These stainless steel automatic waterers are a bit expensive but they hold up very well to the wear and tear of dogs and livestock.

Putting it All Together

Usually, I get a four-way hose splitter and put that on my faucet. Then I have hoses going to the different water troughs and containers. I have one hose for the swimming water, one hose for the small bucket that the animals drink out of, one hose for the Lixit, and one extra hose for cleaning out buckets, filling other water buckets, and whatever else I need.

To keep your hoses from blowing out and causing the water to overflow, you can put a pressure regulator (designed for drip irrigation systems) on your faucet before you attach everything else. You can get these from Amazon or any hardware store. Make sure all your rubber washers are good quality and in good condition, and if you need to, you can also use plumbers' tape to minimize leaks.

The Zero-G brand cloth hoses last much longer than rubber hoses, and the dogs are less likely to chew on them. I've also found some metal hoses on Amazon that hold up to most chewers. But a determined chewer will even chew these up, so be aware! (Ask me how I know! 🤦🏻‍♀️)

Electrolytes, Ice Packs and Animal Popcicles

In hot weather, electrolytes are crucial for animals. They help by replenishing fluids, balancing hydration, facilitating muscle function, supporting nerve signaling and cooling mechanisms, and maintaining organ function. Adequate electrolyte intake helps animals cope with heat stress and stay healthy.

Electrolytes are especially beneficial for goats (sheep, cows, or other dairy animals) if they are in milk. They can help prevent production from dropping due to dehydration. There are species-specific electrolytes for different animals. You can use them interchangeably, or you can get an all-species electrolyte. These powders look like Kool-Aid, and you mix them into the water.

The brand I like best for my goats is Goat and Sheep BlueLite, from Premier 1 Supplies. This brand is the best one on the market, and the goats go crazy for it. For horses, I usually use Red Cell or a similar brand. For poultry, I use a poultry-specific brand.

There are electrolytes made for dogs, but I only use them if I have a sick dog, and it won't hurt the dogs to drink the ones for goats or other livestock. But they may or may not like it. Whenever I offer electrolytes, I put them in a separate bucket and offer them plain water in addition to the electrolytes. I do this to ensure the animals still drink even if they don't care for the electrolytes, and so the automatic waterers don't dilute the electrolyte solution.

If the weather is especially hot you can use cooler ice packs and float them in the water. You can make homemade ice packs out of empty soda bottles or milk jugs. Before we built our puppy parlor we used the ice packs in the whelping box to keep puppies cool in the summer. It was still too hot, which is why we built the Puppy Parlor.

You can also make "popsicles" for your animals, using things like frozen broth or goat milk for the dogs and some combination of fruit or vegetables for goats, sheep, horses and poultry. Lay the "popsicle" in a dog dish or feed bucket so it doesn't all get wasted as it melts.

Misting Systems and Fans

Misting systems and fans can be a great way to keep livestock guardian dogs and other animals cool. Fans can be as simple as a box or stand fan pointing in the right direction. Or you can get fans with built-in misters. Just be sure to keep cords out of reach of your animals, as they can get electrocuted if they chew on the cords. Fans are especially helpful for cooling animals in a more enclosed building like a barn or chicken coop.

You can also install a mister system along a fence, a dog kennel, a barn wall, or some other spot. Misters provide a fine mist of water and can be put on a timer to come on and off automatically. We have used these in the past. Some systems are better than others, so definitely do your research here.

Of course, goats will not appreciate any of these methods of using water to help them cool off other than the drinking water and the electrolytes. Goats hate getting wet. They don't like rain. They don't like swimming, and they don't like misters. They would rather be hot than get wet, so if you own goats, the misters are only for the benefit of your Livestock Guardian Dogs. Your goats will watch the dogs having fun in the water and wonder if they have lost their minds.

Take a Siesta Approach to Life

Dogs are intelligent creatures. Most farm animals are smart, too. They will take a page from a book of many cultures and take a nice siesta during the hottest parts of the day. I suggest you go with this natural flow of things and allow them to do that. If you have activities such as training or husbandry care like trimming hooves, grooming, or anything else, it would be best to do that in the early morning or late evening hours.

If you have a cool building to work in, that might be a good option. But I don't suggest working with the animals outside when it is too hot. That will be harder on them and you. Allowing them to rest and stay cool during the hottest hours reduces stress on them and you as the owner.

We do most of our barn work at night, right before it gets dark and on into the night. Some people prefer to get up early to do their chores, but that doesn't work for me, so we do things this way. We also have our Puppy Parlor and an air-conditioned dog grooming trailer that we can use if we need anything done during the day. But for general outdoor activities, we do all that after it cools off.

Grooming Helps Keep Dogs Cooler

Keep your Livestock Guardian Dog cool and comfortable with regular grooming. Grooming removes mats, tangles, and loose fur and improves air circulation around their skin, allowing heat to escape more easily. Plus, maintaining clean coats helps prevent the buildup of dirt and debris, ensuring good airflow. Grooming controls shedding and reduces the risk of heat-related illnesses like heatstroke. Help your loyal LGD beat the heat and stay healthy with proper grooming.

Keeping Poultry Cool

Summertime can be challenging for poultry, as birds can be more susceptible to the heat than mammals. All of the steps already discussed apply to farm birds. Here's a recap, plus a few extra tips.

Provide shaded areas for birds to retreat from the sun. Use shade cloth, trees, or some of the recommended shelters. Keep the waterers in the shade to cool the water and refresh them periodically.
If your birds are in a coop, be sure it has good ventilation. You can use fans to circulate the air, but keep them at a safe distance from the birds.
If your birds are free range, make sure they have easy access to shade.
Provide plenty of cool water. Your birds will need access to cool water throughout the day. Consider using a large waterer, and add frozen water bottles to help keep the water cool.
Ducks and geese should have extra water for swimming. You can use the recommendations made earlier in this post. Remember to change the water often and ensure the birds don't pollute the water for the Livestock Guardian Dogs and other animals.
Misters are an excellent way to decrease the temperature and keep your birds cool. You can install misters around your coop or run area and set them to a timer to provide periodic cooling bursts.
Your birds will be more comfortable if they can keep themselves clean, so providing a dust bath is a good idea. If you have a dusty barnyard like us, your birds will make their own dust baths. Otherwise, a shallow pan filled with sand or dirt will encourage your birds to keep themselves clean and can also help keep them cool.

Conclusion

Don't let the summer heat endanger your Livestock Guardian Dogs and their charges. It's easy to keep them cool and comfortable if you follow the tips shared in this blog post. Provide shade, fresh, clean water, and consider scheduling activities for cooler parts of the day. By taking these measures and being proactive about your animals' well-being, you'll ensure that all of your animals remain happy, healthy, and protected all summer long.

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If You're In Santa Barbara, Stop By the Zoo and Say Hello to the Four Prancing Pony Farm Zoo Goats!

7/1/2023

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Growing up as a city kid in Memphis, Tennesse, one of my favorite places to go was the Memphis Zoo. Later as a mom of six kids, visiting the Zoo was a favorite family activity. As a Navy family, we have visited big and small zoos all over the United States. And as grandchildren started coming along, going to the Zoo with them was also lots of fun. Zoo memberships are a great way to support your local zoon and enjoy many visits throughout the year without breaking the bank.

Undoubtedly my favorite part of any zoo is the petting zoo. I know most people go to the Zoo to see wild animals and I enjoy that, too. But since I wanted to live on a farm since I was a little kid and didn't achieve that dream until I was 50 years old, the petting zoo was an excellent way for me to get a little up close and personal time with the types of farm animals I hoped to one day own. And without a doubt, my favorite animals in the petting zoo were the goats. I could have spent hours watching and petting those fascinating creatures. Of course, my family usually had other ideas, so I didn't get to spend that long with the goats, but I took whatever time I could!

Now that I have a farm of my own and more goats and other farm animals than I can count, I tend to spend more time visiting the wild animals when I visit a zoo, but I still believe petting zoos are lovely places. Where else can city kids like me meet, pet, and interact with real farm animals? How many of those kids grow up, like I did, to own farm animals of their own?

As much as I love and value zoos and zoo petting zoos, I can not begin to describe how excited I was earlier this spring when I checked my voicemail to find a message from Dr. Julie Barnes, DVM, the veterinarian at the Santa Barbara Zoo! I listened in disbelief when she told me that the Zoo was interested in purchasing some of my Mini Nubian kids for their petting zoo. That was one phone call I returned in a hurry, believe me! The idea that so many people from all over would be meeting some of my goats at the Zoo was very exciting.

After much discussion, it was decided that the Zoo would purchase four Mini Nubian kids from my farm: two doelings and two wethers. The two doelings are sisters, and the two wethers are brothers. Maggie and Loki are the parents of the doelings, and Dixie and Loki are the parents of the wethers. So technically, all four kids are siblings! ☺️

Since the Zoo is accredited, specific processes and procedures had to be adhered to. The first is that biosecurity test results on the parents are required. Since we keep a clean, tested herd, that was no problem. The kids also needed to be bought from a herd enrolled in the USDA Scrapie ID program, and the kids needed to be properly identified with USDA Scrapie ID. Also, no problem since we are enrolled in the program and use USDA Scrapie microchips on our goats. A site inspection would also be done when the zoo staff came to pick up the goats, with some minor paperwork to be filled out.

A few weeks later, the exciting day arrived when two staff members, Kristen and Patrick, drove from Santa Barbara to pick up their new kids! Seeing the SUV covered in painted butterflies and Zoo signs pull into my driveway was beyond exciting. Then meeting Kristen and Patrick and showing them around my farm was so cool. We drove around on my golf cart so they could see the herd in the back pasture without disturbing our Maremma Sheepdog Livestock Guardian Dogs at work or risking biosecurity. Then we went to the pick up area near the Puppy Parlor, where the Zoo kids were waiting to head off on their new adventure. Kristen Facetimed Dr. Barnes so she could inspect the kids while Patrick got things set up and ready for them. Of course, I took lots of photos as we got the kids ready to go. Then they were loaded up for the trip and on their way back to the Zoo!

Dr. Barnes let me know when everyone safely made it to the Zoo and updated me on how they were settling in. She told me that the kids would go through a quarantine and acclimation period for a while before they were put on public display in the petting zoo. I agreed that I would not post anything about them until I got the green light to do so by the marketing department. In the meantime, I was given frequent updates on how the goats were doing and how much of a hit they were with the staff. Finally, the day came when Dr Barnes texted me to say the kids were now on display, and I was free to share about them.

So there you go; I am proud to announce that The Santa Barbara Zoo is now home to four Prancing Pony Farm Mini Nubian goats! So if you go to the Santa Barbara Zoo, stop by the petting zoo exhibit and say hello to my babies for me!

If you would like to become the proud owner of your own Prancing Pony Farm goats just click on the button below and reserve your kids today!

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Puppy Scam! Don't Buy an Illegally Bred Puppy from an Unethical Breeder!

3/14/2023

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Here at Prancing Pony Farm we are Maremma Sheepdog Club of America Code of Ethics breeders. We breed exceptional quality Maremma Sheepdogs that are registered with the MSCA. We put a lot of work into our breeding program and provide our puppy buyers with a contract, which protects both the buyer and us as breeders. This contract is required by the Code of Ethics and is a legally binding document. No puppy leaves our farm without the buyer signing a puppy contract. Every buyer is afforded the opportunity to read the contract before they sign it, and they are given a copy before they take home their puppy.

If you have seen Maremma Sheepdog puppies advertised anywhere on the internet besides our website or social media accounts you should know that as of March 14th, 2023, there is no one but us who currently has or ever has had breeding rights on any Maremmas we've bred. Every single puppy we have ever sold to date has gone on Limited Registration, which means no litters can be registered and no litters should be produced, even unregistered litters.

We have a very carefully laid out Breeding Candidate program, designed to protect the breed as a whole and the individual dogs we have bred. This requires health testing (with passing hip scores and more) from the parents and several requirements that both the dogs and the owners must meet. Then and only then will we sign the “Revoke Limited Registration Status” form from the MSCA. To see our requirements to breed one of our puppies please visit the page below:

Breeding Candidates Puppy Program

We do have a few clients who are in the process of completing their requirements and will receive the Full Registration (and breeding rights) on their dogs soon, but no litters already whelped and being advertised by anyone but us (as of 3/14/23) are legal litters. Anyone who advertises “Prancing Pony Farm ________” as a parent of their puppies, or admits that any of those dogs came from us, is in direct violation of the contract they signed. (And of course they are in violation even if they don't admit it.) Those puppies are ineligible for registration and will never be allowed to be registered.

In fact, we do know of certain individuals who have violated the puppy contracts they signed when they bought their dogs and have illegally bred those dogs. In some cases the dogs were not even old enough to be bred, which puts great risk on the dogs and the puppies. Some have illegally bred their dogs more than once. This is no one time, accidental breeding, but a premeditated plan to steal that which doesn't rightfully belong to them. None of the dogs have had their health testing done, so it's possible they could be producing puppies with health problems such as hip dysplasia. That's exactly what the contract and requirements are meant to protect against and exactly why we do not give Full Registration status to untested dogs.

Some of these individuals are so bold that they are advertising their puppies with our name attached to them, leading potential buyers to believe they had our permission to breed their dogs. They did not. This activity is illegal, unethical and a blatant violation of the contract they signed. No one may breed our dogs or advertise using our farm name unless they have received breeding rights.

The only way you will know that the person who is advertising pups from our lines is doing so legally is to ask to see the registration certificates of the parents. If they don't have a registration certificate they do not have permission to breed the dog. If they have a registration certificate but it says "Limited Registration" then that means they have illegally bred the dog, in violation of the contract they signed and the puppies may not be registered. If they have a registration certificate that says "Full Registration", then and only then do they have breeding rights on the dog we bred and then and only then are their puppies eligible for registration with the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America.

So if you see anyone other than us advertising Prancing Pony Farm puppies on Social media, on their own website, on the official MSCA website or Facebook page or anywhere else, and they can't produce proof of Full Registration status on their dogs (via an Official MSCA registration certificate showing Unlimited registration), then please understand that these puppies were illegally produced, and these people are in violation of their legally binding contract. Don't take their word for it. Ask for proof!

For that matter I suggest you ask for proof of registration status of the parent dogs no matter who the breeder is. Responsible, ethical breeders work very hard to protect the integrity of their breeding programs and the breed. People who illegally breed dogs harm ethical breeders and the breed. I would hope that you would not support anyone who is engaging in this unethical behavior.

But maybe you are considering buying a puppy from such a breeder anyway. Maybe you think it's "not your problem" and perhaps that you can get a puppy cheaper by buying a "black market" puppy. But you should ask yourself one very important question. If this unethical breeder is willing to violate the legally binding contract they signed and to illegally produce puppies, can you really trust them to act in an ethical manner with you, as a buyer? Probably not. Leopards don't change their spots.

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Why My Animals "Live on Dirt"

8/3/2022

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My granddaughter, Collette, with one of my Maremma puppies. She one of the many reasons why I live in the ugly, dry, drought-stricken Dust Bowl of Central California.

I have had some comments on social media posts lately asking why my animals "live on dirt". Some people may not realize it but farming doesn't look the same in Central California as it looks in Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Guam (all places I have lived) or a lot of other places.

I live in the Central Valley of California. This is where most of the food in the country is grown, all watered by a huge irrigation system. Back when we first moved here (I'm from Tennessee and my husband is from Maryland) it used to rain only in the winter. We had two seasons. Dirt and Mud. But for about a decade we have been in a severe drought. We get almost no rain and very little snowfall. The snow is what our irrigation systems run on. We have been in such a severe drought for so long that wells are drying up, mature trees are dying and farms are closing. New housing developments are not even allowed to put in lawns in some areas. Only rock gardens and drought tolerant plants. Or fake grass. In some areas entire towns have dried up. On our farm alone we have lost 30-40 mature trees. They just died and fell down or had to be cut down. Almost all of my neighbors and friends have had to put in new wells, because their wells dried up. We are just waiting for it to be our turn.

So why do my animals "live on dirt"? Because there's no water to make grass grow. There's no rain and not enough water to irrigate such luxuries as grass. Even our small lawn struggles to make it. I buy every bite my horses and goats eat, in the form of alfalfa and other hay. This costs me over $2000 a month and it's getting harder and harder to even find hay, much less afford it. Farmers are growing other, more profitable crops instead.

I love grass, rain and trees. Unfortunately those are luxuries I can't have, at least not enough of. So why do I stay in such an ugly, brown dust bowl, you ask? My family. My husband served 40 years in the Navy. We had 6 kids during that career and we spent the last part of his tour here, in the dust bowl. And our children grew up, settled down, got married and had kids. We now have 12 grandkids and they all live in California. We did move back east for a time. Bought a farm in Virginia, where we had all the grass, rain and trees we wanted. But we left half of our family here, in the dust bowl. And with it we left our hearts. So we moved back here. We gave up our 12 acres of green grass in Virginia and willingly moved to the ugliest place on earth. Because though we love grass, trees and rain, we love our family more. And they make this ugly place the real "happiest place on earth".

About 8 months of hay for my goats and horses.

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The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Your Livestock Guardian Dogs and Farm Animals Cool this Summer

Provide Adequate Shade

Barns and Other Outbuildings

Other Shade Structures

Easy Homemade Shade Structures

Our Favorite Solution for Fast and easy (But More Costly) Shade

Digging to Keep Cool

Water, the Essential Element for Keeping Animals Cool

Automatic Waterers

Putting it All Together

Electrolytes, Ice Packs and Animal Popcicles

Misting Systems and Fans

Take a Siesta Approach to Life

Grooming Helps Keep Dogs Cooler

Keeping Poultry Cool

Conclusion

If You're In Santa Barbara, Stop By the Zoo and Say Hello to the Four Prancing Pony Farm Zoo Goats!

Puppy Scam! Don't Buy an Illegally Bred Puppy from an Unethical Breeder!

Why My Animals "Live on Dirt"

Author

"Above the arch there was a lamp, and beneath it swung a large signboard: a fat white pony reared up on its hind legs. Over the door was painted in white letters:
The Prancing Pony by Barliman Butterbur."
~ from The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings.

Categories

Archives

The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Your Livestock Guardian Dogs and Farm Animals Cool this Summer

Provide Adequate Shade

Barns and Other Outbuildings

Other Shade Structures

Easy Homemade Shade Structures

Our Favorite Solution for Fast and easy (But More Costly) Shade

Digging to Keep Cool

Water, the Essential Element for Keeping Animals Cool

Automatic Waterers

Putting it All Together

Electrolytes, Ice Packs and Animal Popcicles

Misting Systems and Fans

Take a Siesta Approach to Life

Grooming Helps Keep Dogs Cooler

Keeping Poultry Cool

Conclusion

If You're In Santa Barbara, Stop By the Zoo and Say Hello to the Four Prancing Pony Farm Zoo Goats!

Puppy Scam! Don't Buy an Illegally Bred Puppy from an Unethical Breeder!

Why My Animals "Live on Dirt"

Author

​"Above the arch there was a lamp, and beneath it swung a large signboard: a fat white pony reared up on its hind legs. Over the door was painted in white letters:​The Prancing Pony by Barliman Butterbur."~ from The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings.

"Above the arch there was a lamp, and beneath it swung a large signboard: a fat white pony reared up on its hind legs. Over the door was painted in white letters:
The Prancing Pony by Barliman Butterbur."
~ from The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings.