continued >
organizations such as military, water and nature organizations, private lands and nature reserves, providing grazing for land management. We were highly successful and eventually had 1,200 ewes and three shepherded flocks doing various grazing projects. We sold our “eco”- lamb meat and did various tourist activities, such as wagon rides, plowing and sheepdog demonstrations.
We needed a LGD in the Netherlands as we were losing too many sheep to pet dogs. We read the initial report done by Ray and Lorna Coppinger in the late 1970’s about LGD and decided that the Sarplaninac would be a good choice for us. We acquired our first Sarplaninac in 1992.
It is always advisable to have at least two, preferably a spayed/neutered male/female team. They are the easiest to manage and are the most focused on their job.
Although very successful, we decided that we wanted to move away from the Netherlands to an area that had more wilderness and (farming) opportunity than the Netherlands. The decision was made to move to Canada. We moved in 2008 and started our sheep and cattle ranch.
Our company is called the "Grazerie"
We have 80 Angus cattle, and about 350 ewes. We also buy and sell between 1,500 and 2,000 feeder lambs each year. My husband has a full time job off the ranch and I drive the school bus for our area. Our lambing time is in the dead of winter with frigid temperatures, so we work then around the clock during this period. We own about 480 acres and farm an additional 1,000-1,500 acres of rented land.