carolinagirl
Ridin' The Range
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2011
- Messages
- 646
- Reaction score
- 8
- Points
- 74
Time to introduce myself. My name is Cindy and I live in central SC. It's hot and humid here in the summer and our soil is mainly sand (the ocean used to cover this area, millions of years ago). We live on 25 acres, part of it woods and part field that used to be a coastal Bermuda hay field. In the past I have had horses, pigs, cows and goats and now I am ready for something different.
It all started when my husband began talking a few years ago about how we needed to get a new watch dog. We have 3 dogs now....two long haired chihuahuas and a female pit bull. They are all good watchdogs when they are awake, but when they are in the house and sleeping they seem to think they are off duty. We have had rotties in the past but now that I have a small active grandson, I did not want a breed with a prey drive so I started looking into livestock guardian breeds as a watchdog for our family. As I said, it is hot here so I needed a breed that does not have a heavy coat and the perfect and obvious choice was Anatolian shepherd.
My search for the perfect dog began with a search for the perfect breeder. I researched this breed and the breeders for months and finally decided that Alaturka Anatolians (in Florida) was the breeder for me. Her dogs are all OFA certified, most are accomplished show dogs, and ALL are working livestock guardian dogs. She is very particular where her pups go (all pups are sold under contract) and she is a "code of ethics" breeder which is terribly important to me. She truly cares about the preservation of this important and ancient breed. My new pup will be coming home late in the summer.
Well, I can't have a LGD breed without livestock, can I? I don't want my dog to lose his working ability. I need some stock.....but what do I want? Miniature horses crossed my mind briefly but I quickly dismissed it because of the extra cost involved with keeping horses. I wanted an animal that could be somewhat self-supporting and could provide meat for my family. Cattle? no....I didn't want to deal with hundreds of pounds of meat at one time. Goats? no.....had enough of them years ago. Sheep? no.....it's too hot here and I don't want to deal with shearing. But then a friend told me about hair sheep. She sent me a link to American Black Belly sheep. I started researching them and discovered Barbados Black Belly sheep and loved their history and the fact that they are naturally polled. I found my breed! I located a breeder in South Carolina and will be picking up four registered ewe lambs at the end of the month. I will be getting a registered ram in the fall so I can have a crop of spring lambs. I'll be breeding only registered, pure Barbados.
So that's it.....I will be a sheep farmer before the summer is out!
It all started when my husband began talking a few years ago about how we needed to get a new watch dog. We have 3 dogs now....two long haired chihuahuas and a female pit bull. They are all good watchdogs when they are awake, but when they are in the house and sleeping they seem to think they are off duty. We have had rotties in the past but now that I have a small active grandson, I did not want a breed with a prey drive so I started looking into livestock guardian breeds as a watchdog for our family. As I said, it is hot here so I needed a breed that does not have a heavy coat and the perfect and obvious choice was Anatolian shepherd.
My search for the perfect dog began with a search for the perfect breeder. I researched this breed and the breeders for months and finally decided that Alaturka Anatolians (in Florida) was the breeder for me. Her dogs are all OFA certified, most are accomplished show dogs, and ALL are working livestock guardian dogs. She is very particular where her pups go (all pups are sold under contract) and she is a "code of ethics" breeder which is terribly important to me. She truly cares about the preservation of this important and ancient breed. My new pup will be coming home late in the summer.
Well, I can't have a LGD breed without livestock, can I? I don't want my dog to lose his working ability. I need some stock.....but what do I want? Miniature horses crossed my mind briefly but I quickly dismissed it because of the extra cost involved with keeping horses. I wanted an animal that could be somewhat self-supporting and could provide meat for my family. Cattle? no....I didn't want to deal with hundreds of pounds of meat at one time. Goats? no.....had enough of them years ago. Sheep? no.....it's too hot here and I don't want to deal with shearing. But then a friend told me about hair sheep. She sent me a link to American Black Belly sheep. I started researching them and discovered Barbados Black Belly sheep and loved their history and the fact that they are naturally polled. I found my breed! I located a breeder in South Carolina and will be picking up four registered ewe lambs at the end of the month. I will be getting a registered ram in the fall so I can have a crop of spring lambs. I'll be breeding only registered, pure Barbados.
So that's it.....I will be a sheep farmer before the summer is out!
