With the sheep and chickens and other livestock you have, do you have any guardian dogs to help protect your animals? Sounds like you have some determined predators where you are with all the losses you are incurring. We saw a coyote in our side pasture last Summer - not far from our house and chickens - and it was just staring at our australian shepherd (who was barking like crazy). Even with the Ft. Knox of chicken coups and runs that my husband built, I immediately knew we were going to have to do something else for predator control as I dearly love our chickens and they free-range during the daylight hours! We started looking for a guardian dog as that seemed to be what would work best for our property and set-up.. We are in a very rural area and the coyote are thick out here. We also have foxes, skunks, opossum and coons that would kill our chickens (not to mention owls and hawks). A lot of farms with livestock use guardian dogs or donkeys in the pastures or livestock areas to keep their animals protected. They are worth their weight in gold!!! Our dog is just a little over a year old and took a LOT of work at first, but now I wouldn't take $5,000 for him if someone offered! I also sleep better at night knowing he is out there watching over everything... and us 
We may be considering a second maremma later this year to help him as he is stretched pretty thin for the amount of area he patrols.. (I just dread the thoughts of initial training - especially with a puppy!). We were lucky to find a 10 month old dog with our first dog, but he still acted like a huge baby and had absolutely NO manners or training at all. I'm glad we hung in there and got him through his initial naughtiness and silly behavior because now he is very serious about his job and is wonderful at it. I highly recommend them for guarding livestock and chickens I know it is heartbreaking to go out and find them missing or dead - not to mention the monetary losses incurred. Below is a picture of our dog, Banjo being introduced to one of our horses for the first time last Summer.
Angela
We may be considering a second maremma later this year to help him as he is stretched pretty thin for the amount of area he patrols.. (I just dread the thoughts of initial training - especially with a puppy!). We were lucky to find a 10 month old dog with our first dog, but he still acted like a huge baby and had absolutely NO manners or training at all. I'm glad we hung in there and got him through his initial naughtiness and silly behavior because now he is very serious about his job and is wonderful at it. I highly recommend them for guarding livestock and chickens I know it is heartbreaking to go out and find them missing or dead - not to mention the monetary losses incurred. Below is a picture of our dog, Banjo being introduced to one of our horses for the first time last Summer.Angela
