Livestock Management – Australia & Namibia

Last week CCF had the pleasure of having Linda van Bommel, a researcher from Australia, visit our model farm and livestock guarding dogs. Linda has just finished a 4 year research project on the use and effectiveness of livestock guarding dogs in Australia. She also wrote the “Best Practice Manual for the use of Livestock Guardian Dogs” which is now readily available to help farms in Australia learn how to manage their guarding dogs. This book discusses breeds, training, care, management, and case studies of livestock guarding dogs to help the farmers be better prepared. It is free a downloadable PDF available at the above link.

While Linda was at CCF we compared the management of farms in Australia and Namibia as well as their care and training for their dogs. Although, farms are managed quite differently in the two countries, guarding dogs are very effective in reducing livestock losses due to predators in both areas. We thank Linda for sharing her knowledge with us and hearing about our program successes and we hope to meet up with her again soon.