Wairarapa organic gardeners Josje Neerincx and Frank van Steensel say having Maremma sheepdogs on their farm have helped them save $1500 a month from damage to crops from pests like hares, possums and pūkeko. Photo / RNZ, Supplied
Wairarapa organic gardeners Josje Neerincx and Frank van Steensel say having Maremma sheepdogs on their farm have helped them save $1500 a month from damage to crops from pests like hares, possums and pūkeko. Photo / RNZ, Supplied
They may look like your usual bundle of fluff or large Labrador pup, but these Maremma sheepdogs are a breed of their own.
A large Italian breed used to guard livestock from predators including wolves, they’re increasingly being used by NewZealand farmers to help protect their stock from pests, like roaming dogs.
Caroline Timmins farms 165ha just out of Ōkaihau in Northland.
Like many in the region, including those in neighbouring farms, she’s had the “horrible” experience of having to deal with multiple attacks on her stock from roaming and wild dogs.
“We got smashed with this group of dogs that was coming through the property and tearing our sheep apart.”
She moved the remainder of her 100 sheep to the house paddock, but with limited options – farmers can only shoot dogs caught in the act of worrying stock – she also started looking for other measures to protect her flock.
Her search first led her to donkeys before she learned about livestock guardian dogs like the Maremma sheepdog, which she thought was the “perfect solution”.
Timmins said the breed is entirely different to her working dogs whom she would never let roam free, and she has had to learn to trust them to do their job.
A Northland-based breeder of Anatolian shepherds, another livestock guardian breed, said she had seen an increase in interest following recent dog attacks.
It’s not just livestock farmers who have found the breed useful.
Isla and Indy, two Maremma Sheepdogs, work as livestock guardians on Caroline Timmins' Northland farm. Photo / RNZ, Supplied
Wairarapa Eco Farm’s Josje Neerincx and Frank van Steensel, who Timmins purchased her dogs from, say the dogs help deter pests from eating their crops.
He said that without the dogs, it was costing them about $1500 a month in crop damage from pests like hares, possums and pūkeko.
The couple have had Maremma for several years now though they struggled to find a breeder and themselves started with a mixed-breed.
