A flock of Christmas turkeys has been kept safe by two Italian sheepdogs who have been trained to fend off wolves and bears.
Blagdon farmer George Ford uses Bear and Holly, two Maremma sheepdogs, to watch over his 600 free-range turkeys from August to December.
Mr. Ford stated: “When Bear was a puppy he would play and try and pick up a bird in his mouth but now we can leave him in with them all day and night.”
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He went on to say that he could not rear his turkeys outside without the dogs.
Three years ago, Mr. Ford, the owner of Nempnett Pasture, brought Bear to watch after his turkeys, who are kept outdoors all day.
According to him, the big, fluffy white Maremma breed was developed as a dog to defend animals.
“It’s an Italian sheep guardian dog breed, so they’re bred to live up in the Alps with flocks of sheep to protect them from wolves and bears,” he explained.
“Bear’s big, he’s about 50 kilos and three to four times the size of a fox so he’s a real deterrent for foxes, badgers and other predators.”
Mr. Ford claimed that throughout Bear’s initial training, there were no bird casualties or fatalities despite his size.
“As soon as we got him we put him in with the birds, behind a poultry net,” he explained.
“One chicken escaped Bears’ enclosure, and I immediately thought, ‘Oh no,’ when I saw it lying on its back with its legs up in the air, covered with drool.
“However, it stood up on its feet and was OK when I placed it back with the other birds. It also only occurred once.”
With three to four times the size of a fox, Bear is described in the image caption by Mr. Ford as a “real deterrent.”.
The turkeys were sent to the farm in August; most of them have now been killed.
After they had grown all the way out, eight weeks later, they were let outside with the security dogs.
The turkeys, according to Mr. Ford, “just love it” when they are outside “pecking at the grass, pecking at bugs”.
“We used to put the turkeys in a big building and shut them in at night for protection,” he explained.
“There isn’t a shed left to keep them overnight. Thus, the dogs’ purpose is to deter predators.”
Holly, a Maremma that was rescued, recently joined Bear.
From April to August, the two of them reside outside with the chickens; however, they part ways when the turkeys show up in the summer.
“Holly’s not as gentle as Bear, she’ll just run through the flocks as if there they’re not there but she’s very protective,” he stated.
“The dogs remain outside the entire time. We give them a shelter, but they only utilize it in the summer to get some shade because they are Alps natives.