Yesterday, I went to back Graysmarsh Farm to pick more loganberries and blueberries. On the edges of the field I could see beehives. Even though I was many yards away, I could still hear the buzzing sounds coming from them.
So I decided to take a break from picking berries and wander over to one of the beehives. I walked slowly and sat down right next to it. The bees were flying and buzzing all around me!
During the Lavender Festival in Sequim, Washington, Jennifer and I stopped at the Olympic Lavender Farm. One of the first things that caught my eye was the cute llamas. We arrived just as they were feeding them.
These llamas are actually guard llamas. The farmers use them to help protect their sheep from predators. Now they can’t fight off a pack of coyotes, but they can alert the sheep to a predator in the area. Wikipedia cites acouple of studies on these guard llamas.
Most research on the effectiveness of guard llamas has been done with sheep. A 1990 study by Iowa State University found that 80 percent of sheep producers with guard llamas rated them as effective or very effective. The study found that average rates of loss to predators fell from 21 to 7 percent after the introduction of a guard llama. In other studies, over half of guard llamas completely eliminated losses due to predators.
Interesting way to protect a farmer’s sheep.
