ASGA Teatime Replay: Livestock Guardian Dogs for Solar Grazing

For our first December Teatime event, we were excited to have livestock guardian dog expert Bill Costanzo and solar grazier Amanda Stoffels discuss how to use livestock guardian dogs while grazing solar sites.

Bill and Amanda covered the benefits of using livestock guardian dogs on sites to reduce predation, including useful information that you can share with solar companies who may be reluctant to allow the dogs on site. Bill presented the basics of using livestock guardian dogs and break down the system for bonding the dogs with your sheep.

After the presentation, Amanda talked about the benefits and logistics of using LGD on solar site.

Both Bill and Amanda are great resources on deploying guardian dogs with sheep. Amanda uses livestock guardian dogs to protect her sheep and greatly reduce predation while they rotationally graze the solar fields in North Texas. Bill cares for and manages over 20 LGDs at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center in San Angelo and its research ranches in Menard, Sonora, and Ozona. Before taking his position at Texas A&M AgriLife, Bill used livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) on his farm flock of wool sheep in Northern California.

Our ASGA event recordings are available to members of ASGA’s online network. Not a member? Please join us here!