My hubby might ask, what type of sheep DON'T we have! ha! Again, a varied group lives here, including Suffolk, Lincoln cross, Romney cross, Merino, Rambouillet, Shetland, Jacob, Corriedale, Romney and more! We do not have a policy about what type of sheep live with us, they all have beautiful wool and are happy to be here and that is all we ask….

Our boys are in the west pasture and call the ex-dairy barn home each night. They roam the hills of our little Jordan valley with their protector—Dalai Llama. Dalai is devoted to his sheep and would definitely be a match for coyotes, dogs or anyone else that decided to bother or scare his sheep!

The girls and the babies are in the east pasture and are protected by our Bobbi Simone and Andrew Sipowicz , two wonderful Great Pyrenees flock guard dogs. When we moved to our new Monroe farm, even though there is so much more land here to ‘police’ and the coyotes are very active in the area, the decision to get the dogs was a tough one. I always swore I would not have outside dogs. I have since changed my mind as I have gotten used to working with them and have spent so much time watching them work.. They are completely and utterly happy living with their sheep. They enjoy the worst weather, from rain (they look like they jumped in a river—or spend lots of time splashing their beautiful white coats in mud puddles!) to snow (they look like polar bears) they are very devoted to the sheep. They do tricks and have become a very important part of our little family.

We also have a small group of sheep that have special needs. Several are our bottle lambs, old sheep that need special feed and a few that are just more fragile than the others right now. Several goats, including two Angoras, two Pygoras (Angora/Pygmy cross) and a Pygmy also call our farm home.

While the coyote factor is scary for any flock owner, we really seem to be able to co-exist peacefully for the most part. We love to hear them calling at night--but prefer they stay on their own side of the fence! We have replaced almost the entire perimeter fence with woven wire panels that are strong and tend to keep the coyotes from entering the pasture. They have so much room to roam here it does work so far. We believe they have a place on the earth so have chosen to go with llamas and the dogs to keep our flock safe. SO far so good and hope the coyotes stay on their side of the 'world'! ha!