WITH wild dog and fox attacks on the rise, wool producers are taking matters into their own hands and fighting fire with fire.
One of these people is Cunderdin farmer Perry Jasper who believes the answer lies with Maremma sheep dogs.
A native Italian breed of dog, the Maremma originates from the Abruzzi and Maremma regions in central Italy and has been used for more than 2000 years in guarding sheep flocks against predators such as wolves and bears.
The Maremmas work by forming a special bond with sheep and live in the paddock among the flock, guarding them from predators.
As Mr Jasper points out the breed has been successfully used in WA for a number of years, guarding sheep from wild dogs, birds of prey and foxes.
In 2003, prior to their first Maremma dog, Mr Jasper said during a year of artificially inseminating 400 ewes and noting birth rates for performance recording, out of 400 ewes he picked up 130 lambs killed by foxes alone.
"Something serious needed to be done to be able to get on top of the problem," Mr Jasper said.
After some research it seemed the answer lay in the Maremma.
Calling friends in the Eastern States, Mr Jasper got in touch with wool producers using the animals and heard fantastic reports about the breed and so he purchased a male dog to protect his own flock of ewes.
Mr Jasper said the effect was almost instant.
"During the dog's first lambing he had bonded with the ewes and in exactly the same paddock with the same number of ewes, I picked up eight lambs killed by foxes," he said.
"In subsequent years I haven't found one.
"You still may get those occasional lambs that die due to being mis-mothered or that are stillborn but even picking those ones up, the crows haven't even touched them.
"Unfortunately our original Maremma dog died from a snake bite at about five years of age but from 2008 we kept using them."
The key to the breed's success lies in the dog's own initiative in making decisions and its sense of independence, as well as it's nurturing and guarding qualities.
Since the success of the initial dog, Mr Jasper decided to source another male.
"Due to a lack of Maremmas in WA we have since purchased a female from the same stud bloodline, with the aim to breed the dogs here in WA," Mr Jasper said.
Flockmaster, the breeding stud where the Mr Jasper's dogs came from are bred in South Australia by Helen Schultz.
Ms Schultz is also happy to sing the praises of the Maremma breed and said due to wild dog and fox problems in WA there had been increased inquiry.
"The breed is certainly in high demand," she said.
Having heard stories from shearers who had seen the dogs in action in Italy and from using them in his own operation, Mr Jasper said anecdotal evidence suggests the dogs do amazing things.
"When mustering the dogs work extremely well with the Kelpies," Mr Jasper said.
"Usually they just fit in and become part of the mob of sheep.
"A lot of times once they have been around for a while, if they know you want to take the sheep to the yards they will lead them into the yards then sit in the corner while you do the work.
"Once you're finished you can open the gate and they will wait until all the ewes are together, then the ewes will follow the dog back out into the paddock.
"The dogs have a fantastic temperament with great guarding instincts and can make your job much easier in terms of stock management.
"If the dogs don't meet me at the gate I know there is an issue somewhere in the paddock.
"On more than one occasion early in the morning, I've found Bruce (the Jasper's Maremma) sitting with a mis-mothered lamb keeping it alive and warm all night."
Mr Jasper said he had heard stories where Italian farmers leave 10,000 sheep from different flocks boxed together ready for shearing with their dogs keeping watch and go into town.
Upon returning the farmers leave it up to the dogs to sort out which sheep belong to which farmer because they know exactly what individual sheep they protect.
Both Ms Schultz and Mr Jasper agree the Maremma was highly intelligent and extremely effective in guarding whatever animal they are bonded with.
"Our Maremma dogs have certainly made a difference to our business," Mr Jasper said.
"Is amazing to see them in action because of how clever they are and how they operate."
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