We're a small farm, so other than the owners (Aurelio and Sarah), our staff consists of our two livestock guardian dogs, Marley and La Migra.  La Migra means "Border Patrol" in Spanish, and that is exactly what these two do.  They guard our chickens from coyotes, foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, and even aerial predators like hawks.  We've tried to get them to work for peanuts, but they insist on dog food.  (When you're a livestock guard dog, you don't have to go on strike... you can just start eating chickens...)

Marley and La Migra are a mix of two Turkish guardian breeds, half Akbash and half Anatolian Shepherd.  In the late afternoon, the dogs start to become active, and they patrol all night long.  The work the perimeter of the pasture along the fenceline, but focus their attention on whatever area the chicken trailers are currently parked in.  We can tell when the dogs have had a busy night when they are almost too tired to eat breakfast in the morning.  (So can the coyotes, who have learned that they can successfully steal chickens late in the morning when the dogs are fast asleep, "dog tired.")  

Having guard dogs allows our farm to co-exist with the local wildlife population.  Being "predator friendly" is a popular modern concept, but the use of dogs to guard livestock and perform other farm tasks is an ancient idea, and firmly grounded in practicality.  The fact is, without guard dogs we and many other livestock producers would be up all night chasing predators, and even in spite of those efforts the losses would likely put us out of business. 

Ecological balance is important.  Certainly, we don't want to endanger local predator populations by shooting them all to protect our livestock.  At the same time though, we know the resident coyotes and big cats enjoy the occasional chicken dinner in spite of Marley and Migra's best efforts.  So is there a point at which our livestock begin to promote unnaturally high predator populations?  This is something to ponder...