Ghita

Meet Ghita (Italian or Greek for Pearl), the newest member of the Kelly family and the first official farm purchase (technically, even before the farm)! 

She is a purebred Maremma sheepdog "Maremmano-Abruzzese".  This is an old Italian breed of dog similar to the Great Pyrenees (French breed) bred specifically for protecting livestock from predators, particularly wolves.  Her responsibilities will be flock and herd (cat, and Vienna) protection, keeping the Kelly farm free of coyotes (mountain lions are a possibility too).  We looked into a lot of options, including fencing possibilities and guard llamas but in the end decided on a sheepdog.  It just so happened that someone Phil works with had a litter of puppies and were willing to keep her until we moved out to the property.  

She is already out with the older sheepdogs working the various fields and herds so she should be experienced by the time we get her.  We will start out with a small flock of ducks and a couple of sheep to get her used to our family pets, poultry, and herd animals.  From there, who knows...the Kelly adventure is just beginning and we don't have any long term plans yet about how we are going to use our acreage except for gardens and lots of room for children to run around.  

There are still a couple of puppies left and they were all filthy from playing in the mud!  LOL!






This is Ghita's aunt and she has a very sweet disposition.  A couple of barks (I read that maremmas are not big barkers, which I am glad!) and then fine with a car load of strangers.  


We took a little tour of the farm to see the baby sheep and the newborn piglets.



How sweet it this little piggy not even 24 hours old yet.

Waldo Hills, so beautiful!

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