Month: February 2020

This blog post can be summed up very quickly, so you don’t have to read on. There are three options to a population of wild geese if not any wildlife overpopulating a property or environment.one-Do nothing, leave them be 2- Use lethal means,’ just shoot them!” 3.-haze

That’s it, it’s all you need to know! I’m being a bit sarcastic and trying to make light of a touchy subject that is being more exasperated year after year. For one thing, with more and more wildlands being taken over by development, wildlife often has nowhere to go but peoples’ back yards, literally and figuratively speaking. In my mind, the best solution would be to have smart growth. Coming from a part of New Jersey where it is now wall to wall houses, roads and stores, and now distribution centers, I know the value of conservation lands form way back. But that is a tricky one, who decides what is conserved and at what price to landowners, residents of towns and so on. We live in an upstate New York Town where locals often hate the thought of conservation lands as it takes away housing possibilities for their children and other ‘opportunities”. Of course, it can be argued that if done right, conservation can be a plus for the livability of any community.

There is a growing sentiment in this country to just to leave wildlife alone and not kill or bother, haze at all. People get upset when bears are killed that may endanger a suburban neighborhood. This can hold true for any furry animal, but coyote doesn’t generate quite as much love as some. Lectures on cougars draw huge crowds, but the plight of songbirds not as much. Wild geese can bring people up in arms on both sides of the aisle. I get laughed at convenience stores by the guys in the pickup trucks when they see my business name. I go to homeowner association meetings, and some think what we do is evil…

I have been a farmer on a small scale, let’s say “local, sustainable, organic” since 1983. I managed educational farms for outdoor museums for over 20 years and worked on several small operations, plus we have our own homestead. Right from my start, I realized that if you are going to grow any field crops even on a small scale and gardens and orchards, you have to figure out how to get around hungry insects, birds, and animals. This can be done in several different ways, I have ended up using organic sprays for plant diseases and bugs and used integrated methods too. For the hungry birds and animals, I have used dogs to protect the crops,think”haze” and the farm animals also. Sheep are a great food for hungry coyotes that are pressed by humans to eat other than smaller foods. I got my start in farming at a racehorse stable and watched on my first-day coyotes trying to take down a foul, young horse.

With all this, I should say I have practiced nonlethal means successfully at home and believe that the way we haze with Border Collies is a real and humane solution for goose control. I believe what many noted officials and scientists think, that a barrier,physical or mental, between wildlife  and people is the way to go. It is not healthy to allow wildlife bigger than songbirds and squirrels into our yards; conflict is always a great potential. Banging pot and pans to get a bear to stay off and away can be very effective as well as having a good dog like a Border Collie haze to an intent to cause no harm for smaller predators can lead to good long-lasting solutions. This is what we do for goose control. It’s a tried and true solution that dates way back in human history.

Nowadays you don’t know really when spring will come. It seems unpredictable now. Some years spring shows up in February other times much later in April. On our homestead, where we live with our dogs, sheep, and poultry, we also have gardens. I remember planting vegetables in early March a few years back, here in New York State. Though warm weather is inviting to us humans, it plays havoc with all things nature. Snow protects the ground, farmers fields, and wild plants from cold weather and adds needed water to aquafers. Wildlife and trees and plants rely on the old school timing of the regular seasons. If songbirds show up in our northern climes when there is a warm-up and winter hits back, they are stuck for food and left to fight a hostile environment. Bees, for instance, can starve because their winter store of food gets used up with long winters and freeze if they think spring is here, and it is not.

I took the Border Collies on a walk-behind our Homestead a few weeks back. This would have been in the middle of January. The temperatures were very warm, almost 60. I can’t remember it ever being that warm in January. As we came out of a woods that overlooked a neighbor’s farm pond, we saw a pair of geese floating. A flock of migrating crows feed on the farmers harvested cornfield, eating corn kernels left behind. All I could think was it was way too early. The Border Collies looked surprised to see the “early birds.” The pair of geese would have to fly back downstate where it is a bit warmer as the winter did come back, to a degree. The flock of crows disappeared as well the following week.

However, it does pay to be ready and be adaptable with nature. As pairs of geese do show up, it is best to prevent them from nesting in places where they will trouble people. We have helped clients deal with geese nesting in parking lots and by doorways to buildings. In both cases, the male geese of the pairs would chase people, not allowing them to walk or enter buildings. Pairs of geese can show up on a property in early spring and set up a nest. They are highly territorial but have their own personalities. Some geese, pairs, are actually on the shy shy, but others are quite combative. People can get knocked over, kids scared, and they can go nose to nose with our herd-chasing Border Collies. That is why Border Collies are used to haze geese. Border Collies know how to defuse confrotations with sheep and with wild geese.

Border Collies have a strong drive, instant, to work/herd and to listen in partnership with their handlers. Border Collies are bred to be effective at moving sheep without causing harm/stress, and so it goes for geese. But that comes with a fair bit of knowledge on the humans part and a lot of “team” practice. So winter is a great time to practice herding the sheep. We also have poultry on our homestead, which are herded to and from areas they forage on. And that happens in a winter such as this without too much snow, not just in the warmer months. Otherwise, keeping the Border Collies happy with exercise if not a lot of outdoor time within reason is recommended. I will go off with some of the collies for lessons if not, “fieldwork” on larger farms,this is helpful to keep refining our skillsets.

Of course, catching up on some rest after a busy goose control season during the winter is great for my family and me. I think the collies and our one mix-breed dog begrudgingly appreciate the quieter winter too if it doesn’t last too long. Staying in touch with clients, setting up operational plans, and other office work starts in earnest after the Holidays. Some of our clients have geese regularly show up earlier than other clients. We have clients who use our services more in the summer. But if you have geese show up early in the spring or whenever they do, it’s easier and less confrontational to send them somewhere else by hazing them with Border Collies.