Italian Guard Dogs Save Australian Farms $1B in Losses

Leo Tompkins watched helplessly as wild dogs wiped out every single lamb on his Central West NSW farm, year after year. Then he brought home a fluffy white Maremma guardian dog, and everything changed.

Within months of adding the first dog to his Wattamondara property, sheep deaths dropped drastically. After getting a second Maremma, predation stopped almost entirely. "We found that we had barely any predation issues whatsoever," Tompkins said.

The numbers tell a striking story. Tompkins had been losing up to 75% of his mature ewes and entire lamb crops to wild dogs. Feral predators cost Australian farmers nearly $1 billion each year in livestock deaths and damage, according to government agriculture data.

Maremmas are an Italian breed that have guarded flocks for thousands of years. Unlike herding dogs, their instinct is to live with livestock and defend them from threats. Their sheer presence sends a powerful message to predators: stay away.

University of Tasmania researcher Linda van Bommel has studied these guardian dogs for 20 years. She surveyed 150 farms using Maremmas and found remarkable results. Two thirds of farmers said predation stopped completely after their dogs started working, while another 30% saw major decreases.

One farm went from zero surviving lambs to a 70% lambing success rate, simply by adding guardian dogs. "That difference can determine whether a farmer can keep running their business with a profit, or it's just not viable anymore," van Bommel said.

The dogs need proper training to bond with their flock while remaining approachable to humans for feeding and veterinary care. Farmers introduce puppies to livestock young, gradually building positive supervised and unsupervised time together.

The Ripple Effect

The solution is catching on across Australia. Paul Gibbs, a senior biosecurity officer with Central Tablelands Local Land Services, is now running guardian dog workshops to help more farmers learn the method. He wants producers to understand both the potential and the responsibility of adding these working dogs to their operations.

The challenge isn't the dogs themselves but the lack of accessible training information. "There's very little information available for farmers who actually want to try guardian dogs," van Bommel said. "Everybody's pretty much left reinventing the wheel for themselves."

She believes Maremmas are probably one of the most effective predator control methods Australia has, especially compared to expensive predator-proof fencing. Tompkins agrees. He looked at multiple options and found guardian dogs were the most economical choice for his farm.

As more farmers share their success stories and training workshops spread, this ancient Italian solution is giving Australian agriculture a modern win against a billion-dollar problem.