Jenny Kilbourne

My name is Jenny Kilbourne, I along with my husband run a homestead in Canterbury, NH. We own chickens and a herd of dairy goats that provide us and our children with food. In order for this to work without losses to predators we own a livestock guardian dog named Piper. She has become the heart of our homestead and does an incredibly great job keeping our animals alive. Whenever she can’t do her job due to her being at the vet for the annual check up or other hindrances the whole operation shifts, nothing works as it usually does when she is present. She isn’t just a random pet dog barking outside at thin air, she has a job and she takes it seriously. Piper does not bark all day, she certainly likes to just sit and watch for long periods of time or take a little snooze but she does need to bark, it is the most important part if keeping predators away. We live on a property that is less than 10 acres, the predators however are just the same as farms larger than 10 acres, they happen to only care about their prey, not the size of the property. It makes little sense to say a livestock guardian dog on a lesser property needs not to bark as much as one that is 10 acres or above. How does one prove every time a livestock guardian dog barks is due to a predator? Is every farm and every homestead and every backyard hobby farm now to set up cameras covering every inch of every acre to film all and ever predator that our livestock guardian dog barks at in order to not be fined thousands of dollars? What about sky predators? Do we point these cameras upwards too? Piper is exceptionally good at spotting birds of prey and running towards them as the chickens scramble to hide under brush and structures, however once in a while a hobby plane flies over our house and Piper barks at those too, I haven’t been able to explain the difference between an airplane and a large bird of prey to her yet. I can’t teach her not to bark because I NEED her to bark at large birds and one does not go without the other. Putting these restrictions on livestock guardian dogs limits a person’s ability keep their livestock safe and therefore a person’s ability to farm on their private property. I hope this bill is quickly turned down and the rights to farm without such restrictions for the people of New Hampshire isn’t infringed upon.