Help Save the LGDs of Joyful Hearts Farm!
Dear Friends,
As development encroaches into the countryside and subdivisions spring up in previously rural areas, conflicts can occur between the established and the new. A good friend of ours, Joyful Hearts Farm, is facing such a situation.
Fern and Jeff have raised Nigerian Dwarf goats & rare breeds of poultry in Riverside County, California since 2005. They sell goat milk to feed orphaned pets and market animals for 4H projects, and soapmakers; homestead milkers, breeding stock, show stock, as well as offering farm fresh eggs to local customers, fertile hatching eggs, as well as baby chicks, and breeding stock in order to make their farm viable. They use two Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs), Maya and Bailey, to protect their livestock and poultry flocks from predators such as coyotes, bobcats and roaming dogs.
Unfortunately, neighbors have complained that the dogs bark too much and the Riverside County Animal Service (RCAS) held an Administrative Hearing and ruled that the dogs are a public nuisance. The California Right to Farm Act (CA Civil Code Section 3482.5) protects farmers in this type of situation. However, the Hearing Officer did not agree with CA State Law. The Hearing Officer acknowledged the Right to Farm Act for crop farmers and their implements used in farming, such as tractor noise, but not farmers of livestock who use Livestock Guardian Dogs, which is a common farming practice in this country.
Fern and Jeff have the Right to Appeal within a short window of time, and have contacted an attorney, who believes they can overturn the Hearing Officers decision and save Maya and Bailey. However, hiring an attorney costs money and the couple is on a fixed income and Fern is partially disabled. We are trying to raise $2500 so that the farm can retain an attorney and keep their dogs and livelihood.
Can you spare a few dollars to help save the goats and LGDs of Joyful Hearts Farm? Can you help this couple take on the bureaucracy who has deemed that you are not a farmer if you do not sow oats? Every dollar counts in this battle, no amount too small!
You can learn more about Joyful Hearts Farm from their website at www.joyfulheartsfarm.com.
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