Agustín Lizana | Fotografía - BETWEEN PAMPA, ICE AND SHEPHERD DOGS

Livestock farmer José Antonio Kusanovic feeds his herd protection dogs. He has around 50 dogs that he trains for herding livestock. He works with different breeds such as the Spanish Pyrenean Shepherd and Pyrenean Mastiff, Maremma from Italy, Kangal from Turkey, and Tatra from Poland. Since they started with the breeding and training of these animals, predators have stopped approaching the cattle.

In the immense and frozen Patagonia, José Antonio Kusanovic describes himself as "a rare species in extinction". He says he is not afraid to live alone. For three generations his family has subsisted on cattle ranching and farming in the Magallanes Region of Chile.

"Where the animals go, we go". This is how the rancher describes his life's work. And he doesn't do it alone, but with his shepherd dogs. In the beginning, they were herding dogs like the barbucho. An animal capable of guiding two thousand sheep on its own.

But other challenges also arose along the way, among them, predation. It was common for pumas and red foxes to visit the land to eat the livestock. How to achieve harmony between wildlife and human presence?

Patagonian ranchers resorted to hunting. José Antonio describes it as "a remedy to a disease," but it was not the cure. That changed when the Kusanovic-MacLeods found a solution: the breeding of livestock protection dogs, an unusual practice in South America. Since then, José Antonio has dedicated himself to the breeding and training of protection and herding dogs at his ranch in Colonia Isabel Riquelme, Puerto Natales.

"Between pampa, ice and shepherd dogs" explores the work of one of the many ranchers of the vast and silent Patagonia and his close relationship with sheepdogs.

The characteristic wind of the area directs the branches of the native trees in the opposite direction. The strong winds come from the southwest and west. Its intensity can vary between 15 to 20 km/h and even reach 120 km/h in summer.

Portrait of José Antonio Kusanovic. "Where the animals go, we go". This is how the rancher describes his life's work. Kusanovic recalls that when he told his father that he was going to marry Tamara MacLeod, born and raised in Puerto Natales, he replied that it made sense since they were "two savages" in Patagonia.

The coat and hats worn by José Antonio to go out to work. His family has lived in the Magallanes Region for more than 100 years.

At dawn, José Antonio Kusanovic prepares to leave with his sheepdogs. They will accompany him to look for some lost cows.

Barnyard from the ranch in Colonia Isabel Riquelme. The Kusanovic-MacLeod family seeks to pollute as little as possible. They produce their own electricity using windmills.

A Magellanic dog, also known as barbucho, climbs into the truck on Kusanovic's orders. This shepherd dog is known in Patagonia for its great working capacity. Experts conclude that it arrived around 1870 from the Falkland Islands. It is believed that the original dog was a mestizo descendant of the Pyrenean shepherd that mixed with many sheep breeds to create the Chilean barbucho.

Sheepdogs look between the metal barriers of the truck waiting for the rancher to let them out to work.

A sheep shearing shed.

José Antonio Kusanovic looks for food for his dogs. In the background is sheep wool left over from shearing.

A rainy evening at the entrance of the ranch in Colonia Isabel Riquelme.