Herding

Mountain climbing sheep

Posted by kenleighacres on April 29, 2012
Posted in: Border Collie, Dog Photography, Farm Life, Herding, Jacob Sheep, sheep, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . 11 Comments

Joan at Mud Ranch is hoping to add a border collie to help with their sheep chores.  They are going to get a trained dog, but the sheep need some training as well.  Jacob sheep can be challenging for a dog, they like to intimidate and some do a little more than intimidate…especially when they have lambs.  I offered to bring Kate with me when I came to visit and work with their sheep a couple of times.   You can read Joan’s tale of the day on her blog.

Kate and I had a slightly different take on it 😉

Her sheep have mountains and they are very good at climbing them!

I love the look on her face in this photo.  Kate had never seen anything like it!

She is used to working on flat ground without any obstacles.

The sheep thought they had outsmarted her, but after convincing her that the sheep were up there (she couldn’t see them) she went up and around and brought them back to the barn for us.

 

I forgot how much fun it could be to work ‘challenging’ sheep.  Most of our sheep are ‘dog broke’ meaning they are used to being worked by a border collie and ‘give’ to her when she puts pressure on them.  We have individuals that still like to give Kate a run for her money, but for the most part she has done a good job training them.

It took her a little while to get a feel for the different environment and the different sheep…

but she soon had them bunched up together.

She had to keep going left and right or in herding terms ‘away’ and ‘come by’, but she managed to keep them together so we could get a closer look at all the lambs.

It was much warmer than she is used to and her tongue was hanging WAY out in no time at all.

Luckily there was a little creek close by for a cool down.

Mud Ranch

Posted by kenleighacres on April 26, 2012
Posted in: Border Collie, family, Farm Life, Herding, Jacob Sheep, Photography, sheep. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

I will never forget my first visit to Mud Ranch, I swore I would never drive there again!  The road is twisty and turny with several places where the road turns back on itself.  Since then, I have become very good friends with Joan and driving to see her and all of our friends at Mud Ranch make the drive worth it.  Plus, the drive really is beautiful!  This is the first time I made the trip with a trailer though, I am happy to say that it went just fine 🙂

The welcoming committee was just as sweet as at Mendenhall’s.

When we pulled in, the three bottle lambs came running at us and Kate immediately felt like she needed to control them.  I did tell her that she was going to get to work sheep, but this isn’t what I had in mind.

After unpacking the truck and settling in, we headed out to see sheep.  The kids were very happy to play in the creek.

I wish every child could experience the imaginative play that comes with playing next to a creek.  They had little horses that were floating on logs down the ‘raging’ river.

While they enjoyed themselves, we had Kate gather the sheep and looked at all of the beauties.

There were many that I liked and I did a little bit of ‘in person’ shopping…

here is one that will probably call Oregon home in the future.

I also got to see some familiar faces…

Lancelot moved to California last August and he has matured nicer than I could have hoped for!

Joan has told me about his personality, that he is a funny guy and he was certainly showing off that evening.  He was having fun stirring things up.

The weather was outstanding while we were there.  We enjoyed a fire on the back porch and…

SMORES 🙂

   

Good memories!

After a visit that was too short, we were back on the road and headed for home.

Tomorrow’s post will be about Kate’s adventure with Joan’s mountain climbing sheep!  It was an adventure.

Lots of blue!

Posted by kenleighacres on April 25, 2012
Posted in: Farm Life, Herding, Jacob Sheep, sheep. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

California did not disappoint 🙂  Plenty of blue skies and sunshine.

After a couple stops in Oregon, the trailer was full and we were on our way.  We had 5 jacob lambs, 5 Romney lambs, 3 Romney ewes, and a Wensleydale ram.  While my son and I enjoyed the warm weather, the poor sheep weren’t sure of the 95 degree weather.  It was quite a change from the wet, soggy, cool NW!

We arrived at our first destination Friday night and more importantly it was where all of the sheep were getting off the trailer.

The Mendenhall Wool Ranch is beautiful and their welcoming committee made my son feel right at home…

He was in heaven!

I loved looking at all of the sheep and the colors.

They raise Romneys – white and natural colored.

 

As well as white and natural colored Merinos.

I also really enjoyed this little dog work.  Her name is Jill and she is only 6 months old.  She had the maturity and work ethic of a much older dog.

She had so much confidence and self-assurance, even with sheep all around her.  Nothing like watching a good dog work sheep!

Dapper Dan, Felice, and Hoopla will be making the big trip with the Mendenhall’s all the way to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.  From there they will be going to New Jersey and New York.  They looked good when we left Saturday morning.

 We headed North Saturday morning, but we had another stop in California before heading home.

A visit with our good friends at Mud Ranch!  More about our visit there tomorrow.

Great way to start the day!

Posted by kenleighacres on March 27, 2012
Posted in: Border Collie, Farm Life, Herding. Tagged: , , . 3 Comments

Especially if you are a border collie 🙂

It was time for my brother to move the cows to another piece of property and we went along to help if needed.

My son had a great time warming the dogs up by playing a little ‘fetch’ with them.

Newt is Rose’s brother and is just as obsessed with retrieving as she is.

Time to go to work!

The goal was to move the 120 mama cows and their calves to the working pens and separate them, so they could be trailered to the new property.  My brother parked his truck and trailer across the road and we were to block the holes and convince the cows to go into the pens.

Here they come!

I just love the little guys!

Kate wasn’t sure what we were doing…these big things didn’t look like sheep or geese or anything else she has worked before.

She was happy to bring up the rear with the other dogs though.

The cows were very cooperative and it went a lot smoother than my brother was anticipating.

Next, the calves had to be separated into a different pen.  This is for their safety while in the trailer.  The cows are moved first and then the babies are brought over later and everybody is paired back up.

There was a lot of bellowing going on.

The dogs were very eager to help, unfortunately they weren’t really needed for this job, so they had to sit back and watch.

In no time at all…

the calves were all in one pen and it was time to get the trailer.

The dogs could feel that the job was done and this guy took advantage to roll in something REALLY good 😉

 Kate thinks she would like to do this again very soon.

Moving the boys

Posted by kenleighacres on May 19, 2011
Posted in: Border Collie, Farm Life, Herding, Jacob Sheep. Tagged: , , . 11 Comments

Jacob ram lambs can be fertile at a very young age.  I try to have them weaned by 3 months, but some of them are now 4 months old and still with their moms.  Weaning them has been on my list of things that need to get done, but the weather has been so wet that I haven’t been very motivated.  The sun is now shining and there is grass growing EVERYWHERE, so moving the boys finally made it to the top of the ‘to do’ list.

I gathered my helpers…

  Kate, the best helper anyone could ask for and

Dreamer, the next best helper for moving reluctant lambs where I want them to go.

I sorted the ram lambs off and moved them out of the barn.  The plan was to move them to a pasture that needs to be grazed.  Dreamer was happy to follow me and Kate was happy to follow, giving a push when it was needed.

Unfortunately, the ram lambs weren’t sure about leaving their moms and sisters in the barn.  Kate wasn’t giving them an option though.

Little by little we headed in the right direction.  When the lambs stopped, Dreamer would stop and look at them and I swear I saw him roll his eyes once or twice.

A few of them tested Kate, but pretty soon they figured out that following Dreamer and moving forward was a good idea.

Pretty soon, they were settled in the new pasture.

Merlin, Lancelot, and Tristan

Kate really doesn’t like water and it took me a long time to teach her that getting in the stock tank really was ok, now she happily runs over and cools off after working.

and she tells me that nothing feels better than rolling around in the grass after a nice soak 😉

Moving the yearling boys also needed to be done because they were starting to drown in grass!

Now that is better, I can see their legs…kind of 😉

The ewes are now in the pasture they were in and I’m hoping they can get a handle on the grass.  Thanks to all of the rain we have had, mowing isn’t going to be an option for a long time!

A little visit to Rocking Dog Ranch

Posted by kenleighacres on August 9, 2010
Posted in: Border Collie, Dogs, family, Farm Life, Herding. Tagged: , , . 8 Comments

This morning we loaded a few dogs in the car and headed up I5 to visit our good friend, Lora.  It was time for Rose to visit some other sheep and I was looking for some guidance on the best way to start her.  I also think it is good for my son to work with someone other than his mom with his dog 🙂  It helps that he adores Lora!

The dog…

the sheep…

and the beauty…

that is herding!

It was so funny listening to my son while Lora was working with Rose – ‘Lora is the best trainer’ and ‘Look at how fabulous Rose is’ and ‘We should come here every week’ and ‘I can’t believe how good she is doing’.  He cracks me up!

After Rose, Gypsy had a go. 

Gypsy is a daughter of Nell, my second favorite border collie, right behind my Katie girl.

Here is Nell telling the Cheviots to ‘move’ 🙂

Before we left, Nell brought the sheep up to the barn so I could see the new ram – Sam.  He is mostly Blueface and is from Tammy’s farm.

In fact, we visited him when he was a baby.  He has grown up a lot!

A good morning with good friends!

A great weekend at the Calapooia Classic

Posted by kenleighacres on July 29, 2010
Posted in: family, Herding. Tagged: , , , , . 4 Comments

Towards the end of July, in a little town called Sweet Home, is a great herding event called the Calapooia Classic.  This is an Australian Shepherd Club of America trial and it was packed full of…

sheep herding…

duck herding…

cattle herding…

photo by Kristine Gunter

conformation showing…

photo by Kristine Gunter

obedience…

and good friends!

Ken and Debbie Lyle, along with their daughter Amy, are wonderful hosts.  I know their hard work is truly appreciated. 

This is my son’s favorite new friend – Shirley.

Here he is with Shirley and her owner, Stacey.  He was Stacey’s little shadow most of the weekend.  Everyone was so good with him and it was so nice not having to worry about where he was. 

We couldn’t ask for a nicer camping spot – down in the trees and next to the river.  It was a hot weekend and we took several dips in the river.

Good times and fun memories!

To see all of the photos that Kristine and I took, you can see them here – That’ll Do Photography

Let’s go herding!

Posted by kenleighacres on March 29, 2010
Posted in: Border Collie, Dogs, Farm Life, Herding, Jacob Sheep, sheep, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . 3 Comments

I started herding with my Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Darby, a little over 8 years ago and have been teaching lessons off and on for almost 5 years.  My son has been watching for almost that long.  He started watching from his stroller while eating Cheerios and now he enjoys taking lessons of his own.

Kate is very willing to be his lesson dog!

These boys are the ‘herding’ sheep.  They have been trained to work nicely for the beginning dogs. 

My son loves that they follow him around 🙂

I didn’t realize how much he has learned by watching for so many years until he was working Kate last week.  He was flawless with the directional commands.  The directional commands are ‘come by’ (clockwise) and ‘away’ (counter clockwise).  They are the most challenging thing to learn when you start herding.  He is hooked and has already asked if Kate can be ‘his’ dog 🙂

This is Apache and she has been coming for lessons for a couple months. 

I love how she works…

she is mindful in her work and very respectful to her sheep.

She is beautiful to watch!

One of my pet peeves when it comes to herding is when people see the sheep as a tool or piece of equipment.   My goal when I go out to move our sheep is to do it with the least amount of pressure.  I don’t want them to be run around and I certainly don’t want to cause them stress.

I like this definition from Wikipedia – Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group, maintaining the group and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those.

It really rubs me the wrong way when someone calls and asks if they can come chase my sheep with their dog.  Chasing is NOT herding and is NOT allowed here.

My search for chasing came up with hounds chasing animals for the hunter and dogs chasing small prey animals.

Herding dogs must exhibit the stalking and chasing aspects of prey drive, but should have a strong inhibiton to prevent them from wounding stock.

So, let’s have fun and go HERDING 🙂

Puppies and Duckies

Posted by kenleighacres on January 21, 2010
Posted in: Call Ducks, Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Farm Life, Herding. Tagged: , . 4 Comments

Remember the puppies from this post?  They came for a visit yesterday!!! 

The breeder and our friends, Jim and Debbie, wanted to see how much herding instinct they had.  My ducks were perfect for this task.  I originally got my ducks for herding with my dogs, but they haven’t been worked in awhile.  They were very good for the puppies and the puppies did great.

My son was a great helper and encouraged the puppies, while I took pictures.  This is Buster, the lone boy.

He showed them all how it was done.

Little Trixie is staying with Jim and Debbie and will have a lot of herding opportunities in her future!

They are going to have their hands full.  She is a little pistol…

but very sweet.  Mmmmm – duck poo kisses 🙂

This girl is my favorite and it is a good thing she has a home.  She is so sweet and wanted to get loves and hugs from the people instead of playing with the ducks.  I love that face 🙂

The Chosen Ones

Posted by kenleighacres on August 1, 2009
Posted in: Farm Life, Herding, Jacob Sheep. Tagged: , , , . 5 Comments

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These are the lucky lambs, even though they may not agree 🙂  In most jacob flocks they would be considered culls and they will never be used for breeding here, but they serve a very important purpose…

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they are used for herding lessons. 

They would normally be headed to the freezer this fall (some may still end up there) but for now they are earning their keep.  Kate helped me dog break them and they are working out great for lessons.  Dog broke sheep are accustomed to being worked by dogs and are a must have for teaching beginning dogs.  The sheep tend to stay next to the person and your focus can be on the dog and not the sheep.  Jacob sheep aren’t usually used but they have worked well for us and it gives these guys a job.  

There are a lot of criteria that a jacob sheep has to meet to be registered, plus I have certain flock goals, which means we have a lot of lambs that aren’t sold as breeding stock.  They have to have the right coloring, correct structure, good horns, nice fleece, and an acceptable temperament.    

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This guy is missing black around his one eye and his horns on the left have issues.

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This girl is a little dark in color and her side horns aren’t as strong as I would like.

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This boys major draw back is that he is a 2-horn.  There isn’t a very big market for 2-horn jacob rams, everybody likes the impressive 4-horns.  So unless there is something really special about the 2-horn boys, I wether them.  This guy’s horns took a funny dip when I wethered him and it makes him look a little silly.

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Here is another one with silly horns.  I think she actually has 6-horns with the top ones fused together.  She is also missing the black around her right eye.

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This girl was originally sold as breeding stock, but her horns started tipping forward.  I wasn’t sure how bad they would end up being, so I replaced her with another lamb.  I’ll wait to see how she looks as a yearling.

The rest are mainly 2-horn boys.  In addition to being used for herding lessons they will also provide some really nice fleeces.

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This is Teia – a blue merle australian shepherd – owned by Tammy.  She is just over a year old and is learning how to be a sheep dog.

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She has a great sense of humor…

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that I don’t think the sheep appreciate 🙂