border collies

All posts tagged border collies

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.

Kate’s other job

Posted by kenleighacres on January 31, 2012
Posted in: Border Collie, Dogs, Farm Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

My border collie, Kate, is a huge help here on the farm…

she is wonderful with the moms and babies.

Even when the babies get a little too curious.

But she also has another job.  It is our duty to keep a local college free of geese.  Here is a little bit of information regarding hazing geese with border collies.  The most effective way to humanely control the goose population is to introduce a ‘predator’ into the environment.  Since it isn’t practical (or safe) to reintroduce wolves, coyotes, and foxes into commercial and residential areas, specially trained dogs are the natural answer.  Geese that are harassed on a regular schedule by border collies will seek a safer place to live and raise their young.  Geese are beautiful and I love watching them, but when each one of these guys…

is leaving 2-3 lbs. of waste a day, it gets nasty, pretty quick!  They also eat 2-5 lbs. of grass in a day – leaving a muddy, poop covered landscape behind them.   

Kate and I have been visiting the college for 3 years and the flock of geese that called this location home has decreased dramatically.  Unfortunately, it is the perfect place for flocks that are flying through to stop and take a break.   This gives Kate steady work and she loves it!

She is always looking, but we couldn’t find any geese on the ground today.

The sky was full of them.

and plenty in the pond, but nothing for my girl to focus her attention on.

That is, until these three flew in.

I love this goose and have been trying to get good pictures of it for quite a while. 

It is some sort of cross – the colors and patterns are so fun.

As an extra bonus, we had geese to chase when we got home as well.  I have been very careful to save our grass for my mammas and babies, there are plenty of empty fields in our area for these guys to get a free meal somewhere else!