August 19th 2010

Mayanup sheep dog club held its annual three sheep trial over the weekend at Ken and Jenny Athertons farm at Arthur River.

It is only a 40 min drive for me so I travelled each day. This worked fine except when I had an early morning run but at least I got to sleep in my own bed each night.

The grounds are lovely and picturesque but the sheep were somewhat challenging as they usually are here.

As an example, in the novice there were only about 13 scores out of 48 entries and of those scores only about 8 that were over 40. The improver event had 30 out of 59 scores and the open had 35 out of 77 runs that managed a score

When the sheep decided to run they did, at top speed down the fence, and often split in two or three directions.

Even after being relatively well broken in they still would not settle and flow making it difficult to get them into the obstacles.

The course was a supreme course which many people had not experienced before but it was good to try something different.

Calebs run was probably the best for me. We made it to the pen but then preceded to run off all the points we had saved. A lot of others also did the same thing, and there were not a lot of pens over the weekend.

Leena disappointingly did not see the sheep and crossed. Angel had two nice steady runs for two scores. She is slow but rarely does anything wrong out there. Calebs other run was unlucky when the sheep bolted before he could pick them up and he crossed. Driftz also made the pen and a score in the improver but I scratched her from her open run as she was once again a bit lame.

It was showery and cold for the first two days then cleared, in fact Sun was quite warm.

Due to the drought like conditions here this year no-one was complaining about the rain.

Rocky Roxy (Swagman Clancy X Glenview Lucky)and Frank Sutherland. Roxy is Balto's auntie. These sheep were typical and as you can see they are ready to run.

Jane Dorrell and Rocky Dusty. (Swagman Clancy X Glenview Cloud) Jane did well over the weekend, placing in both the Novice and the improver and winning the agregate trophy.

Ken Atherton and Balto's dad Ramulam Gus ( Boylee Doug X Branga Spec) about to pen.

Gordon Curtis and Binnaburra Tuff ( Jendara Tuff X Binnaburra Connie) Closing the gate carefully.

Jenny Atherton and Ramulam Don ( Princes Tom X Branga Spec) working the gap. This proved to be a tricky obstacele. If you didnt manage to get them through before they ran around it you had to spend quite some time convincing them to go through the middle. Judge is Glenice Web.

Jenny Palm having an encourage run with Gordon Curtis assisting. Not sure what the hand signals were about.

The dog is the lovely Badgingarra Gem. (Badgingarra Jock X Ramulam Hannah).

Judy Jones and Christies Duke  ( Glenview Loftie X Delapre Queen) Driftz's brother ,still going well at 11 years old.

Hungry sheep at the letouts.

Thirsty sheep at the end of the trial.

　On the farming front things have really looked up with 34 mls of much needed rain. Hopefully the grass will start to grow again before the season cuts out altogether.

Lambing is going well and we have finished crutching and drenching.

We will shortly shear some culls then have a short break before lambmarking. This is the most hectic time of the year for us, and as usual I will be glad when it is all over.

Two of Rio’s puppies have switched and I am happy with what I see. I also had a look at Jenny Palm’s little Yetta and she looks impressive too. I will try to get some videos up soon.

Clover, showing nice eye.

My dogs grazing on the crop. (Well, they are sheepdogs)

The three RioXJake pups and Balto.

Yindi being mobbed by the puppies.

Peachy, Leena and Balto having a sprint.

Balto, racing with Peachy and Clover on one side and Leena on the other, followed closely by Driftz and Angel.

Crutched Hoggetts, kicking up dust before the rain.

Leena's pups, Ginger and Spice, having a nap.

Could this be lamb Daycare perhaps?

We almost never get black lambs so these three were a bit of a surprise.

The next two trials are at Dowerin Field day and then the states at Ballidu. Unfortunately I will miss them both due to lambmarking but I hope to get to Margarat River in October.