Dec 5th 09
We have finally have finished shearing the grown sheep and will now have a week or two off before we shear the rest of the lambs.
Shearing went fairly smoothly actually.
We had a lady shearer here and she was a very good shearer. She never complained, so set a bit of a standard for the men.
Once again I could never do what I do without my hard working dogs.
Sometimes it easy to forget how difficult it used to be before ‘dogs’
We had flapping bags, beeping horns and we always had lamb or hogget breaks.
It can take a bit longer to bring a mob in with dogs but at least the stock are not stressed and we bring them all in.
The sheep were woolly and sluggish this year so I have been using five dogs to make it a bit easier.
The only problem I have is fitting all the dogs on the bike at once.
Jake is a bit of a pain in this area, he is a big dog and sometimes pushes the other dogs off the bike unintentionally, so i am often stopping to put dogs back on. It is even harder with Sam on the back. I often put a dog on my lap as well to make a bit more room.
It is amusing actually. I never allow a dog to jump off before I feel the mob knows we are there and have relaxed a little. If the mob is surprised and spooked they can bolt off in fright and become difficult to handle. So I like to approach quietly and stop for a few minutes. When I say the word the dogs fly off in a flurry of legs and race off in all directions.
They quickly sort themselves out and take up a position and calmly start moving the sheep. They mostly work independently but if the sheep are looking to break one way it is not uncommon to have all the dogs on one side of the mob.
Fascinating to watch them, looking around to see what needs doing and checking to see where I am, so they know what direction we are going. They seem to totally ignore each other, yet rarely run into another dog.
Yard work is certainly a lot easier also.
Before we had dogs I used to have to get in with the sheep all the time and try to get them to run.
This can be a bit dangerous actually, sheep can hit and hit hard, so it is better to stay outside and let the dogs do all the work., especially as I get bit older. Sigh?
If we could get the dogs to open and close the gates I would not have to get in the yard at all.
We had a few minor dog breakdowns, Jake cut his paw, Drift had sore pads, Angel seemed a little stiff. Nothing major thankfully, just requiring a couple of days off.
The young dogs have been very bored, barking all the time and just generally being naughty, so I must try to get some work into them.
When the trialing season is finished I always think, ‘Oh, there’s lots of time to get the dogs trained for next season,’ But it rarely happens and another trialing season starts and my dogs still have the same problems. Oh well.
I have been collecting Peahen eggs to put in the incubator and have about 30 so far with one hatched, a coloured one. Hopefully I will get more babies soon.
Unfortunately when I find the eggs I never know how long the hen has been stting, so have no idea when they are due to hatch. So a bit of a guessing game really.
And so to bore all my interested readers, here are lots of photos of my dogs working.
Caleb, Jake and Rio.
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