November 12, 2005		Herding at the Mason's Farm
4H Goat Day		Livestock have never been worked by dogs before
Pete gathers sheep and steers		Sage gathers resistant goats
Pete has never worked cattle before, and this steer doesn't want to be his first		Sage assesses the job
Moving the sheep and steer		Walking out to the goats
Twice, the sheep and steer attempt to race off and join the 100+ head of goats, but Pete outruns and turns them back		Notice Randy chasing off the Guardian Dogs as Sage takes off on the initial outrun
The farm is 80 acres, so Pete and I hitch a ride with Randy out to the stock		resident Guardian Dog attacks Sage, Tammie chases her off
		Back on track, with Guardian Dog accompanying Sage
		Sage attempt to turn back an escapee
The steers stare down Pete		Walking down the escapee
Pete takes charge of the stock		"You WILL Turn Around, NOW!"

Testing The True Value Of Our Dogs

 Working unbroke stock that are resistant to moving where they are wanted

Yesterday morning a neighbor stopped by (actually lives three miles from here, but there are probably only a half dozen farms between his farm and ours).  He has about 100 boer goats, a dozen or so sheep and a couple of steers on his 80 acre farm.  He does not have a working stock dog.  He asked me if I was going to be busy later in the day.   He was going to have the local 4H Goat club over for a weenie roast in exchange for their help worming his  livestock.  The kids get the chance to work with the goats (many of them only have a couple of animals that they raise for the fair) and he gets free labor.  It was a good swap.

The only problem is that he can only trick about ¾ of his goat flock into the barn, and he can’t usually convince the remaining animals to go where he wants them to go.  He said that he has never inoculated nor wormed his sheep because he cannot catch them, at all.  And, the same goes for the two steers.  I asked why he didn’t feed them in a catch area and then shut a gate on them.  He said that he did try that, but the sheep would never allow themselves to be caught and the steers know how to double-back.  So, he was wondering if I might bring a trained dog over to get the animals into the barn for him.  The event was to start at 3:00.  Well, I had a herding student coming at 3:00, but I told him that I’d be able to get over there after that, if it wasn’t going to be too late.  He said he figured the kids wouldn’t all arrive until 3:30, so that would be fine.  I warned him that since his stock had never been worked by a dog that some gripping / biting of the animals might be required.  He said that these kids were tough farm kids so they wouldn’t mind, at all. 

So, at 4:00 Robert and I loaded up Sage and Pete and headed off to Randy’s farm.  Sage and Pete are completely different – like black and white.  Sage is the dog I'd use if the stock want to run away and need a dog to outrun them, requiring a dog to be very sensitive to their personal space.  Pete is the dog to use when grit is required.  In my mind, Pete’s flaws are Sage’s strengths, and Sage’s flaws are Pete’s strengths.  It would actually be incredible to have a dog that was a combination of the two animal’s good qualities.  I had never been to Randy's farm.  So, not knowing what the terrain nor livestock was going to be like, it was a good bet to take them both along.

As we arrived, we drove past a back pasture where the dozen or so sheep were standing among three horses.  Bad sign.  I won’t send a dog into a field to fetch sheep off of horses as horses can kill a dog.  The goats (well, those that they had not already gathered) were standing in a rolling 30 or so acre field that was flanked with woods.   I figured they would not be too difficult to fetch back to the barn.   Because it was a very large field and many of the goats were quite young, I chose to use Sage.  He would know how to manage the stock and would be able to run very wide and get behind them properly.  But, as I walked out to the field, I realized there was a problem.  Laying amongst the goats were two Great Pyrenees dogs.  I told Randy that they would most probably go after my dog.  Randy said he was 99% certain that wouldn’t happen.  I expressed my concern and then told him that he would have to accompany me into the field.  Since the G.P. dogs knew him, it would be his responsibility to make certain the dogs did not become an issue.

Sage has only worked goats once before.  When he was about 18 months old, I took him (and Pete) to a trial that I judged in Iowa.  They offered sheep, goat and cattle classes.   Years ago I worked Angora goats.  The goats at this trial were primarily dairy goats, which work a bit differently.  The first time we entered the take pen at the trial, a nanny that had a kid at her side (which is not really allowed per the rules of that organization) butted Sage directly in the head.  He was able to recover and complete the course.  Sage and Pete were run as “non-compete” in the trial since I was a judge, but they held the two highest scores both days.  But, since that time, neither dog has worked goats.  I wasn't certain whether these meat goats would work similar to the Angora or dairy goats or have a style all their own.

So, Randy promised to handle his guardian dogs and I sent Sage on an outrun around the goats.  Of course, just as I suspected, one of the Great Pyrs mixed dogs ran directly at Sage, hackles raised.  I called Sage back and then had to chase off the female guard dog, as Randy had his hands full with the male.  But, after a bit of authoritative communication with the dog, I was able to send Sage again and he did a quick job of getting the goats up to the barn, this time with the guardian dog trotting along, but not causing any problem.  Then, a bit of pen work was required to get them into the holding area where they could receive their wormer and get their hooves trimmed.  A few of the goats were resistant to go into the barn and tried to double back, but Sage handled them and convinced them otherwise.

 The sheep were next.  Fortunately, they had migrated away from the horses, but they were in a 2-3 acre paddock with the two steers.  This was a job for Pete.  Although neither Pete nor Sage have ever worked cattle, I felt that Pete would better handle that task (this is based on the fact that Pete shows no fear of our llamas, and Sage always give them a wide berth).  Oh, and I have never worked cattle before either.  Randy attempted to push the cattle far enough away from the sheep that they would not bother Pete when I sent him for the sheep.  But, the moment that Pete took off the sheep ran towards their protectors; the two steers!  So, now, moving the sheep was going to require moving the steers, as well.

One of the steers was very combative and tried to run down the dog.  Pete gave way in self preservation, but didn’t quit working.  He did his best, but the steer was making the job very difficult.  I felt that it would be best to move the group of sheep and cattle along the fence towards the barn, but what I didn’t realize was that the sheep could get through that fence, and they did, in true sheep fashion.  So, Randy, Pete and I took the ATV out to the 30+ acre field to get the sheep, hopefully before they joined the 100+ goats that Randy had allowed out after Sage had brought them in for treatment.   Pete and I took charge of the group of one steer and the sheep, and began to move them towards the barn.  Randy shouted to me, “I need to go cut off those goats!” and took off in the ATV.  He noticed the whole flock of goats making their way back to the barn, and used the vehicle to turn them back – making a clear path for Pete’s charges to get to the barn without grouping up with the goats.

 On two different occasions, as we made our way towards the barn, the sheep and steer took off on a mad dash towards the goats that were about 250 yards away.  But, Pete was able to get around them and turn them back.  It took a while, and darkness ascended before the job was done, but Pete and I were able to get the sheep and steers into the holding pen by the barn.  It was a really great experience. 

 It is amazing how these dogs can just get out of a vehicle at a strange farm and figure out the job with no “pre-game meeting” and no “warm up”.  I was able to see both dogs figure out the task on the spot and both of them took the job very seriously.  I was really proud of them and Randy was happy to be able to treat his livestock.  After the work was done, Randy's wife told me that they had recently lost three highly prized South African Boer Billies (estimated value at $2500 each) to barber-pole worms (determined after an autopsy when the last of the three dropped dead).  They absolutely needed to get their animals wormed, but without the help of Pete and Sage, the task could not have been completed.  That made the mad dash to get there and working into darkness all worth it to me.  The dogs, well, I think they just felt it was all in a day's work.

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