Post by thystledown on Sept 9, 2022 14:02:20 GMT -5
Don't know if this is a cow post or a dog post. I figure mods can move it. These are the calves (Heiferlump's), 400 lbs each. The Holstein is tame, the Jersey x Galloway is NOT. I sold them Wednesday and needed to get them confined for pick up. The brown calf broke his drag line:
Down beyond the hay ring is a shed that opens into the pasture. I got Topper our 2 year old English shepherd from our Tessie's first litter. I took him in the pasture where hubby is sitting on a 4 wheeler cussing and figuring how we will ever catch the wild calf. I also had Esther the springer heifer in with them. I had worked Topper on goats last year in the pasture, so he knew the layout. I told him "I need the calves in the shed, Top. Go get them." He gathered them up and started toward the shed--the brown calf broke and ran for the opposite corner of the pasture. Top outran and turned him. I asked him to come back and pick up the heifer too, just for practice, though generally in the pasture we work cows and calves separately. No problem. He moved them at a trot toward the corner where the shed is, then slowed as they warily approached the shed and folded back to keep them moving in the right trajectory, then applied pressure to make them pop into the shed and held them til we closed the door. Perfect job without my directing beyond telling him the job and some words of praise and asking him to come back for the heifer. He rated the amont of pressure and positioning all by himself. He had done this job with goats last year, but this was the first time with cows. We would have been run sick trying to do it ourselves. The 4 wheeler would not maneuver or turn quickly enough with the agile calves. Top did the job in less than 5 minutes. And he did not rush the stock or apply to much pressure. His mother would have hurried them and gripped hocks and maybe scattered them just for the fun of doing it all over again. She has grit and is useful in many situations, but Top is better as a dairy or goat or poultry dog. Not sure he will be able to work Beefers, but I'll give him some more age and experience and then we will see. Anyway, I grew up with working cow dogs on a dairy farm -all English Shepherds. Grandpa (born in 1900) was a breeder as were my father and uncles to a lesser extent. I can't say enough good about this breed, but they aren't all great dogs. Many are being bred that have never done herding work for generations but are still sold as "farm dogs" (let the buyer beware). I'm not breeding right now, so this isn't a plug to sell puppies. But I'm just so pleased at the work my first homebred English Shepherd is able to do. Dad always said he couldn't farm without the dogs--that they were essential to his operation. I loved seeing them work. Top doesn't get that kind of regular daily work with a whole herd of cows like the dogs of my childhood, but I am so very please that he CAN do the work, and he certainly saved us a lot of work. We would have been half a day trying to catch that brown calf and I don't know that we could have done it at all. But a 5 minute (or less) piece of cake for the dog.
Topper (black and white) and Teal (tri-color)
Down beyond the hay ring is a shed that opens into the pasture. I got Topper our 2 year old English shepherd from our Tessie's first litter. I took him in the pasture where hubby is sitting on a 4 wheeler cussing and figuring how we will ever catch the wild calf. I also had Esther the springer heifer in with them. I had worked Topper on goats last year in the pasture, so he knew the layout. I told him "I need the calves in the shed, Top. Go get them." He gathered them up and started toward the shed--the brown calf broke and ran for the opposite corner of the pasture. Top outran and turned him. I asked him to come back and pick up the heifer too, just for practice, though generally in the pasture we work cows and calves separately. No problem. He moved them at a trot toward the corner where the shed is, then slowed as they warily approached the shed and folded back to keep them moving in the right trajectory, then applied pressure to make them pop into the shed and held them til we closed the door. Perfect job without my directing beyond telling him the job and some words of praise and asking him to come back for the heifer. He rated the amont of pressure and positioning all by himself. He had done this job with goats last year, but this was the first time with cows. We would have been run sick trying to do it ourselves. The 4 wheeler would not maneuver or turn quickly enough with the agile calves. Top did the job in less than 5 minutes. And he did not rush the stock or apply to much pressure. His mother would have hurried them and gripped hocks and maybe scattered them just for the fun of doing it all over again. She has grit and is useful in many situations, but Top is better as a dairy or goat or poultry dog. Not sure he will be able to work Beefers, but I'll give him some more age and experience and then we will see. Anyway, I grew up with working cow dogs on a dairy farm -all English Shepherds. Grandpa (born in 1900) was a breeder as were my father and uncles to a lesser extent. I can't say enough good about this breed, but they aren't all great dogs. Many are being bred that have never done herding work for generations but are still sold as "farm dogs" (let the buyer beware). I'm not breeding right now, so this isn't a plug to sell puppies. But I'm just so pleased at the work my first homebred English Shepherd is able to do. Dad always said he couldn't farm without the dogs--that they were essential to his operation. I loved seeing them work. Top doesn't get that kind of regular daily work with a whole herd of cows like the dogs of my childhood, but I am so very please that he CAN do the work, and he certainly saved us a lot of work. We would have been half a day trying to catch that brown calf and I don't know that we could have done it at all. But a 5 minute (or less) piece of cake for the dog.
Topper (black and white) and Teal (tri-color)