An attempt to spread the word of Agriculture through my own experiences. Inspired by Advocates for Agriculture and their story on ABC's Landline on the 14th August 2011. Might take me a while to get this page up to scratch, but it should be fun trying.
Sharing's Caring
Thank you to everybody who has shared this blog. Sharing is the way these things work, otherwise I'm justing talking to myself. If you like what you read please tweet, Facebook or email it to your mates. The more people outside our agricultural circle we can reach the better. Don't forget to have a look at the other blogs I'm following too. Everyone has a story to tell.
You may have seen this video. I love it. The Peterson Brothers parody of the popular song I'm Sexy and I Know It by the group LMFAO (ask someone else what that stands for). I'm Farming and I Grow It. This isn't the first parody video involving farming I've seen, but it is by far the best. A lot of time and effort went into those few minutes we get to watch. The Kansas boys have done a remarkable job. In case you are the one of the last few people who haven't seen it, I've put the video below.
Greetings, and welcome to the Hotel De Feedlote, your premier pre embarkation resort for the discerning ovine. We trust your short stay with us will be pleasurable as we endeavour to meet your every whim and desire prior to your ocean cruise. Should anything not be to your satisfaction, please do not hesitate to make one of our many grounds staff aware of your concerns, and they will only be too happy to assist.
We have more than a few dogs here. We need them. When we first started the depot we had just two. The first day they thought it was great, chasing sheep all day. The second day they were still keen. The third day they stepped out of their cage half heartedly. The fourth day we had to coax them out with roo tails, and by the fifth day they flat out refused, mentioning something about the AWU. Thankfully they didn't know about Red Dog being a signed up member already, something I'm not keen to tell any of them, actually.
So we've gradually built our fleet of working dogs up over the last few years. We have paddock dogs, yard dogs, a truck dog, a couple of P platers, a few younger L platers and one poor bugger I'm not sure what to do with. But he seems happy staring at the horses all day, though I have warned him if he gets kicked in the head, thats it.
I took this video last week using Gemma's phone thingamy. This is why I don't have one myself, nothing would get done. This is Indy, one of our first dogs. She's going on nine, and we've got two litters out of here. Pure kelpie, they assure us, no dingo at all. Needless to say, when we take her out to the station she wears a bright collar, a muzzle, and if I could work out how to get one on her, a Hi-Vis vest. The dogging group is pretty on the ball out there, and the last thing we would need is for her to get lost while mustering.
These are a handfull of freshly shorn wethers. Mad as hatters, more likely to go over the fence than through the gate. From me opening the gate I gave one command "Back" which usually means left. (I say usually because when it comes to ballsing up lefts and rights, me and the dogs are on an even par.)
It is often said a good sheepdog is worth three men. Or ten, if your neighbour is telling the story. Watching a working dog in action is a thing of beauty. I have often said myself the day I train dogs to open gates is the day my casual workforce halves. All they want to do is please you and ask for nothing more than a pat and a good feed.
Blue, in training. Notice his big feet?
There a times however, when we ourselves confuse the dogs. The paddock we normally bring the sheep through into the yards might be in crop, so we decide to go another way. Now the dog know for themselves which way is the best way, regardless of what you might think, and it can take some explaining and cajoling to convince the dog the route we've taken since he was a pup is not the route we take today. Or maybe we decide to leave any straggler sheep behind, usually a cardinal sin. This goes against all the rules according to the dog, and again, much cajoling is needed. And dogs can give the best dirty looks.
But on this particular day, nothing could have prepared me for what happened. And it only happened because the dog listened to my exact commands and followed accordingly.
