Farm Fresh Blog

If you're trying to run a farm without a farm collie, you're cheating yourself and doing a lot more work than you should. Note that I said "farm collie," not Border Collie, since an Aussie, a Cattle Dog, an English Shepherd, or even a Belgian may fit your needs just fine. Get a dog that's been bred to be a FARM COLLIE, a stock dog. I just mentioned a few of the more common breeds, there are others.

"But I do just fine without a dog. Why should I bother with another mouth to feed? My animals come just fine to a bucket of feed."

No, they don't. You're kidding yourself. MOST of the time they come to a bucket. The times they don't you are left stalking around the pasture throwing buckets at cows.

A dog will eliminate all that foolishness.

Let me give you an example. Each night I put the sheep and goats in their pen and release the big calves and male goats into the front pasture. In the morning I put everyone up and release the sheep and girl goats again. I don't feed anyone but the barn cats, I just rotate animals. The cows are not in a big hurry to go up. If I relied on a bucket, I'd have to feed these heifers every time I wanted to move them.  This is unnecessary because I have a farm collie.

Lily knows where everyone belongs. There is very little discussion about it.

 Note the large calf in the background. That is Delta the Flying Cow. She knows the game too, and is waiting to see if the dog sees her.

 First Lily gathers the wild one bucking around the pasture in the cold, then she scoops up everyone else  - including Delta.

 And then she stops. Just like that. When the last calf has filed in, she stops at the gate. This took Lily about one minute. I would still be throwing buckets at cows. Instead, I stood there, drinking a frappuccino and taking pictures.

And the best part?

Unlike paid farm help or family farm help, the farm collie is always ready to work. He or she does not have to be dumped out of bed and pumped full of coffee just to get some work out of them. The farm collie asks nothing more than a happy game of fetch after a job well done.

So if you have a farm, do yourself a favor - get a farm dog.