Tansy Gets a New Sister

We initially chose our Dorper sheep for one reason - they are a self-shedding meat breed, so we would not need to get a smallfarmer shearer in (which costs a lot if you have no plant or shed). They originated in South Africa, where over the years they, of course, adapted to their native surroundings. They do well in New Zealand, but, unfortunately, not too well in wet conditions. We have had two very wet winters in a row, and we are flat, so we have had to yard them very frequently and check and trim their feet.

We only have two of our original mums left (see previous blogs) but they have passed on certain characteristics to their daughters, namely : run up and put your head in the bucket for nuggets, allow patting, follow the bucket ONLY TO 20 METRES TO THE YARD GATE - then turn round and CHARGE AT THEM.

Believe us, we have bred big girls. A large woolly missile projecting itself at chest height is one to duck! We have learned it takes 3 persons or 1 person and a good dog to yard our wily sheep. Anyway, Denise has been lamenting for some time our lack of a dog, and we started asking around friends and neighbours if anybody knew of a retiring sheepdog with heading abilities (i.e. a strong eye to stare the sheep down and make them retreat). Our good friend Jean who lives on a large station in South Wairarapa came to our aid and was able to negotiate such a dog, belonging to the owner.

We started to get prepared. We had been told the dog responded to a whistle and swearing. A second plastic whistle was purchased. A Google search revealed a standard set of whistle tones for various commands (e.g. tweet tweet tweeeet = STAY, you bugger!) and one site even had all the tones! Problem was, neither of us was very good at producing any tone!
The dog whistles. One of us managed to produce a noise and tones relatively quickly; the other took several hours to produce a monotone and has apparently, since, given up altogether! (I think she has sussed that the dog doesn't appear to respond to any tonal variations anyway!)


So, last Saturday, we travelled down to South Wairarapa and picked up KATE, who is an 8 year old Beardie cross, and very Large. Jean had warned us she is a SHEEPDOG and has always been a working SHEEPDOG and she has always lived OUTSIDE and she is very used to living OUTSIDE. So, in the meantime, whilst we are still busy planning to build Kate her own roomy house, she is resident in the calf pen in our shed at present.

Kate on the day of her arrival at Fossils Retreat. That's a soft bed on a palette we have made up for her you can see inside the pen, but we don't think she knows what it is for

So Kate, after 3 days, seems to have settled in. She has now discovered her warm blanket bed. We did have one go at seeing if and how she works, but she seemed more interested in exploring our stream and having a wade (it was very hot) but she did come to the party eventually, barking and helping move the sheep.

We gave Kate a bath on her second day here, and gave her a bit of a trim. Isn't she lovely?

She is very good out in the paddocks and keeps to herself. She is not too fond of our two Dexter cows, Bella and Bonnie. Bonnie, in particular, who always births black calves, is absolutely certain that Kate is a renegade Dexter calf, and tries to run after her for a smell at every opportunity.

Things we are gradually learning about Kate :

1. She is really an agility dog ...
Kate showing remarkable speed and agility in fence hurdling to get away from curious Bonnie (out of picture) who thinks she is a Dexter calf.