Mention sheep herding and most people flip through a mental image of rolling green hills, stone fences, and a black and white, rough coated dog bringing in the sheep.
Or Babe the famous movie star pig.
By definition, herding means to keep a group together for a specific purpose. More commonly herding is the word used to describe the action of working with a dog to move livestock.
Moving livestock with sheep dogs is a century old practice. While the shepherds trek of walking stock to market has been taken over by truck and trailer the work a stock dog does on the ranch is still unrivaled.
There is nothing stagnant in sheep herding. Human, dog and sheep in constant stimulation to one another creates a jackpot of never ending interactions.
Add to this the nature of humans to stifle the natural energy that is the catalyst of herding and you begin to see why sheep dog training is suited to the intrepid individual.
Livestock and dogs react to one another in a natural language of energy and intention that both understand. This language of energy and intention is the essence of why sheep dogs are so remarkably priceless.
The trend of moving livestock with Quads and pick up trucks is second rate because livestock cannot understand the intention of vehicles.
Put another way, sheep herding done by a dog is a dialogue of instinct occurring between dog and sheep. The shepherd acts as interpreter, reading one and guiding the other in order to collect and move livestock where needed.
Handling sheep with dogs is both a necessity and a pass-time we have become very fond of at Dog Tale Ranch.
Raising sheep in a natural grass based manner requires some means of moving the flock from pasture to pasture frequently. Herding dogs also help us move sheep through handling systems for treatments and with sorting sheep for various purposes.
Our first ten sheep came to the ranch because of a dog. A tall, lanky, ordinary looking border collie type of unknown or mixed pedigree. He had previously arrived into our lives at a year old with a total accumulated history of male, border collie, stray, picked up on 42st.
Since that time, we've opened our minds to the potential of numerous breeds of dogs who are capable of herding. We've taken a foray into hosting herding events to help unfold and showcase this potential.
We've made the leap from ten hobby sheep to raising sheep for our livelihood. This in turn was our segue into grassland farming and an alternative outlook on agriculture and to sharing our passion in these pages.
