We're back in Ireland!

Yes, we are back in our Irish home: Jessie, Floyd, Jai and Suki are with me.
This time, I am trying to accomplish one big task: fencing the land behind our house. This piece of land comprises 6 small fields and our little hill is in it too. We are clearing the hill and the dry walls of all sorts of weeds and saplings, and the fence will go around the perimeter, so the sheep will be able to move around unless we block the gaps in the walls, and we hope they will not jump them (too much).

Our little hill was covered in shrubbery, wich we took down and made a bonfire of :)

 

 The rest of the rubbish that isn't burnable, we're burying.

How empty and big the hill looks now!

 

 The end result looks pretty good...

I can already imagine sheep wandering on it, eating their belly's full of lush grass :)

Happy New Year!

We wish everyone all the best for 2016, and I hope you enjoy this poem:

Another year, another chance
 To start our lives anew;
 This time we’ll leap old barriers
 To have a real breakthrough.

 

We’ll take one little step
 And then we’ll take one more,
 Our unlimited potential
 We’ll totally explore.

We’ll show off all our talents
 Everyone will be inspired;
 (Whew! While I’m writing this,
 I’m getting very tired.)

We’ll give up all bad habits;
 We’ll read and learn a lot,
 All our goals will be accomplished,
 Sigh...or maybe not.

 

Oh well, Happy New Year anyway!

By Joanna Fuchs

Moving Sheep on All-Souls Day

We didn't know there was going to be such a fog when we decided to move the sheep today, but we did it anyway. I took Jessie and Suki with me: Jessie because she knows the drill as she has been doing this every year for 5 years now and Suki because she is very good covering the flanks.

The sheep that was in a nearby field for 2 weeks now jumped the ditch without hesitating to join the flock again, what was a relief to us because that meant we didn't have to make a detour to pick it up.

It was a bit tricky when we had to walk on the road a few times but everything went well, considered. We picked up two groups in Steendorp and walked through Temse village to Tielrode where we put them in the marsh there, a walk of about 5 kilometers.

There were two times when a small group in the back took a wrong turn, but Jessie brought them back on track, while Suki helped me to block them so they turned in the right alley and caught up with the others again.

Finally, we reached the marsh and drove them in, and the flock disappeared into the fog....

Well done, Suki...

... and Jessie!

Suki's first time of moving lambs

Last week, I got a call from the Sheep Farm, could we please come and help to move a flock of ewes with lambs? They tried it once before on their own, but the lambs scattered over the place and they were working for hours with a few people to move them 2 kilometers....

Of course we'd like to come and help! Jessie was used to it anyway from previous years with the former shepherd, and it would be an opportunity to take one of the youngsters with me for some "real work". I decided to take Suki, as I think she is the one who is the most cool in the head. A good choice, as it turned out.


The shepherdess setting up the portable fence at the new grazing area:

 Helping to put up the portable fences:

 Jessie and Suki inspecting the fences, wondering where the sheep were...

 After we had set up the fences for the new grazing area, we went a few kilometers further to collect the sheep. From there we were going to drove them to the new grazing area. Jessie run out to gather them all and brought them to us, and off we went...


Jessie and Suki having a look at their charges:

At first I had Suki on the long line, to keep her with me in the rear gard. I covered the left rear flank and Suki the right rear flank of the flock, as the shepherdess and her father covered the left front flank and Jessie the right front flank. Then there was the young son who drove his step up and down the left flank which was also the side where the cycling and footpath was. The dogs had to keep the lambs from wandering too far too the right into the shrubbery.

When we were halfway, I saw Suki understood her job and let go of the long line. She worked nicely alongside me, keeping behind the flock and keeping them from straying.
As we reached our destination a little group of lambs tried to escape into the shrubbery, but Suki proved again she had the job covered, and brought them back in a calm way.

All we had to do was push them into the new grazing area, that was no problem for the dogs:

 

After that we just had to close up the fences. The ewes were calling their lambs and the lambs were bleating for their mums, and after they all found each other again they started grazing, all happy with the new grass....

Suki in training

Suki is a bit of a handfull... she is very keen and very natural, but also a little rocket and hard to stop. So last week I decided to work on her stops and her pacing, and also the start of a little outrun since she kind of does it natural herself already. She is actual easy to train, because she wants to work with me, but sometimes she's so focused that she can't hear me.

Regarding her stops: I don't want her to lie down specifically. She may, stand, sit or lie down, as long as she pauses herself. And I think she improved her stop from 2 seconds to 5 seconds now, ha ha...
Anyway, this session I used a bag on a stick for the first time, since she isn't much impressed by an upturned crook or stick by itself. The bag didn't impress her much either, so I got rid of it after a few minutes. I just have to remind myself to be patient and let her learn by herself and try to guide her as good as I can.

The flanks are good, I think, and I like how she gathers her sheep very natural. I try to make her gather both sides, so she doesn't get the habit of always taking the one side. I'm not trying to get her much wider yet, as this tends to come with age. What I also like is that she goes between the sheep and the fence easily, and did this from an early age on. She is not an anxious one, very brave of heart and has authority. But she seems more gentle than her mother Jessie, something I really like in her. Is it obvious I like her a lot?

So bear with me as I am a novice handler, and enjoy watching this youngster!