Bauers Working Border Collies

Times Flies when your having fun

2012-03-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

I cant believe it has been so long since my last post, a lot has happened since my last Blog.

Branding is finished for another year, bulls are out of the cows and back in there winter paddock which I don't think they are very happy about, the puppies and dogs are going great and we have had a well earned holiday.

With all the calves branded and taken back to there paddock, saw us pack the car and boat for a well earned holiday at the beach. Now it wouldn't be normal for us to travel any where without some dogs. With the kids and our luggage in the car, it was time to squeeze 7 dogs in the wagon. Mist was going to enjoy a holiday with Rees at Jamies house, Don was going on the plane to his new owners down in Tasmaina that left us with 5. Our 3 little pups where going to have a holiday in a lovely puppie run at a friends house where they would safe and sound and very well looked after.

With the numbers down to just Sweep and Nell we left for Stradbroke Island. We should have twigged on what the weather was going to be like after it rained the whole way to Straddie. Little did we know that there was a low pressure system develping right above North Stradbroke Island. Out of the 2 weeks I think there may have 2 days without rain.

All the rain did not dampen our holiday. We all had a ball on the beach with daily walks with the kids and dogs, surf, sand and it was so relaxing. Oh and I nearly forgot daily visits to the yummy icecream shop. This was the first time we have taken our work dogs on holiday with us and it will be normal thing from now on, it was so good to have them around. Normally both Jamie and I are missing the dogs after about 3 days but having Sweep and Nell with us made it a lot better.

Sweep chilling at the beach

A girl and her dog

View from Amity Point

Our trip home was also a wet one, just after leaving town we could see a inocent looking cloud towards home it didnt look to bad but has soon as we hit the dirt road down came the rain. Dumping 30mm in 15 minutes, towing a boat over a muddy road is very interesting to say the least. We arrived home safely a little wet but very happy to be home. The rain however did stop for one day (long enough to get the girls to town for school) then down again it came. Our girls where marooned in town for four days until we where able to pick them up. They where not very happy at all about coming home, way too much fun in town.

We where luckly with the all the rain that fell in January and February, we only had some minor fence damage. I feel for the towns, properties and the people who live in areas that where inudated with record flood levels.

To think only a few months before hand we where fighting fires and then to turn around to have water going through homes is very sad. I keep thinking of the poem written by Dorthea Mackell "My Country" with its famous verus.

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror

The wide brown land for me!

I think it very fitting at the moment with parts of Austrlia coming out of many years of drought then fires and now the flooding rain which is hitting large parts of the country.

The inocnet looking cloud.

First sunset in a week.

Our lastest puppies are growing up and getting into all kinds of trouble. We can not go out into the training paddock without locking them up or they come out to help. They are all very keen little workers it is wonderful to see the last few years of planning paying off with this litter. We hope these three girls are the buiding blocks to even better things with our dogs. The girls are a pleasure to have around always wanting a pat or a belly rub, but look out if you leave any socks within view of them.

Ziggy

Minnie

Tina

It is the time of year which the bulls hate. After being in with the cows for three months, its time for them to leave the cows and go back to there winter paddock. So it was back on the bikes with dogs in tow, I can never seem to get any good photos of the dogs working because when ever they are working we need to be working as well. Our young dogs are really stepping up with work, it is very hard for them working the cows and calves but they are handling themselves very well. Weaning time which is only a couple of months away will do wonders for them, they wont have to worry cranky old cows.

Sonny & Nell just keeping an eye on the cows

Very long grass, hidden logs and motorbikes not a good combonation

I think its time for this fella to be weaned he is nearly as big as his mum.

Bringing in the Mob

2012-01-05T23:18:00.000-08:00

Branding is in full swing lots of cows and their calves to muster and bring to the yards for a bit of work. Each calf gets a brand, ear tags, ear mark and the boys lose there testicles, I have not taken any photos of this as it is not a nice job.

Bringing in the mob starts off with a very early start, three motorbikes, five dogs and 400 cows plus there calves. We ride around the paddock which is 5000 acres in size pushing the cows towards water which at times is easier said than done. Since most of the sheep have left our district the dingos have grown in numbers and are always putting pressure on our cows trying to get at there calf's so when we go to muster them with our work dogs they don't quite see the difference. We can have any where from 1- 10 cows at any one time coming out of the mob to attack the dogs, it takes a pretty brave dog to keep working in this situation. The cows are then placed in our lane way which goes all the way to the cattle yards which can be a 12 km walk.
Once in the lane way it is lovely stroll until the cows decide it is time to stop, I have found there are two places in the lane which this happens both are where there is a water point. It can be very hard to convince 400 cows to start walking again this is where the dogs come in very handy. The following photos are of Nell, Lucy, Lass and Rusty helping me get the cows moving again.

This cow meant business

The dogs won

However she just needed reminding from Lucy

Lyster Lucy may be on the small side but that does not stop her, she has a big heart and will do anything to stop a cow.

Stand off between a cow and Rusty

Nell and Lucy just keeping an eye on things.

This is what I like to see when the cows stop the dogs stop.

Once the cows start walking nicely again it is time for the dogs to hope back on the bike for a well earned rest until the cows stop again. Walking the cows into the yards can take up to 5 hours in this time you have a lot of time to ponder on the happenings of the time or you sing silly songs to your self. While walking this mob in I got a funny kids song in my head but I changed a couple of words

The cows go marching one by one.

Hoorah! Hoorah!
The cows go marching one by one.
Hoorah! Hoorah!

The cows go marching one by one;

The little one stops to suck his thumb,
And they all go marching down into the yards

To get away from the dogs.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Once reaching the yards they are drafted cows in one yard and calves in the other, neither cow or calf like this idea at all. Once branded the next day the calves are put back with there mums and are then walked back to there paddock.

Looking back towards the drafting pen

The calves waiting

Leaving there mums

She has such a soft eye

She looks cranky

The twins

You Looking at me

Team work

Well that's all folks hope you enjoyed it.

Last Post for 2011

2011-12-30T23:01:00.000-08:00

I hope every one had a very Merry Christmas, time has gotten away on me and I didn't realise how long it has been since my last blog. We have been very busy with puppies, end of school, Christmas and branding, we have found some time to relax at the dam with the dogs.

I was asked not so long ago if our dogs are apart of the family and is this good for work dogs as she had been told that work dogs are work dogs and should not be played with!!!! My answer to this question was yes our work dogs are a part of our family and yes we do play with them I think a good work dog is a happy work dog, our dogs play a huge part in our lives and I have even been told by my 9 year old that I love the dogs more than them!!!!! Of course this in not true I love them the same. Over the hotter months when the house dam is well used for swimming and playing in our dogs are there with bells on and boy do they have fun either swimming, tubing,stalking, running or just watching what is happening.

Sweep loves the tube

Pearl loves to stalk

Jayde loves to sing

Lucy, Nell, Don & Lass love to stalk as well

Poor Chris has to watch from the bank after burning herself

Lucy has to keep an eye on all the happenings at the Dam

We have also had the privilege of exporting a pup this year to New Zealand, our little Rees/Bella boy pup has gone to live on the North Island . His two sisters have also left the mainland and are now living in Tasmania.

Bauers Reeson

Bauers Ruby

Bauers Molly

December has seen the start of branding with roughly 1500 little calves to brand we have started a little early this year. Mustering of the cows and calves is very hard on the dogs they have heat and very cranky cows to deal with,at times the poor dogs can have 5 or 6 cows trying to protect there calves. I haven't been able to get any good action shots yet of the dogs working we still have a few more paddocks to muster so hopefully I will get some then.

Jamie, Rusty & Lucy pushing the Angus cows along

Jayde our little Jillaroo

Cows and Calves

All the Black Cows

Don bringing the sheep to Jamie

Mist has surprised us with a very healthy litter of 8 puppies, this is our first litter along with Jamie Sturrock of our dogs we imported from Wales in 2010. We have 7 little girls and one lonely boy both Mist and her puppies are going great they are nearly 5 weeks old now and are all getting into mischief . Trying to get 8 little squirmy puppies to sit still while I take there photo is no easy mission they had myself and the girls laughing at there antics

Chris with her lap full of Puppies

Jayde with her lap full of Puppies

Wait for me girls

Puppies trying to escape!!!!!

Showing some style already.

As 2011 draws to a close and new year is about to begin I sit here thinking about what we have achieved with our dogs in the last 12 months and where we are heading in the future. I think the most important thing to remember when we have this wonderful breed of dog is to always try and improve on what you have, to enjoy your dogs and the people you meet.

Happy New Year

Puppies, Training and Fires

2011-11-10T17:15:00.001-08:00

Summer is well and truly on its way with thunderstorm brewing in the afternoon and the heat in the middle of the day but still no decent rain. Swimming season is in full swing with three afternoons a week at the pool and swimming carnivals on the weekend, this does not leave to much time for training dogs. I have been working on Nell extending her cast and getting her out on cattle when I can, she is coming along nicely. I have had two bitches out on maternity leave for a while now, Bella has had three puppies and Mist is due at the end of the month. Bella's pups are now three weeks old and are just starting to get around I love this stage of the puppies when they are just finding there feet and voice boxes, they are just starting to play with each other.

Bauers Rex

Bauers Ruby

Bauers Molly

Jamie was training his dogs and I couldn't help but take these photos of his young dogs quietly waiting for there turn. Don loves the camera and was very happy just to sit there while I was snapping away, Lass was very keen to get back out there and help.

Bauers Lass

Bauers Don

Craiglea Sid

Hopefully next time I will have photos of rain and green grass, it is a very worrying time of year for all rural people has any thunderstorm can result in a fire. Since September there has been around ten fires in our district, we where very lucky last month when a fire on neighbouring properties burnt about 30 000 acres, it jumped the fire break on our boundary, luckily Jamie was there with help put it out very quickly before the fire got to big. I went back to fire a couple of days later and took some photos and Liz (our neighbour) sent me the last two photos. It must be so very hard for the owners and mangers of properties who after so many years of drought and such a wonderful year last year to see all of the grass gone and just chard ground in its place.

Mirrakay Bill

2011-10-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

I never thought when I started my blog that I would to say goodbye to two old dogs so close together. This week was a hard one for Jamie and I, poor old Bill had a very rapid tumour growing in his top jaw and we had to make the hard call of putting him to sleep. Bill had just turned nine this month and has been in the family since he was six months old, he was the hardest working dog you could ever want he would give Jamie 110% all the time even if it wasn't needed at times. Bill could work everything sheep, goats, cattle, pigs and even week old chickens, he is dearly missed already.

I have thinking of all the good times we had with Bill and a couple of moments have really stuck to me, as a much younger dog he would give our girls doggy back rides we would sit the girls on his back while one of us had a hold of him then the other would call him and off he would run with a giggling child on his back.

There was one weekend he had been let into the house yard for a relax but he must of caught the sent of some goats in the river behind the house, he brought about 30 billy and nannies to the back fence of the house where he held them until we finally noticed him with his little prize.

Bill could do all stock work in the paddock mustering, catching fly blown sheep or lambs and even in the yards. When working in the sheep yards though he refused to back sheep he wanted to bulldoze under them which worked just as well as backing, we don't know why he would back he had never been hurt while on a sheep he just had it in his head he was a bulldozer.When working cattle there wasn't much he could not stop he loved his cattle work just as much as sheep. For many years he was Jamie's main mustering dog, they could go out together and muster a paddock with no other help.

Bill also tried his hand at three sheep trialling, we ended up calling him 2nd ribbon Bill he could never get that first place. He took a lot handling around the course Jamie made it look very easy but believe me it wasn't!!!! Jamie kindly let me use him this year for the trials and yes we got a 2nd in the encourage at Longreach, even though he was eight yrs old and had slowed down a lot he was still a handful. But this is what made Bill he never gave up and you always knew he would there when things got tricky.

We semi retried Bill at the start of this year as we was getting very sore with arthritis and he went into full retirement after weaning, we are happy he had a few good months living in the house yard as our way of thanking him for all the hard work he did of us.

Thanks old man for all your work hope you had fun!!!!!

World Trial

2011-10-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

A lot has been happened since my last post, Jamie has been to the UK and back again, the International and World Trial has been and gone and the Australian Supreme has also been on. On the home front as been just as busy with Jamie away the girls and I had a bit more work to do, I would not suggest to any sane wife to let there husband go on a three week holiday without you!!!! My phone bill is going to be huge,daily calls to the UK are not going to be cheap.

Jamie went with a good friend Jamie Sturrock to the UK, they attended the International Trial in Scotland after landing in Glasgow they picked up there hire car and headed north. They where luckily enough to be able to share a cottage with a competitor from the English team and Kim, there where many hours of funny stories and dog talk. The Welsh well and truly dominated the International with 1st and 2nd, E.L Morgan and Spot winning and Kevin Evans with Greg 2nd, Spot impressed us as a young on Aled Owens DVD he was a very pushy little pup with a high work drive. Kevin's Greg also won the Welsh National we saw Greg last year when we selected Rees, he was a very stylish young dog like all of Kevin's dogs. Greg is a full brother to the dam of our Rees.

After leaving the International the Jamie's headed down to England where the World Trial was held, along the way they where able to call in and see different dogs working on there farms. They called into Jim Croppers farm which is where my Bella originally came from , they where able to see her sire who I believe is getting close to 14yrs. It is always good to see where our dogs came from and there parents. They also stopped at Kim Gibson's farm to see her dogs, the day they where there the tail end of a hurricane which hit the US went over the UK, it caused a lot damage to the World Trial venue with the roofs of the grandstand's being blown away(more on that later). They both really liked Kim's dogs and I would like to thank her for all of her help while the Jamie's where there.

The World Trial from what I have heard was WET,WET,WET some of the photos I have seen are just mud as far as the eye could see. Back to the grandstand because of the wind a few days before there roof of the grandstand was missing, this left the Jamie's in torrential rain for quite a few hours one day cant say they weren't dedicated. Jamie loved the World Trial he said the course was hard, the sheep were out of sight on the finals on the 1st outrun. Jamie would love to one day compete at the World Trial for Australia will have to work on this one!!!!! I think we will have to find some very willing sponsors to help.
The Irish well and truly dominated the World Trial with James Mc Gee and Becca winning and Michael Gallagher and Cap running 3rd. We saw Becca in the 2008 World Trial she is a lovely bitch and was well and truly the Best Bitch in the World. It was great to see Michael and Cap run 3rd, Cap is the sire to our Sweep it is a great feeling to know that his sire is the 3rd best dog in the world.

After the World Trial they headed down to Wales to visit with our good friend David, they stayed with David for a couple of days in more heavy rain. When it wasn't raining they saw Davids dogs working and a visit with Kevin Evans to see some very stylish dogs. I have some photos off Jamie's ph of the World Trial they are not the best.

While the World Trial was on in England our own Australian Supreme was being held in Western Australia, a big congratulations to Geoff Gibson who won with Charlies Dusty and Rhonda O'Connell who won the Improver with Camra Shade, both of these competitors are from Queensland. I do believe the Australian Supreme is being held in Queensland next will have to mark this in the calender, it would be wonderful to see a live score feed from the Australian Supreme it was really good to see all the scores coming in from both the International and World Trials.

All of our young dogs are coming along nicely, we have shown them cattle since Jamie has been home and where happy with how they went I will make sure I take the camera next time. Jamie has been working on a double fetch with Rusty and Lucy both seem to be taking to quite easily, I will start with Sonny in the next day or so.

Moving Cows and Training

2011-09-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

After Jamie hurt his shoulder I was needed to go out and help move our Santa cows from one paddock to the next, of course I jumped at the opportunity to go work my dogs on a large mob of cattle. Because the mob we where moving were older cows with some calves on the ground already I could only take Sonny as the others are too young to work cows and calves yet. We about 500 cows to put together in 1300 acres then move them onto there next paddock, we came across about 100 cows at one water point Jamie and started them down the fence towards the gate they had to go though. Not far from the water was a patch of timber which is hard to ride through on our motorbikes, Jamie warned me that the cows could bet us through it and get back to where we started if we where not in control. Jamie took the lead and the wing and Sonny I had the tail and the wing, I sat just out from the cows and put Sonny on the tail just to keep the slow ones on the move and to also make sure none went back. All points covered and the cows kept walking in the direction they where meant to be going.
With this group in there new paddock it was onto the large mob whom had been pushed onto another water point in the middle of the paddock there was about 400 in this mob and they had to walked down the road in the middle of the paddock with no fences. Jamie took the lead, Jeff(our stationhand)had one wing that left myself on the other wing and Sonny, Lucy and Rusty on the tail. Some of the cows tried to run away down the creek which was not far from the bore so I sent Sonny to bring them back, he did with ease and then took his position back at the tail to push the cows through the creek crossing. Lucy is getting stronger every time she goes out for little dog she is not scared of the cattle at all. We walked the cattle nearly 2 kms down the road until we reach the gate they had to go through, the dogs where very happy to see the trough.

Sonny going to tuck the wing back in while Lucy and Rusty keep them going.

Just Keeping the mob moving.

Sonny Cooling off before putting the cows through the gate.

Just before Sonny & Lucy are told to "push them up" look out cows.

I am kicking myself I didn't take a normal camera with me that day, I took all the above photos on my phone but it takes a while between shots before you can take the next on so I missed the dogs pushing the cows, next time I will make sure the camera goes in my red box on the front of my bike that always seems to end up in my photos.

Jamie, Bill, Rusty, Lucy and Sonny on my motor bike one afternoon just chilling out. We do this every afternoon .

I have been working with Sonny and Nell this week, Sonny has been slowing down early on his cast in the training paddock and when we go to trials. He feels the pressure from the sheep early in small spaces and does not want to upset them I have found this very funny with him because as soon as he is in a bigger training paddock or out working he will not do this, I have noticed he is slowing earlier and earlier, I felt this is not good so I have been getting him to run the whole way until he is behind his sheep. It is working he has worked out that yes he can run the whole way behind his sheep without upsetting them. I will keep working on this with him so he realises that he has to do it every time. I have also been working on Sonny's driving he as picked up driving fairly easy but still feels he needs to bring the sheep back to me if he gets to far away, I have just been pushing the length further and further every time we drive the sheep away. Judging where my dog should be while so far away is proving to be hard for me, I am having trouble guessing when I should be stopping him maybe I need glasses so I can see him better.

Young Nell has also been put into training she is nearly 11 months old now and I just felt she can handle it. I have been working on pulling her off balance which she is not liking very much but will do it. We have also tried little drives with me walking along side her, she is picking this up but still wanting to head the sheep. I am really enjoying training her she has a great temperament and wants to work with me.

Spring is nearly here

2011-08-30T22:22:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year the days are cool but not cold the nights are great not to hot, the garden is already starting to look better after all of the frost's we had over winter. I was looking through my photo's and came across some of our station in various stages of drought, flood, green and now brown. This time last year we where WET and it was just the start of a very wet and sad summer of devastating floods and cyclones, we where very, very lucky while we received record breaking rain falls we didn't have the huge downpours which caused the flooding over large parts of Queensland. With all the moisture we have a great body of feed for the cattle, however it has hayed off and now grass fires are a huge worry.

This was taken in February 2009 and things only got worse!!!!!

Same paddock 12 months later.

This creek is just down from our house no one had seen it this high.

Now we are back to brown again.

Not a lot of training has taken place the last couple of weeks we have had a steady stream of visitors and tiding up the cattle work has left very little time for training. I have had Sonny around our National course which I am very pleased with, no were near to the standard which I saw at the World Trial in 2008. I did however get the fetch gate both drive gates and had a minor hiccup with shedding, lots more practise there I think. Sonny is still only learning as well and we both have a long way to go but I am enjoying the challenge of something new, we have both seen a major improvement in how our dogs work in the paddock as well after we have been training to do this course. We where a little unsure if our merino's would suit the course as they can be a little flighty at times, after only a couple of times they have taken to it very well. My next project is to work on Nell, she is well and truly ready for some training.I didn't get any photos of Sonny working sheep but I did take some when we where feeding the bull I don't think he liked them getting so close to his motorbike.

Sonny pushing a bull over to the feed bins

Little Ben may have taken control of his way ward ears finally they have stood up and he is looking rather handsome with pricked ears.Ben has started working sheep and we are both very happy with how he worked I will leave him now for a few months. He found it very tiring posing for the camera.

More Work and Play

2011-08-16T22:31:00.000-07:00

This week has been another busy week for us, more cattle work and the last of the preg testing for Jamie. With preg testing finished for another year, we just sit and wait for the calves to arrive. The dogs have been doing a great job the last week, however we have had an injury. Sonny was walking bringing the cows along and cut his front leg on something and needed 6 staples, this has left me short a mustering dog and boy did I miss him!!!!!!

I had planned on using Sonny & Bella to help Jamie bring the last mob of cattle in but with Sonny out I thought I might take Nell. Now Nell is still only a baby and her working the cattle was a no pressure job if she worked the cattle I would have happy if she didn't well it just didn't matter. However my Nell has turned out to be a little cow dog, she was so happy to be out there working them. We had to get 500 first calf heifers from the start of the lane way to the cattle yards which is about 12 km's, at the start of the lane way there is a lot timber and it can be quite hard to cattle through there at times. If you are not in control they will get pass you and go back to where they started, we started the cattle and the dogs were off and for most of the time the dogs were out of sight helping push the cattle through the timber. After getting through the timber it is easy going to the cattle yards, it normally takes us about 3 hrs depending on how the cattle are walking. The following photos have been taken on my phone while on the motorbike so they may not be as clear.

Lucy is proving to be very good on cattle as well, since Bill has been retired Jamie has been taking Rusty, Frank and Lucy every time he musters. Lucy has just been going from strenght to strenght she is only a little dog but boy can she move cattle. Bella has also been helping she has only ever seen sheep and never worked off a motorbike and at the start was not to sure what she was meant to be doing, so I just let her go and let her think about what we where doing. This worked well and in the end she had a couple of tries of biting a nose but not quite sure if she was aloud to.

We have a few merino ewe's which we have joined to dorper rams, the ewe's have started to lamb in the last week so I have been going out once a day to check on them just to make sure all is well as we have a few older ewe's. Last year we got a maremma to run with our training sheep, we got him as a young pup and bonded him ourselves. This whole process has been a great learning curve, to see a animal to bond with sheep on such a natural level is fanatic. Bear is now 15 months old and lives with the sheep all the time, if something upsets him he will bark and all of his sheep will run towards him. He has also taken on a motherly role towards any lamb. A couple of our old ewe's have not been able rear there lambs so Bear will stay with them until I find him and his lamb, he is so kind to the little lambs.

Over the weekend we have had a couple of friends visit with there dogs, its great to catch up with them and see how there dogs are going. They both have pups from our Mirk/MiMi litter so I was very keen to see how they are going and both pups are going very well it will be great to see them in a few months to see how there training is going. I was only able to get some photos of Roy working.

Our training paddock has been convertered into a ISDS singles trial course with a fetch gate, drive gates, shedding ring and pen. It has been challenging to get dogs too drive and cross drive who have been taught not to cross you and the sheep. More news next time on how the dogs are going with this new challenge.

Back to Work

2011-08-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

We are back in full swing after being away for 10 days, Jayde our eldest girl was running in the State Cross Country she did well coming 21st out of 52 girls. This was followed by a few days on the Gold Coast which the girls loved.

When we returned home it was straight into preg testing the cow's, Jamie has about 1600 to do which will take a couple of weeks. Testing the cows involves bringing them into the yard placed into the crush where Jamie puts his arm up there bottom to feel for either a calf or other signes they are in calf. Any cows which are not in calf are culled and pregnant cows are retained, the cow below was in calf she stood there all day and watched us do all the other cows. Brahmans are very inquisitive and will often come up to in the paddock to see what we are doing . The dogs like this time of year as the cows do not have calves on the ground and they are much easier to handle as the cows are very protective of their calves.

Just before going away I was able to go out mustering this was my 1st time in about two months, it was great to get out in the paddock again. We had to bring in the weaner heifers to be classed and have some needles, Sonny came out too help I think he was very happy about this. Jamie left Sonny and I with about 300 weaners while he went and mustered the rest of the paddock, I had to get all the heifers through a gully which lead back to the dam and of course they wanted to go that way and not down the fence!!! I could either leave Sonny on the tail or put him where he would stop them from going down the gully, I sent him to that point and I kept pushing the tail across the gully in the mean time the lead thought they would go for a little trot down the fence so I sent Sonny to the lead to block them which he did with ease.

We have also found a bit of spare time to work our young dogs, I must say we are happy with all of them. Our two Mirk bitches are going great they are 10 months old now and ready for a bit more training, Nell(my girl) has great coverage and has a lot of power I didn't get any photos of her this time but will do this weekend. Lass(Jamie's girl) is just as good as her sister although she is just a little wider then her sister, we both cant wait until they get a little older. I think the star of the weekend was Sweep who is a son to Michael Gallagers Cap, this dog I feel has it all he has the looks, distance, feel and power you would want in a top work dog, Jamie really enjoys working Sweep. I did get a couple of photos of Sweep working.

The brothers Max and Blade also had there turn, Max is turning out to be a lot like Bill in how he works as well as his personalty. He is very clam pup when working I have seen him take two steps to the side to move a sheep.

Blade is a great pup to have around he is so friendly and willing to please. He works a lot like his brother but I think Max is the pick of the two but only time will tell.

Don is a son of my Sonny and Bella, he is a lot like his Mum in very way. He quite free moving and very pushy like Bella. I took some photos of Don although at the time I didn't realise he had his tongue poking out.

While all this work was going on Old Bill was in the background ready to help the younger pups if the sheep got away on them, he just sits under a tree waiting for Jamie to give the command to go. He is great for this job however he is showing his age and not as fast as he use to be, it is sad to see when his mind is still very active but his old body is failing him. He is still a handsome looking dog.

I love watching the pups grow and they go though different stages, little Ben at the moment cant quite control his ears there not sure where they want to be.

Trewnia Jess

2011-07-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

This blog is going to be the hardest to write, Jamie's old and best work bitch had to be put to sleep she was a wonderful dog that knew her job. We got Jess at 8 weeks old now she was a horror of a pup she cried for about 3 months!!!!!! She was a late bloomer who at 4 months amongst 2000 ewes and lambs at crutching time thought working sheep meant you pick up a lambs tail throw it up in the air and catch it again. We tried a few times to give her away but no one would take THANK GOD, then one day at about 9 months she went I am a work dog and she worked every day after that.
One day when Jamie was mustering at Mt Marlow with Jess they had about 2000 sheep strung out along a fence the lead had to be put through the gate so Jamie sent Jess to the lead(about 1km), Jess went and stopped just at the right point to put the sheep through now Jamie could not see her but she just knew what had to done. This was just one of many times the old girl would do things like this, you could leave her with 1000 steers point them in the direction they had to go and Jess would keep them going and leave any behind while you kept mustering the paddock.
However if you tried to sheepdog trial her she would look at you and say I don't think so!!!!!! She hated being told to do and nine times out of ten she was right. Jamie had a couple of goes trialing her but gave up as she just didn't like it, but she would never give up in the paddock where it counted.
We will miss her but she is in a better place now SEEYA OLD GIRL

Old Memories and More Dogs

2011-07-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

This weeks I took my girls plus a few dogs to visit my Mum & Dad, they live near a small town in Western QLD called Yaraka. Jamie and I have worked out that way for most of our married life, being out there brought back some lovely memories. It is a wonderful place to live and raise a young family and of course to train and work our dogs, our dogs would work from daylight to dark over shearing either in the yards or out mustering. At time there was 28 thousand sheep to shear this took about 8 weeks, this test both man & dog. I don't have any photos of shearing as this was before digital cameras I will try to scan some pictures to add however I have found a photo of some sheep near a turkey nest and trough.

Working in these hard conditions really showed the ability of the working border collie, they had to be a mustering dog as well as work in yard all day. Old Bill would do this for weeks on end and never give up, it takes a very special dog to be able to do this.

Nell is my next prospect she is a AI pup from Kevin Evans Mirk out of MiMi, Nell is only 8 months old at this point in her training she is showing me everything I want from a work dog. She has great mob sense, good distance, plenty of force and is willing to please. She will definitely a regular once she starts her formal training.

Lass is a litter sister to my Nell, like her sister she has great stock sense, great distance and plenty of force. Jamie is very excited about her.

Sweep is another AI pup he is from Micheal Gallagher Cap out of a bitch who was imported into Australia in 2008. Sweep is a wonderful dog to have around, he has plenty of force and great coverage of his stock. He will play a big part in our breeding in the future.

MiMi is a beautiful dog she had a bad accident as a young dog and lost her front leg, since then she has become part of the family. She showed so much promise before losing her leg and even after losing her leg she still tries to work sheep & cattle.

I will going to a three sheep trial in early September so I better start getting the dogs ready, Sonny and Bella will be going and I will see what Nell is up too but I think she will be still too young. Stay tuned for updates on how they are going.

Welcome to the First Blog of Bauers Working Border Collies

2011-06-26T04:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog, I have started this blog after a few friends said they would love to hear what we get up too with our dogs.. We are passionate about our Working Border Collies and have been working with them for over 15 years, at present we have 8 adult dogs and 8 youngsters our dogs are all pure Working Border Collies from both Top Australian & UK bloodlines. Our dogs are worked on cattle mostly but all are started on sheep to give them the best possible start, we never go into paddock without our dogs.

Bill has been Jamie's main work dog for the last 8 years, he can do everything that a work dog needs to do. From blocking 500 Brahman cows and there calf too handling light young lambs. We have made a hard decision this weaning to retire him, he has had many injuries over the years and they are now catching up with him.

Sonny is only a young dog but he proving to be a very talented dog, he is working everything from cows and calves to lambs.I am sure he will be a regular in the blog.

Rusty is a gold & white border collie, he has the best calming effect on cattle. He is the happiest up the lead of 500 cattle just letting them walk quietly.

Lucy is a half sister to my Sonny, she also has a wonderful stock sense and is hardly ever in the wrong place. She is only very young but is handling cattle work very well, she will be a great help in the paddock now Bill is retried.

Bella is one of our Imported dogs, she came to Australia in 2008. Bella is very quick on her feet and walks straight up on her stock. I have shown her weaner cattle once and was very pleased with what she did.

Mist was Imported from Wales in 2010, Mist is a little speed demon she is so quick and I have not found a sheep yet that will take her on!!
There are few more youngs to add butI will do this in my next post.