Cattle dog ??

pakalasa

Anyone here run a good cattle dog?
Are they worth the hassle? Any dog I've ever seen around cattle, seem to drive them mad. I've just sucklers.

Birdnuts

The Uncle had a mighty Corgi a few years back who did the business - no fuss and was a joy to watch. When people think of this breed they think of the spoilt pups that the Queen has:rolleyes: - the reality is that this breed was specifically bred in Wales for cattle herding, hence the low profile of the body and intelligient head. Once trained up you will never look back:)

MOC1972

We used to have a cattle dog when my father was farming 100 head.
He was a very good dog and all our cattle were used of him and if they were not the learning curve was fast.
He was self trained and a very strong dog the problem today is cows with calfs are not used of the dogs or the dog is not up to the job.
I had an austrailan cattle dog before I had to work abroad and he was like a jet with all the power to match hard to train for a novice.
Watch Daltons cow dogs on youtube to see some good dogs in action.
If I can work and farm at home again I will get a austrailan cattle dog again.

bob charles

MOC1972 wrote: »

We used to have a cattle dog when my father was farming 100 head.
He was a very good dog and all our cattle were used of him and if they were not the learning curve was fast.
He was self trained and a very strong dog the problem today is cows with calfs are not used of the dogs or the dog is not up to the job.
I had an austrailan cattle dog before I had to work abroad and he was like a jet with all the power to match hard to train for a novice.
Watch Daltons cow dogs on youtube to see some good dogs in action.
If I can work and farm at home again I will get a austrailan cattle dog again.

The ACD's are good dogs but are tough work to train, great animals to look after their territory, and masters family. Kids can pull and drag them all over the place but they are seriously protective of what there's. We run 2 dogs and they are constantly kept busy, worked a few times a day, most of the stock coming in have never seen a dog but they soon get used to them. As I always say my waist line would be much smaller without my two. Aslong as a dog does what you need him to do he doesnt have to be something like you see on TV. Dogs and suckler are tough going, and I find you need 2 dogs for working but I would usually try and coax them with the carrot approach before turning the dogs on them. Once a cow is turned by a dog in her life she wont forget it.

reilig

We have a border collie. He is in fact the second one that we had. The first one worked for 15 years before becoming paralised and having to be put down. We have this guy 5 years now. He's handy with sheep and cattle. But as Bob says, suckler cows can be tricky so I tend to keep him away from them for my own safety.

Muckit

MOC1972 wrote: »

I had an austrailan cattle dog before I had to work abroad and he was like a jet with all the power to match hard to train for a novice.

Is it the kelpie you are on about?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Kelpie

An uncle of mine breeds them and uses them on his 120 cow suckler to beef herd. One of those dogs and himself would round up any cattle. Super intelligent dog. Never even heard of them until he got into them

edit: I put up a clip on this forum before of 3 kelpies loading bulls into a trailer straight out of the field -no pen. Unbelievable stuff.

pajero12

We've a great collie, He's a mongrel the mother took off a cousin of hers, half greyhound too so he's very fast! Handles the most stubborn cows and we can bring up cattle standing at the other end of the field! I'll try and get a vid up later!

betsie

we have had a few really good cattle dogs down through the years worth their weight in gold especially once the cattle get used to them, we have sucklers (mostly limo's), cant actually imagine not having at least 1 anymore!

bob charles

Muckit wrote: »

Is it the kelpie you are on about?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Kelpie

An uncle of mine breeds them and uses them on his 120 cow suckler to beef herd. One of those dogs and himself would round up any cattle. Super intelligent dog. Never even heard of them until he got into them

edit: I put up a clip on this forum before of 3 kelpies loading bulls into a trailer straight out of the field -no pen. Unbelievable stuff.

No Austrailian Cattle Dogs are a good bit different from a kelpie. here is a bit about them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Cattle_Dog

interesting to scroll down to the bottom of the page and read the "in the news" piece

MOC1972

The ACD is alot bigger than a kelpie or should I say more butch they are made to work cattle.They are very good with kids compared to a collie.
In the uk there are alot in agility courses and in Sweden they use them as
search dogs

5live

pakalasa wrote: »

Anyone here run a good cattle dog?
Are they worth the hassle? Any dog I've ever seen around cattle, seem to drive them mad. I've just sucklers.

A good dog is worth its weight in gold and a bad one isnt worth shooting.

I had a great dog till she was poisoned last year, self taught, knew every inch of the farm and where the cattle should be and where they were going when moving. It they broke out across the river she would have them back in a flash. When i was getting the parlour ready she was off and the first cows in the yard as i was opening the gate with no hurry or pressure. But her daughter useless.

When i was in sucklers i used round them up with a dog. No problem once they were used to the dog. When they saw her at the gate they were on their way and the calves too. Never used her with calves less than a month old though.

If your animals allow you to walk through them without much fuss then bring the dog along the other side of the wire when herding for a few weeks before bringing it into the field itself. You should train it with the replacements or any dry cattle so it will get used to working and they will get used to it. And work it every day so it doesnt get bored. I am thinking of getting a dog again but cant find one i'm happy with yet

RobinBanks

We have a mighty dog here. Great with suckler cows that have just calved. Pic attached

knotknowbody

5live wrote: »

A good dog is worth its weight in gold and a bad one isnt worth shooting.

I had a great dog till she was poisoned last year, self taught, knew every inch of the farm and where the cattle should be and where they were going when moving. It they broke out across the river she would have them back in a flash. When i was getting the parlour ready she was off and the first cows in the yard as i was opening the gate with no hurry or pressure. But her daughter useless.

When i was in sucklers i used round them up with a dog. No problem once they were used to the dog. When they saw her at the gate they were on their way and the calves too. Never used her with calves less than a month old though.

If your animals allow you to walk through them without much fuss then bring the dog along the other side of the wire when herding for a few weeks before bringing it into the field itself. You should train it with the replacements or any dry cattle so it will get used to working and they will get used to it. And work it every day so it doesnt get bored. I am thinking of getting a dog again but cant find one i'm happy with yet

Agree with this post a good dog is worth so much to a farmer you could not put a price, have 2 myself there getting on and I am training replacements but when they were in there prime I would have refused 5000 euro apiece for them, could get the cattle to go anywhere and no cow or bull would scare them, but you need an intelligent dog too blind courage is no good, they need to know when to be brave.

pakalasa

When you say a dog is trained, you you mean he kinda does his own thing or do you tell him go left, right, heel etc?
Anyone use a whistle to control one?

knotknowbody

pakalasa wrote: »

When you say a dog is trained, you you mean he kinda does his own thing or do you tell him go left, right, heel etc?
Anyone use a whistle to control one?

It depends my dogs I could tell them what to do direct them left and right on command or sometimes I would open the gate of the cattle pen on the outfarm and just say get the cattle to them and would not have to say anything else until the cattle were in the pen, they'd know that as I opened the gate that I wanted the cattle in there.

I never used a whistle just voice commands which are difficult when they get far away from you or on windy days they don't hear it as well as a whistle, could always stop them with a whistle though.

funny man

pakalasa wrote: »

Anyone here run a good cattle dog?
Are they worth the hassle? Any dog I've ever seen around cattle, seem to drive them mad. I've just sucklers.

I've kept dogs all my life and wouldn't be with-out two at anytime, they are no hassle and if trained properly will reward you tenfold when working stock. My advice firstly if looking for a dog for cattle only buy from someone with cattle dogs, don't buy a rejected border collie from a sheepdog trainer, s/he may turn out good but it's likely it will be an average worker with either not enough or too much eye or a bad habit like gripping. when i had suckler cows i used two dogs at all times but the dogs were trained to work from distance and not to go in on cows and calves (its called respect) and the cows had no issue with them. If you have seen a dog around cattle that drives them mad it's down to bad handling, poorly trained or cattle not used to the dog, but in 90% of cases i'd say it's bad handling as the handler has control over the situation. if you are serious about getting a dog i'd say get a pup buy the training manuals, start it with bucket fed calves/sheep/ducks and introduce it to the suckler cows when dry (use 10-20), too small a group will turn on the dog, too large a group will be too hard for it to handle, always try to make it easy for the dog like bring the cows in from the field with meal this will build his confidence.

KatyMac

betsie wrote: »

we have had a few really good cattle dogs down through the years worth their weight in gold especially once the cattle get used to them, we have sucklers (mostly limo's), cant actually imagine not having at least 1 anymore!

The most important thing is that the cattle become well used to the dog. My dog sleeps in the same shed as the calves, so they aren't afraid of the dog. Cattle that don't see a dog except once in a blue moon will be pure mad.

bigmark39

I'm looking for either a kelpie or australian cattle dog, from 6 mths or older, dog or bitch.
Won't be used for farm work, just as a pet and for agility. Must be good with kids and reasonably priced. Good forever home assured. Mark

yellow50HX

yeah a good dog is worth a lot, used to have dairy cows and they were ok if we were bringing them in in the usual time. however if you wanted to bring them in early or late it was a nightmare. we have had a couple get dogs brave but very clever and were great around the yard too, one was a great baby sitter for my younger sisters. we had 1 and he was a cracker, you could just stand at the gap of the field and he'd bring them in on his and even leave the dry ones, he even brought them into the parlour durign milking, was gutted when i had to put him down last year. we have sucklers now and the dog we have now is quite good.
getting the dog used to cows and the cows used to him is the key. the cows can be very aggressive when they have the calves but are usually ok on thier own. i'd leave the dogs inside when we are teasting though.
actully we have pups out of him at the mo, thier mother is a black lab and she likes to bring in cattle too when we are in the field.
what you need is a smart dog that is obiiebent, brave and able to run the fields, but make sure you have the work for them otherwise it'll get bored and start to make their own work (digging holes or worse chasing).