Bruce continued the pen cleaning adventures today but it was a much smaller production. These pens are in the back of our barn where it isn't supposed to freeze. We still had an east wind today which is a good direction for having the doors open and being able to get it done. It did mist all day so the push buttons on cab door latches would freeze and the window on one side was frozen full. This was nothing more than an aggravation in the process so he just cleaned anyway. We need to have this area cleaned out by Thursday when the hoof trimmer comes, and since Bruce has an advanced grazing class tomorrow, today seemed like the best day. We have 6-8 pens in the back so the cleaning process involves lots of animals to move. We have a border collie named Mike. He is 3 1/2 years old, purebred, tri color, short coat. All that said, he doesn't look at all like the black and white border collies we have had in the past. Now that the days have been warmer he has been thrilled to be out helping. Even when there is nothing for him to do he loves to watch the steers or the goats. In summer he lays by the fence for hours. We refer to this as "goat TV". In summer he allows Bruce to drive him around on "his" 4 wheeler. He herds the cows, heifers and goats wherever Bruce wants them to go. We are probably the only farm in the county that, if there are animals out, the dog and Bruce go put them in. We have had 2 other border collies. The first, Buddy, was good as a working dog for Bruce but didn't really like people. If you tried to pet him and praise him he would growl. He had a stubborn streak and we really had to get on him at times, to do what we wanted. Even with that, he worked well for us and lived to be 9. The second one we had was named Max. Max was a people friendly dog who could play fetch for hours. People were just arms to throw things and he would bring you a variety of things to choose from. He was a good dog also but tended to get pretty excited and would make his own plan at times regardless of what Bruce wanted. He was a good worker and a friend and lived to be 13. His were big shoes to fill. We found Mike in northern Wisconsin. He was already 6 months old and had been kenneled so we had a few bad habits to break. Within a couple months he was herding for Bruce. When you say "lie down" he drops, chin on the ground. Anyone who has worked with these dogs knows that they take the term "lie down" as more of a suggestion and just getting them to stop is sometimes as good as it gets. He is an incredible worker and sometimes, even after having border collies this many years, he and Bruce will do things with the goats or cattle that stop me in amazement. In winter he has tennis balls to burn us his energy. He carries one in his mouth and actually dribbles 1 or 2 with his front feet all over the house. These dogs thrive on being busy. There will probably never be a video of him doing this. He has no problem looking a 1500# cow in the eye and leaping 3 feet high to bite her nose to turn her around but for some reason he is scared to death of the camera! I think to mention him tonight because Bruce got lots done today with his help so it was a good day for Bruce. Mike, on the other hand, got a bath. There is nothing worse than clean water!
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| Mike, before he was afraid of the camera |
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