concrete

I got a new 26' gooseneck aluminum last year and the difference in weight and maintenence between it and steel more than make up for the added cost in my opinion. I pull it with a 1979 F250 that I rebuilt and I can't feel it back there when it's empty. I can feel it when I get 3000 lbs in it but it's nothing compared to what a steel trailer would feel like. Kevin

Hey Sue, Are you by any chance going to Lavelle's for the Gary Ericson clinic at the end of the month? I thought I might go down one day and audit, just hang out and visit really. Kevin

I'll try but it's one of those things that's easier to demonstrate . I first punch ( not hard) the bag like a lamb does to get the milk to let down. Then when the tit is full I squeeze the top shut with index finger and thumb then squeeze the milk out with my middle finger. Colostrum is much thicker and slow steady pressure seems to work best for me. You can push the milk back up into the bag if you try to express it to fast.I usually milk into a zip lock sandwich bag (because I'm usually saving the milk in this situation) and get an inch or two each time. If there is a lamb with hypothermia then I take the milk and tube the lamb otherwise I will hold the ewe and make it let the lamb nurse if at all possible. I don't like bottle lambs. Kevin

I would go into a small field with him (50' x 50') with about 10 knee knockers. I'd probably take a bucket to sit on. I'd get in a corner with the sheep and let him thrash around out there as much as he wants just don't let him violate the flight zone. When he starts to come in just block him with your body, snap a lunge whip at him, whatever it takes to let him know he can't violate the flight zone. He'll probably start looking for ways out of the pen when he realizes he can't have the sheep. When he finds a whole go catch him, patch the whole and start again. This could take weeks I'll warn you now. He'll find everyway out of the pen there is. He will probably do everything he can think of to avoid laying down on his own on contact at the edge of the flight zone. He'll spend a lot of time looking for ways out, then test to see if he can get at the sheep, then go looking for a way out again. I wouldn't spend more than an hour or so a day at it. One day he will lie down. The first time he lies down wait a few minutes then reward him by moving to another corner and starting again. Then each time let him lie there a little longer each time. He will learn to release pressure eventually. It's a time consuming method but it does work. Kevin

Dogs don't need to be registered to run in USBCHA sanctioned trials. You can feel free to run all the conformation champions you want in open trials . Kevin Brannon

It was pointed out to me in a private email that there is a large faction in the AKC that wants Border Collies for Agility and Flyball and these are the people keeping the books open. They know if the books are closed they will not have a large enough gene pool to draw from to get true Border Collies to do performance sports. The conformation people can inport all the dogs they want they don't need our dogs because they could care less if the dog can work or do performance sports. The would just as soon the books were closed. I don't know any of this to be a fact but it sure sound reasonable. I too wish they would close their books and go their own way. Kevin Brannon

You got to wonder why they don't close their stud book. After all from what they say our dogs are full of genetic defects and just plain ugly. Why would they want them. If they would just close their stud book we could go our separate ways and that would be that. Kevin Brannon

I am in east central Ohio. Near Frazeysburg the home of Longaberger baskets. About 20 east of Newark and 15 miles north of Zanesville or 50 miles east of Columbus out Rte 16. Kevin Brannon

Hi Misty, Where are you in NE Ohio . I would be willing to drive up to 1 1/2 hours some weekend with a couple a dogs and work your sheep a little bit and take a look at your dog while we are at it. Kevin Brannon

I've worked calves with an atv before. My trained dog jumped right in and did great. A younger dog I had would fetch a while then try to come back to me on the atv. I just turned and drove straight at him and it cured that pretty quick. I don't think you would want to actually run the dog over though. When the dogs pushed the calves too fast we just went faster on the atv and they learned after a while that all that running around wasn't a good thing. I don't think you could do that with sheep. If you don't want to drive through the sheep you can always let the dog push the sheep past you and take off the other way. Then the dog has to flank all the way around get the sheep and fetch them back to you. My dogs seem to get tired of this fairly quickly. Kevin Brannon

I say good dog( maybe with a rub on the head or side) if we are not working and if we are working I let them keep working . Kevin Brannon

I am sorry about your puppy. What did the breeder do to cause the puppy to die?

Making Eye contact is a very agressive thing for a dogs. I would think this dog is just being submissive. I have a 3 year old male who slinks around here like he's always expecting a beating. The fact is he's such a submissive dog he's never had a correction harsher than a deep throated "hey" , a hard look or a step or two in his direction. You could try always pettiing this dog under his throat so you are lifting his face toward yours at the same time you are giving him a reward. Kevin

Had to laugh at your post Andrea. I started to post and express my opinion about what to do when a dog growls at me for any reason and thought better of it too. Kevin

I give the ewes CD/T yearly. My lambs go right onto pasture with the ewes(no creep) so I don't give them anything other than BoSe . When I spilt out replacement lambs I tag and vaccinate. I am more concerned about tetanus since I have sheep and horses sharing pasture at times. Kevin Brannon

I guess what comes to my mind when I hear stuff like this is the expression " You should not argue with and idiot because people watching can't tell who is who." When I hear stuff like this I tend to smile at the person then walk away and keep my distance in the future. Kevin Brannon

I don't know, at this point he looks like a future national champ to me. Kevin

I've got a pup here that's circling my chair while I type that just turned 4 months. I took him in with some 10 month old lambs today and he tucked his tail in and started moving sheep. I won't try to train him just yet but I'll let him mess around a bit now every couple of weeks. He seems very mature and serious about his work already and I think thats a good sign. I do carry a stick with me and I'm ready to back a young dog up the minute he might need some help. As far as starting older dogs I've got a 4 year old here that I'm training for some one else. I was a little frustrated at first because if she wasn't allowed to do what she wanted she would just find a way out of the field and take off. Not that we are over that I'm really enjoying training her. She is really picking things up much quicker than a young dog and I can work her longer and more often then a young dog. Kevin Brannon

Thanks Andrea, That is what I was looking for and I did understand it. I always think of the shoulder as a pivot point and use that when applying pressure to move the dog back or around stock. I have a very pushy dog that tends to creep in on his flanks and an added command to back him off pressure some would be very helpful. Kevin

Ok Andrea I want more specifics on teaching the wider flanks. Are you giving the new command while putting pressure on the dog to drive it back but a little off the pivot point so it goes back then flanks? also what commands do you use? I use a Montana light whistle. I bought one of the horn whistles because I thought it would taste better. I however have a very large mouth and had trouble keeping the horn whistle in it. I have learned to get used to having the steel whistle clenched in my teeth. Kevin Brannon

I didn't mention this and I'm sure other people do this too but I always use a counter command with the lie down. When I tell a dog to lie down I want them to stay there till I tell them otherwise. So I'll tell the dog "lie down" make it lie there for a minute or two then tell it "that'll do" and let it up then praise it. Gradually teach it to lie down for longer periods at greater distances. Kevin Brannon

I like to teach a puppy to come to me first. I use "come", "come here" and "here" interchangably for a recall. Then I teach a lie down which of course is "lie down". I teach a puppy to walk on a leash but that doesn't require any commands. You know now that I think about it probably the first command I teach is "NO". That's about it until they start on livestock. Kevin Brannon

I would say that your "hey" is just enough to get her attention and not harsh enough for a correction. So you get her attention, give her a recall and she gets a treat. I think it's very likely that she is going into the garden to get a treat. I don't give my dogs food treats at all. If we are working off stock I give them a rub and a "good dog" when they deserve it. Working stock is the treat in itself so they don't get much praise until we head for home then a good pet and a "good dog". Kevin Brannon

I give my dogs Ivermectin for heatworms but I wait untill a pup is almost 6 months old before I start it. Kevin Brannon

I live in east central Ohio. I use 15 acres that belong to another farmer. In Ohio we get a big property tax break on our land in agricultual use. The land I use I get for free because I'm doing him a favor keeping his taxes down.Don't let them charge you too much to rent the land in other words. Water is always a problem. Especially in the winter. Coyotes are a problem in Ohio too. The closer you are to a metropolitan area the more problems you'll have with coyote and dogs. There is not as much game and the sheep start looking good. Actually most coyotes around here won't take on a mature ewe but they will eat lambs. Dogs will kill your ewes.If you get a llama remeber you have to chain it up to work your dogs. I would think water and feed would be the biggest problem. In the winter you'll have to hay them. If you can get round bales and have some way to move them that's the way to go there. Water will be frozen so if you are hauling water it caan get to be very problematic. Good luck, Kevin Brannon