Busy...
I feel like my summer is zipping by and packed full of activities. A little farming and agility along with lots of swimming and herding.
I was using a 120 some acres to work Rooster in. Hauling the sheep there. Then I subsoiled it. Subsoiling breaks up the hard pan soil so that it drains and works up better. I broke 14 sheer pins in 6 hours hooking into rocks under the soil! Yikes! Lots of rocks down there! The sheer pins are actually a half inch soft metal bolt. They weren't easy to fix, but I did it. After that day they adjusted the subsoiler so it would "float" up when it was hard and not as deep. I only broke three sheer pins finishing the field. Thank goodness! Now I've started discing it so it's smoother, but still to bumpy to herd sheep in. I'll need to find a new field. The alfalfa really sprang up too, to the point it's to long. I have my eye on a dry land field that I think I can use.
Subsoiler It's like dragging a boat anchor through the dirt.
Missing sheer pin.
fixed!
Big ass hammer used to replace sheer pins.
We're still swimming and are up to 15-20 minutes several times a week. Beep loves his swim time as do Poppet and Rooster. The water in the pond we swim in the most is used for irrigation, so it get's filled up and the water sometimes takes longer to warm up. Noodle isn't a fan of the cold water, so waits for Rooster and Poppet to bring the balls part way back, swims out, I toss another ball so that Rooster drops his and Noodle brings Rooster's first ball back. Rooster then swims for the other one. I took Beep and Rooster in for a tune up at the vet. Beep was pretty tight in the back. The vet showed me where he had a knot in his low back. After some needles and cold laster it was a third of the size. By the next day it was gone. I'm so thankful that I have this vet! Rooster looked tight in his passenger side shoulder and sure enough he was about 70%. After treatment, 100%. So thankful I took both the boys in!
Brrrrr
Rooster Poppet Beep and Rooster's brother Dev
Rooster and I have been working hard on herding. He's such a good boy. With all the driving he seemed to lose his balance on his fetch. So we've been doing walk abouts and working on holding the pressure, which he used to do pretty well. I remember in agility, you'd work on one thing, only to have another fall apart. It's been a fun journey and I've learned a lot! Having to haul the sheep has made me work on my sorting skills and paying more attention to the sheep's strong points. Like I have three that as soon as they see a dog, they're headed toward the person. Not good for outruns! It also creates some real work for Rooster. We're trialing this weekend and I'll update about that in a different post.
Let me in!
Working a single.
Poppet has been getting a little sheep time too. She takes the sheep out of the trailer and drives them out so Rooster has be practice looking for his sheep. She has finally decided that she can drive and has been doing well at it! Go Poppet! She also gets last fetch, which is her favorite.
Poppet is a working woman again.
I went to rinse off the Yukon windshield and as I was turning on the water spotted a rattle snake about a foot and a half from the faucet! Yikes! He was a large one! I had someone come up and they killed it for me. To close for comfort, thank you very much! I did use the headless body for some rattlesnake aversion training. I had done it with Beep, Poppet and Noodle. Noodle and Poppet remembered, but Beep needed a refresher. I had never done it with Rooster, so it was a good opportunity to help make them wary of snakes.
Rattlesnake!