One way to train a farm dog to help with the cows

Flora on the right and Joy on the left relax at Miles Smith Farm in Loudon while a curious cow named Cocoa looks on. Flora is an energetic farm dog, while Joy is more of a couch potato.

My herd of cattle has munched down the grass on the 26 acres here at Miles Smith Farm. So every day, we deliver two or three 800-pound round bales to three separate pastures. If we're late, the cattle crowd the gate, mooing encouragement, blocking the entry of the tractor delivering dinner. I must shoo them back and stand guard as husband Bruce drives through. If I turn my back, the cows know, especially Gladys, and they will dash by me.

Flora, my 2-year-old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (this is an actual breed, and I like to imagine my little mutt is one of them), is a sometimes helper. Flora is not afraid of cattle, and once when I was trying to get six reluctant calves out of the holding pen, Flora ran up behind them, barking productively, pushing the calves out.

Another time she ran in front of a cow I was trying to coax into the holding pen. Her action turned the cow around and headed in the right direction. Flora has potential as a farm helper, so I'm training her to guard open gates.

I tell her to sit in the opening while I stand beside her. When a cow approaches, I'll put my hands up, step towards the cow, and imitate a bark to encourage Flora to join me. It worked twice, but Flora doesn't seem to take her job seriously. When no cows are close to the gate opening, she wanders off, looking for more excitement.

The Deerfield Fair

This year husband Bruce and I had a mission that should help Flora's training – a trip to the Deerfield Fair for the sheep-herding demonstration. When we arrived, a black and white border collie named Gracie was working five sheep. Gracie followed the commands of shepherd and trainer David Kennard, her eyes always on the sheep. As Gracie dashed here and there, the sheep moved away. Gracie, following David's commands of "away" (left), "come by" (right), "down" (lie down), and "forward," got the sheep to move around cones in a figure-eight, a remarkable act for a 40-pound dog herding five 150-pound sheep, each one three times her size. Apparently, a good sheepdog has to be fearless.

Flora isn't trained like Gracie, but she is fearless around my Scottish Highlanders, who can weigh 1,000 pounds and have enormous horns. I don't expect anything fancy from her, but maybe with some training, she can guard an open gate.

Pulling Their Weight

We also watched a competition among pairs of oxen with a combined weight of under 3,650 pounds. Each pair is hitched to a flat "sled" loaded with concrete blocks, and the team that pulls the most weight wins. The winner was Brian Patten of Springfield with his oxen, Tuff and Hoe, who pulled 6,500 pounds, almost twice their weight. Wade Fisher of Loudon competed with his Herefords and successfully pulled 4,000 pounds of cement blocks, more than the combined weight of his oxen. 

I have a Scottish Highlander pair of oxen in that weight class, but they complain when I hitch them to a 400-pound load. I guess they'll win a blue ribbon when Flora does.

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