Well-Trained Dogs Give Farmers a Hand
Published: Friday, June 25, 2021
The black and white border collie named Kate effortlessly streaks around the perimeter of the large pasture, occasionally disappearing behind the tall grass, only to reappear 10, 15 or 20 yards later in full, tongue-wagging stride. A flock of sheep, informed by instincts that evolved thousands of years ago, huddles together to protect itself against the perceived threat.
The golden, late-spring sun is slowly setting on a scene that suggests Scotland or New Zealand, but it's actually at a farm just outside Howe in LaGrange County.
Although it may not be a common sight in Michiana, the practice of rounding up livestock with the help of dogs is alive and well throughout America, according to Dean Yoder, who owns Kate and the flock used in a sheep dog demonstration at the Shepherds Campfire family event.
Dogs are an efficient, labor-saving way of managing a herd. They command a level of respect from sheep human handlers often don't and can cover a lot more ground than two-legged shepherds.
During the demonstration, three-and-half-year-old Kate helped Yoder divide the flock into two groups—one she walked into a trailer and the other guided into a make-shift pen in the middle of the pasture.
The sheep are a means to an end for Yoder, who raises just under 60 head on 18 acres at his Branded Oak farm and kennel near Topeka. Yoder's brother, Myron, helps train the dogs.
"I grew up with dogs and love working with them, so I do it for the dog part, of course" Yoder said during a break between demos. "I don't worry about fences and gates when the stock's in control. And if they get out, I'll just send the dog out and she'll keep them from running down the road. For me, that's a huge thing.
"But also, I can move them from one pasture to the next and can catch whichever sheep I want. I have farmers call me sometimes when they've got some sheep loose and they just can't get 'em in. Dogs are like having a very long arm."
Border collies are bred to be herders. A few weeks ago, a family dog in Washington went missing after it was was ejected from a car during an accident and ran away. Two days later, a farmer found the border collie-blue healer mix, herding his sheep.
Yoder also has a couple cows and some goats in addition to five dogs of various ages in different stages of development. Kate is a purebred with bloodlines originating in Scotland.
"It's sort of an old McDonald's special," he said of his operation. "When (Kate's) loose, she's always working. I've got ducks around there, so she'll always find something to herd. She's sort of wired to work. At eight weeks old, I have puppies trailing sheep and they've got that look."
The interaction between dog and sheep is based on the predator-prey relationship between wolves and sheep before they were domesticated between 11000 and 9000 B.C. The instinct remains strong in the best herding dogs and sheep still bunch up to protect the herd.
"If it's not in their blood, it's a lot of hard work to try to train them," Yoder said. "If a dog doesn't have enough of that predator instinct, the sheep will simply walk all over the dog."
Yoder directed Kate during the demonstration by shouting a few vocal commands and by blowing the special whistles hanging on his neck. Shouting "stand" for example, caused Kate to pause while keeping the sheep bunched in front of her. A more emphatic command of "stand," with the growly voice Yoder demonstrated, made Kate stop.
She would not move until he gave her another command.
"Most of the sheep and cattle guys use whistles because they can be heard better over the wind," Yoder told the spectators gathered at the demonstration.
About 225 people turned out for the Shepherds Campfire, the outgrowth of a concept dreamed up by a few local producers to promote sheep farming, according to Lloyd Hershberger, one of the event's organizers. The group held its first series of meetings in 2019 but suspended them last year because of public health concerns.
There isn't always a fire to gather around, but the group has the goal of putting on four such programs every year. This month's event also featured a shearing demonstration by Nick Meier of Goshen, whose grandfather, Dale Culp, was a world-renowned, professional shearer.
The mission of the Campfire is "connecting shepherds and sharing ideas supporting the livelihood of the family farm," Hershberger said. "It's to network local sheep producers and make resources available to them."
Because sheep farming isn't integrated to the extent beef, pork and poultry producers are, it's a cost-effective way to raise conventional livestock.
Shepherds aren't dependent on contracts with major packing operations, "which makes it perfect for the small farmers," Hershberger said. "It's more profitable because it hasn't been industrialized and commercialized the way a lot of the other industries have been.
"The sheep industry is probably the last with conventional animals that's not heavily integrated. If you're putting up a barn for pigs, you're putting it up for Tyson."
It's also a family friendly way to farm because it allows even small children to be safely involved doing chores and looking after the herd. Getting stepped on by a full-grown sheep doesn't hurt nearly as much as getting caught in the path of a mature steer.
"And the children enjoy holding the baby lambs, bottle feeding them and things like that," Hershberger said.
The next Campfire will take place Sept. 13 in LaGrange and one will be held at the Shipshewana auction barn in December. One is also planned to be held in conjunction with the Northern Indiana Grazing Conference in February.
It was only Yoder's second pasture demonstration, but he has put on shows for homeschool groups and other similar organizations.
He trains dogs for others at about $400 a month, but said established professionals will charge up to $1,000.
Dogs can become useful workers in as little as two months "if someone can put enough work in to just to understand them," Yoder said. "I have a friend who I trained a dog for, and when the lights go on in the house in the morning, the dog goes out and gets the cows a quarter-mile down the drive and has them waiting to be milked. It's very much labor-saving and an extra set of legs."
Border collies can sell for as much as $30,000.
"Especially out West," Yoder said. "I sold one a few years ago to a guy in Colorado. Out there, you can have six dogs taking the place of six cowboys—one guy and six dogs where he used to have hired hands."
A sheep dog can also eliminate the need for costly fencing, equipment and facilities. A shepherd without a dog often has to use feed to coax the sheep to go where he wants them to go.
"Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't," Yoder said. "Maybe 50 percent of the time they can make it work, and that other 50 they sweat, and work, and don't get it done, and that's when the farmer calls me.
"For me, I don't have a lot of fancy chutes or pens, but I can worm the sheep, I can castrate them, and I can do all that with just one good fence."
But that's the sheep farmer in Yoder talking, not the dog lover.
"For me, it's the romance of it," he said. "It's the fun of partnering with your dog and seeing how far you can get."
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