Cattle help could spell trouble

I was recently visiting friends who farm sheep and cattle in the Waikato on 600 acres of easy rolling hills. They do stock-work with two capable dogs, a Huntaway and a Heading dog. The neighbour, who leases land next door and oddly doesn’t have any working dogs, phoned and asked if they could bring their dogs and help him shift some cattle. Being obliging, good neighbours, they said yes. After he hung up I thought I’d offer some advice, something my friends may not have considered.

What if a dog was injured? It doesn’t take long for vet bills to reach hefty four figures when dealing with broken bones and serious injuries. Who would pay? And it might take weeks, maybe months, for the dog to heal so they wouldn’t have the dog power for their own work in the interim. What if a dog was killed? Many a dog has lost its life due to a wayward bovine. Would the neighbour cover the costs? A lot of farm dogs are covered by insurance, but a lot aren’t. I believe in this day and age any capable farm dog should be insured.

Even if you are lucky enough to have a wad of money in your hand to buy a replacement dog, are you going to find one at short notice? If you’re happy with a mutt with no stop, that splits a mob, leaves stock behind and is deaf, you’ll soon pick one up but trying to find an honest and capable dog is like searching for a hen with teeth. Even if you do fluke it and find one, will the dog work for you tomorrow? Will you remember its commands? Will it know the paddocks in time for shearing at the end of the week? The answer is no. When it is put like that, what would you do?

While we are on the subject of shifting cattle, I’ll touch on cows with calves. Too many people wind themselves, their dogs and the cattle into an unnecessary frenzy. From the moment the muster begins cows and calves become mismothered and a team of frothy mouthed exhausted dogs try to bully a panicking herd in the desired direction, generally the opposite direction to where the cows want to go.

Back in my heyday I did stock-work from horseback with a working team of a handy Huntaway, a noisier Huntaway and a Heading dog; they were usually joined in summer by a young dog coming on.

I soon discovered the best way to move cows and calves on my own was to ride to a vantage point and bark the Huntaways for a moment or two. Then we’d wait quietly for the cattle to mother up: moving them beforehand was asking for trouble. Once they’d done that I’d work only one Huntaway, keeping it well back and directing the cattle with non aggressive noise. Because the cows had their calves at foot and were being guided kindly by a controlled dog, everything stayed calm and they would walk anywhere. If I needed to ride among the cattle the dogs were commanded ‘outside’.

The faster stock move the less control you have. Guide with your dogs rather than bully – it will save mishaps to dogs stock and fence posts.

• Anna Holland is teaching people dog training. For more information www.annaholland.co.nz  or Ph  07) 217 0101 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.