VIDEO: Border Collie in Action! (Cleone herding Barbacoa the Jersey bull).

Have you ever tried to herd a 16 m/o dairy bull? It can be interesting, even when he is comparatively mellow, like Barbacoa. Any bull that is sexually mature is potentially dangerous, and the closer they get to 18 months or two years, the more dangerous they are.

Now, if you have to somehow move that beast from one pasture, past a 5 month old heifer, through the yard, into another pasture, what is the easiest way to do it?

You call a high drive Border collie!

Yesterday I tattooed our bull for permanent ID before we sell him, and had to get him into the milking stanchion. While we didn't get the dragging him into the stanchion adventure on video, my 10 year old brother, Justice, did get some neat footage of Cleone moving him. As you can see in the video, she is no expert, but that is my fault, not hers. I simply don't know how to train a herding dog to the high level of skill that many reach, so while she is a great helper for me around the farm, she would never win any trials. But she loves to work cows, so for moving the cows from one pasture to the other, or taking them to my brother's house 1/3 mile away, she is great.

Enjoy the video!

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