Chicken Scraps Blog

Fiona is our latest addition to the farm.  She is a gorgeous chocolate (or red) merle, ABCA Border Collie puppy from Hill Top Farm in IL.

We have PUPPIES!!! For pricing, more pictures, puppy contract, and other details, please visit Sandspur Ranch Border Collies I am ecstatic, excited, overjoyed, delighted and thrilled to introduce our first litter of purebred Border collie puppies!  Sorry for the crossed out list of adjectives...  They all came to mind when making this announcement.  :)

Ever since we got our first dog, Mama has periodically wished for a cat which would like dogs.  I used to have a hard time believing all she said about how her cats and dogs loved each other because my only experiences in that line involved excited Schnauzers, my stressed out, deaf kitty, and (later on) our whip-thin black cat, Flavia, who hates dogs, and Kep, who loves chasing cats. Then Flavia retired from working and the rats (which are always more or less present on a farm) began multiplying way  too fast, so we finally got two young kittens.  They were six week old brothers from Shepherd's Hill Farm and are the most wonderful cats.  They are sweet to each other and people, and I think they will be great ratters.  (BTW, there is one kitten left from this litter who needs a home!  Contact me if you are interested in adopting him.) Dickon (left) and Chauncey (right) The first time one of the dogs (Flossy, I think) walked up and sniffed the ...

For those who are interested, here is a pictorial, high-speed description of the month of February. I got to experience what having a pack of four high-energy dogs is like when I "puppysat" a couple of my sister-in-law's Aussies. (They are great dogs!   palacepupsaussies.weebly.com )

In breeding Border collies, my first goal is to produce quality puppies, rather than quantity.  Thus I chose my two dogs from reputable breeders who breed healthy working dogs.  To make entirely sure though that Cleone and Duncan are free from the dreaded collie eye anomaly , I sent in blood samples last week to a lab in Tallahassee. Today I got the test results and they are both normal, non-carriers! To view results, click here .

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, ...

I have news:  We now have a Border Collie stud! Dandie Duncan, a beautiful black and white ABCA registered Border Collie, will be coming to our farm in July. Sired by Gage, out of Sunday, both owned by Dawn Boyce, an excellent breeder in northern Georgia. I had pick of the litter among the males, and can hardly wait to pick him up. Duncan in center. I'm looking forward to when he and Cleone can play together, and of course, to the time when they have puppies.  He is from great herding lines, and I expect him to be beautiful, hardworking, and most importantly, have a great personality.

This blog post is a bit late, but now it will be more informative.  :) In July, when we took a family vacation, we also picked up Cleone, my first registered Border collie. I have been wanting for some time to begin breeding Border collies, and finally my hope is on the way to becoming a reality.  Our family vacation was the perfect opportunity to research a wider range of breeders, and find just the right puppy.