Happy birthday Floyd
Those of you who frequent our stall at the Castle Hill market will have met Floyd, the latest addition to our gang, who turns one in August. We have big hopes for him; he’s not quite capable of working on his own yet but has proven that he’s as tough as his mum (Kali) and has the same laid-back attitude to work as his dad (Buster)…
…On that note we thought it was about time we introduced the rest of the crew:
Castro was our first working dog; he came from our good friends Stephen and Mary at Noonbarra Kelpies in Manildra. Named for the fact that he is red and used to sleep under our bed, he has been with us since we first started with cows and certainly taught us more than we taught him. He may have slowed down in his old age, but he’s still the dog we go for if have a craky old bull to move.
Kali also came from Noonbarra, she was selected as a good match for Castro, although Castro turned out to be gay, (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Kali’s always been the goto dog for all jobs, she can work cattle, sheep or goats in yards or the paddock, but she is a little harder on the sheep than we like. She’s also getting on now, but she gave us her first litter of pups last year, so her line will continue on.
Maya was given to us by the local farrier as a pup. She has a really soft nature which means she’s taken on pretty much all the sheep work. where gentle is good, and we don’t ask her to do much with cattle which requires a little more force.
Buster is our rescue dog. He was living up the road from us and the sheep farmer who owned him couldn’t get him to work in the way he wanted. We offered to take him and try him out, as his future was uncertain. It turned out that with a little patience and understanding he is a wonderful working dog. He’s also Floyd’s sire.
We usually bring one of the dogs with us to market each month, so drop in and say hi to the real workers of our farm.
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