Working Border Collies

In 2006 we added a new worker to the farm.  We purchased a registered Border Collie from Gary and Stephanie Payne of Weatherford, Texas (www.gspdorpersheep.com).  "Tess" was already trained and the objective was to relieve Bill of the duties of chasing sheep. 

Little did we know we'd just been hooked on another addiction.  Tess' primary job is helping to manage the everyday sheep chores, but Martha discovered competing at local sheep dog trials was an excellent way to learn more skills and to keep Tess honed. 

In January of 2008 we added a young male dog, Tim, pictured above.     

2011 Sheep Dog Trials

After looking for several months, Martha was able to purchase “Don” from Allen Mills of Goldthwaite, Texas.  Don and Allen competed in the 2010 National Finals, and Don was already qualified to compete at the Nursery Dog finals in Carbondale, Colorado in September 2011.  The trip was a lot of fun and while they didn’t place, Martha was pleased with her run. 

Tim had an excellent 2011 season, and was only 3 points shy of qualifying for the Open Division at the national Finals, himself.  He had good wins in New Mexico and recently won a tough class at a trial in Fredericksburg, Texas.  We’re looking forward to the 2012 trails.      

In September of 2007 Martha and Tess debuted in the Ranch Division at the Permian Basin Fair in Odessa, Texas.  They won the division championship by having the combined high score.

A big Thank You to Linda May for these action photos!

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In September 2009, Tim had his opportunity to shine at the Permian Basin Fair.  He scored 84.5 (out of 90) in his second nursery class run, working Boer goats! 

Tim fetches the goats to Martha.

He brings them in a nice straight line to the pen.

Despite the reluctance of the goats, Tim puts them in the pen!

At the 2007 Texas State Finals

The State finals were run at Big Lake, Texas on November 16 - 18.  Tess had qualified to run in the Ranch Division by competing in at least 5 trials.  In the first Ranch Division go-round, she was 3rd of 26 entries, 7th in the second go, and her combined scores earned her a 6th place over-all.  The sheep were particularly tough, in each go-round nearly half the dogs were disqualified for gripping the sheep.

Martha was quite proud of Tess, she proved she could run with the big dogs!