Cowboy'n

Part of what I really really love about living on this little piece of the planet here, is the awesome neighbors we have. We each have our own cow herds....ours is tiny at 40 head, compared to our neighbors 500+ , but no matter the size every animal is important to us all, and without each others help, it would be much more difficult to manage them. All the fall chores are nearly done, our neighbors herd has all been preg checked, and the last chore on the list for them was to move the heifers back north and join them with their main cow herd. We did that this morning, it was nippy out (about -15c) very thankful for insulated Carhartts! The sun came out tho making a rather pleasant ride.

Monday, the 22nd is weaning day for us, and with our neighbors help we'll wean, apply RFID tags, and load the steer calves and take them to town to the Auction Mart for tuesday's sale. We'll keep the heifer calves for a while, to decide on replacements, and then the balance of them will be sold.

So much to do, so little time!

Wow, its seems like its been forever since I posted anything here! Life's been busy. I got my new lambs, and they are growing really well. Hopefully they will be the neucleus of my new registered flock of Katahdins. We finally got all our hay brought in from the fields and put into the stack yard. Things have been tidied up and put away ready for winter, although with the spectacular weather we've had for almost all of October, and the first few days of November, its hard to believe that winter will soon be upon us. Now that the mosquitoes have been killed off and the sun has come out, I have started working Shay on my really dog broke "puppy" sheep. She's coming along really well.....here's a short video of her on day 4 of training.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE-5CeYUiqw

Chili has become the go-to dog at home and helps with the cattle, and she also brings in the sheep and sorts the puppy sheep out for Shay :o)

The top picture is of Chili and the new lambs the first time they had been worked by a dog.

MCSS Letter Published in CVMA Newsletter

ermission has been granted to cross post.
Well worth reading! Joan

I've not seen it yet myself, but today we learned that our letter to theCVMA and other vet councils in Canada was published in the CVMA newsletter. You can read it here:http://www.mscc.ca/news_events.html We received a reply from a veterinarian in Manitoba, who stated that theletter made her "angry". Apparently, she was offended that she might bearsome of the blame for the consequences that rigid selection for new traitson our already limited gene pool. I wrote the following back in response.

**** Speaking for myself and no one else: In 2011, for the first time in 30 years, there will be no puppies born here. One of the little understood facts of show dog breeding is that it'sdecidedly unprofitable. The sale of puppies sometimes offsets the costs of bringing that litter into the world, but most of the time, we breed dogs at a loss and support our hobby through outside income. We breed show dogs for the love of sport, and the love of our breeds. This is also the reason that we support veterinary research programs through financial contributions and direct participation. Many of the treatments youuse today were developed in whole or in part, by funding from dog showbreeders and the organizations they support.
You feel passionately about what you do, that is clear, and I have no desire to force you to perform any procedure with which you disagree. But it is deeply disrespectful to me, as a breeder, and as "your" client,that you cannot extend the same generosity to my passionate beliefs, or to those veterinarians who do not agree with your views.
In 2004 I helped co-author this paper with Dr. Bruce Grahn at the Universityof Saskatchewan. The research was based upon my dogs, my records, and thebreeding colony I maintained. Research into identifying the gene responsiblehas been ongoing since then.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15091321 I have already notified the Dean and Dr.Grahn in writing that myparticipation in this research ends the day that the SVMA decides theirjurisdiction extends to my breed standard. I have no desire to walk away from important research. For Dr. Grahn and histeam, it will amount to a tragic waste of professional resources andresearch grant dollars.
For me, it will have been a waste of time and finances, but most painfully, a waste of the puppies who were bred, and then euthanized to have their retinal tissues harvested. But as the veterinary associations seem poised for a full frontal assault on show breeders and our breed standards, my participation in veterinary research has become moot. If I can't show my dogs at the highest levels, I don't need veterinary opthalmologists, much less dna testing.
Back to my decision not to breed next year. While I have a wonderful relationship with my veterinarians, I am truly conflicted as to whether I want to place puppies in homes where they may be brought to be treated by people like you - veterinarians who are actively working to end my lifelong enjoyment of competition in the show ring. So, should the day come that you or one of your colleagues learns that the clinic can no longer sustain its operating costs, I sincerely hope that the first person you think of is me, and the puppies I will not sell next year.
When a profession that I have supported for upwards of three decades decides to "put me out of business", know just this one thing: I - and others likeme - will make every effort possible to return the favour.
-- Kate McMillan http://www.katwerk.com

2010 CNASA Nationals

Pam and Sunny putting sheep thru the chute
Lill and Tray lining sheep up for the chute. Tray is the sire of my pup Shay.
Joan and Chili with judge Heather Forbes.
The end of August came very quickly! My good friend and former "almost neighbor" Pam Arlitt came from Black Creek with her dog Sunny for a 10 day visit. We had a great visit here and worked our dogs lots getting in some last minute preparation for the CNASA National Specialty in Watrous, Saskatchewan. Pam and I went with Lill Roth-Lee another good friend and travel buddy, and the three of us had a very successful trial, and loads of good laughs!! :o) CKC herding trials allow you to start at whatever level you think your dog is ready for, so Pam and I went straight into Intermediate, and Lill and Tray jumped right to advanced. We trialed in both arena trials and stockdog trials. The stockdog trials were very much like a cross between the ASCA Ranch Trials, and Farm Trials. The arena trials were held in a beautiful rolling 200 x 400 arena, and were a good test for "trusting" your dog! I'm happy to say we were all sucessful!! with my dog Chili winning the Intermediate division.

Put a tick in that box

the steps are not dirty.....they are WET.....if you look just thru the crap apple tree to the right you can just see a part of the puddle that is in the lawn!!!

well......after a few days of kneeling on my little foam pad, cutting bricks, my project is complete.....another box ticked off, and I"m pretty happy with the results. I have plans to start on some castle stone raised shrub/flower beds around the house, but it has to really DRY up to start that project! Those blocks are heavy and they will need a good dry base to start with. First tho the lattice has to go back on around the deck, and there's some work on the barn that needs to be done.......maybe we'll get lucky and some of the lakes in the hay fields will dry up so we can get some haying done. Oh what a year its been!

Projects

part of the bricks set in place
Getting started
preparing the bed
ick!! the right side full of weeds!
I've been busy and haven't posted anything for a while, so thought I'd better get with it! The rain, and mosquitoes have made working dogs most unenjoyable, and I've become kind of a princess about the mosquitoes, so I've been working on other projects. First off, I've been on the hunt for some new sheep. I've had my little band of "mutt" sheep for 5 years now and used them only for dog sheep, I haven't bred a ewe since we moved to Alberta. I really miss having good sheep around and I like lambing time, so I've decided to sell most of my sheep......I'll keep the better Barbados ones and sell the rest. I wanted to buy some Katahdin ewe lambs, but WOW, finding some good ewe lambs this year was proving difficult! I finally did find some that I will be picking up in mid/late August. That will give me time to thin out my flock here and get ready for the new ones!

I also decided that the flower beds on either side of the sidewalk that leads from the driveway area to the house needed refurbishing. I use the term "flowerbeds" loosely, as with 6 dogs roaming back and forth across the sidewalk, flowers would never survive there, so I never planted any :o) and container flowers are more my style! :) I've decided to brick in the beds, making a brick border on either side of the sidewalk. Its coming along, I'm almost done laying bricks on one side, and when its finished I"ll have to sweep sand into the cracks between the bricks. It would be really nice if the dimensions of the bed would let me lay full bricks, but of course that isn't the case, so I have to do a lot of cutting.......sure slows up the project!! Anyway, I think it'll look nice when I'm done :)

The next project on the board, is to do some major repairs to the barn.......that will have to be done before the snow flies!

I'll post some pictures of the finished project when I'm done!

L Bar J's Redi or Not STDcds DNA-VP

picture taken in Montana July/ 09

The ASCA Merit Lists have just been posted for the 09/10 year and Chili (dark red dog, center of picture) ended up on the ASCA Merit List at #2 in Started Sheep, #5 in Started Ducks and #10 in Started Cattle. Unfortunately since we had to cancel our trial here in Alberta, and I can't make it to Montana this year, it looks like we won't be doing any ASCA trials this year. So, we'll have to practice hard for 2011! Congratulations to ALL the dogs on the Merit Lists.....but especially to the Canadian teams, travelling to ASCA events from north of the 49th, adds quite a bit in time, travel and $$.

Remembering Locie

Ruff Stock Mi Vida Loca STDds DNA-CP

12/8/94 - 05/23/10

I've tried, but I can't even put into words what this little dog meant to us. Larry and I both loved her equally but she meant such different things to both of us. Locie was Hypothyroid all of her adult life, and it was this illness that was the catalyst for my interest in the health of the Australian Shepherd, and she also began my love of trialing. To Larry she was a best friend and truck riding buddy.

We loved her, and we miss her.

Kid Pix - Redi

Redi says lets go Mom quit taking those darn pictures and get in, times wasting and we've got trails to ride!

And the best part about camping are those great sleeps after lots of fresh air and exercise!

Kid Pix - Shine

Melinda sent me some great pictures of Shine......she is growing into a very pretty girl! There is a great deal of commonality in this litter, both in looks and temperament. Its going to be fun to see how all these kids grow and mature.

The weather is definitely warming up, there are about 10 cows left to calve, the mud is drying up, we are pretty much over our round of sickness, and life is getting back to some semblance of normal......finally :o) Enjoy the pictures of Melinda's "Shiney" pup.........

Be Careful What You Wish For

A River Runs Thru it.....looking south into one of our hayfields....we now have river front property, and as you can see, some of the rain got a little "white"
My round pen....not really use-able at the moment :(
Pretty Shay :o)
Well, its been a while since I managed to find some time to post! Both of us spent a month being sick with a very nasty bug that started as bronchitis and hung around for far too long! Then the tractor decided to break down, (not a good thing when you have 40 cows to feed) the cows are calving, and THEN we got the rain we REALLY needed. Now I know we really really needed rain, I just wish there was some way to get rain, without MUD! The corrals as you can see turned into a bog, and so we had to turn the cows out into the field where we feed all winter. So, its not the cleanest field to calve in, but at least it keeps them closer to home.

Shay is growing up, she's going to be a pretty girl when she matures......she's also extremely intense, with everything she does, I think starting her on stock is going to be really fun! I can hardly wait for my round pen to dry up, to get her started, but judging by the depth of the mud we're going to need some warm weather to accomplish that!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's - 2 and 4 legged!

Brother Tuff

I had a really nice email from Laura in Oklahoma where two of the pups from Kya's last litter are. The pups are doing well, and Kevin and Laura are very pleased with them.

Remember that video of (Mac) now called Tuff's first time on sheep.......well, Laura sent me some pictures of Tuff in the round pen with a few calves. Kevin is training a couple of border collie's and he really wanted to see what Tuff thought of the calves, so he put a line on him and well........I think Tuff has the makings of a pretty decent cowdog for the LK Cattle Company. What do you think? :o)

The Best Laid Plans....

I was really looking forward to the Easter longweekend.....the grandsons were coming and we were going to have an Easter Egg hunt....and turkey dinner.....mmmm. That is until I started feeling really crappy last weekend, Monday I was coughing and coughing, spiked a low temp. felt nauseous, and generally like I'd been drug through a knothole backwards, and didn't go to work......in fact I got worse as the week went on, and didn't drag myself out of bed until Thursday morning, when I took myself off to the doctor. Apparently I have Bronchitis :( So, a trip to the pharmacy with perscriptions in hand, and home I went with all kinds of good stuff. I am now on the mend, but no where near back to normal.....what a PITA! A beautiful Easter weekend spent mostly horizontal. So Shay didn't get to see sheep as I do not have the lung capacity to even think about trying that! I did manage to work Chili on the heifers for about 5 minutes each night, as even if you're sick, chores on the farm still need to get done, and the cooler outside air is definately easier to breathe than the dry inside air!

Here's to a better week this week! Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Kid Pix - Shay

Since I haven't posted a picture of Shay lately I thought I'd put a couple up so you all can see the "Shay-ster". The monster in the cute red merle package :) She's intensely interested in ALL the livestock, and would dearly love to get in the pen with the heifers. I'm going to try her on a few sheep this weekend, and see if she can keep up with her brother and sisters. I'm pretty sure she'll be able to :)

Kid Pix - Redi

Redi....the little cone-head that could! Redi is recovering remarkably well from her surgery, and is keeping Dave and Jessica in shape hiking the hills around Kelowna :o) Does this look like a pup that began life with a broken femur, and recently had her right hind leg operated on?? Go....Redi, Go! :o)

Kid Pix - Shine

This is Melinda May's "Shine" at almost 5 months of age. All the pups are VERY tuned into stock and want to work BAaaaad.......time flies by so fast it won't be long until the ones in stock home can begin a bit of informal training. By summer they should be doing some nice fetching......or in Shine's case....maybe the little black bomb will be ready to being trialing!

A "Tuff" Mac

Mac.........now called Tuff has made his way to Oklahoma, to live with his sister Diamond and the crew at the LK Cattle Company ranch. When the pups grow up they will be helping Kevin and Laura move cattle in the pens and pastures. They are keen to work, and Kevin has more than enough for them to do. We're looking forward to hearing how they turn out!

Also, a millions thanks to Mike and Melinda May & the kids of Hullabaloo Aussies in Fredericksburg Texas, for taking "Mac" in when he needed a place to go to.

Mac @ 4 months - first time on sheep

Mac getting his first introduction to sheep. These pups are going to be awesome workers :o) LOVE them :)

Like a Boomerang......

Mac will be coming back. Right now he's taking a little working/learning holiday at Melinda's house. How lucky we all are to have such a good savvy aussie friend in Melinda! :o) Mac is a super nice loving pup who just proved to be too much dog for his owners. We are looking for a new home for Mac, one that can provide him with lots of work to do, love, attention, and the rules of life to put in his toolbox. If you think Mac might fit into your household, call 403-876-2425 (evenings) or email me for details.

Texas 2-Step

"Shine"


"Mac"

Or maybe that should be 4-step.....no wait.....8-step! The two Texas pups are making themselves comfy in their new homes. I don't think they're bothered one little bit that they don't have snow to go pee on :o)

I'm Just a Little Cone-Head

Like all grandma's, I love to get pictures of "the kids" :o) (In my case both 2 and 4 legged :) For my 4 legged kids, I especially love to hear about all the neat things they are doing in their new homes, and how they are moving ahead in life :) Redi, will always have a special place in our heart's because of her rocky start in life. Getting your leg broken at the head of the femur when you are just a little baby is not a great way to start life, however Redi never let that stop her from doing "anything"!

We were extremely fortunate that Jessica and Dave came into Redi's life and have given her a wonderful loving and caring home. We all knew that Redi would eventually need a operation to remove the femoral head on her right hind leg, however "eventually" came sooner than expected. Redi's bone and muscle were atrophying, and so to allow her to lead a normal life, with normal movement, "eventually" became "now"! Redi had her leg operated on last week, and all reports are really good so far! So here's to the little "cone-head" who captured a lot of peoples hearts! Get well soon Redi!

And Then There Was One

Today was a big day for Diamond, Shine and Mac......they had to leave their sister Sprite in Missoula, Montana, at her new home with Lisa and Dan Shafer to make the final leg of their journey to their new homes!

~Diamond has gone to live with Laura and Kevin Radford and their boys on the LK Cattle Co. in Alva Oklahoma,

~ Shine has gone to Melinda, Mike, Michela, and Oren May of Hullabaloo Aussies in Fredericksburg, Texas, and

~Mac has gone to Debby Divich and her folks in San Antonio, Texas.

~Shay is staying with us, cuteness seems to get her a long ways these days, and I think she'll probably live up to her registered name, L Bar J's Shhh It Happens :o)

We are looking forward to lots of pictures and updates of all the pups as they grow and begin to make their mark on the world!

1 More Sleep

Well the countdown is on :) Lisa and Dan will be heading north over the border on Saturday, and come Sunday morning Sprite, Shine, and Diamond will be leaving with them, heading out of the first leg of their journey to their new homes! Boy.........will it ever be quiet around here!! Well not entirely all that quiet......because Shay and Mac will still be here, but a whole lot quieter than it sometimes is around here!

First Exposure to Sheep

Shay had her first exposure to sheep today......and it reminded me so much of her mother's first time on sheep, it was spooky :o) At almost 13 weeks, Shay is about a month younger than Kya when I first put her in the round pen. I put Shay on the flexi and walked out into the sheep pen with her. The sheep immediately grouped up and turned to face "the attacker" :o) Shay immediately went out in front of me and could easily have charged straight thru the middle but she didn't. She did a lovely little (still on a flexi) outrun to the left and went around the sheep, who headed into the round pen. So we followed them in and then I let Shay gather them again and push them back out. We did this 3 times......Tons of instinct in this pup......I think she's a keeper ;o))

All of the pups got individual leash lessons today, and a big play outside in the snow. Tomorrow, if the weather smartens up a bit, all of the pups will get some sheep time ;)

January Thaw Part 2

Shine has found her right someone :o)

Sprite - is patiently waiting for Lisa to come and get her! Get used to the snow Sprite...its just the same in Montana as it is here!
Mac -CAN YOU SAY WEAVE? :o) Mac has found his special someone, and will be living in Texas doing some agility :) He will probably get to visit with his sister Shine to!

Diamond - hope she likes heeling those Oklahoma cattle as much as she likes heeling me!!
Shay - Gets to stay here with me :o)
Just amazing January weather we are having, warm and sunny!! The snow is sure melting away, there's lots of bare patches now, and its really slippery everywhere there is snow from the cycle of melting and freezing. We need a wet spring, or we're gonna be in trouble, as we sure haven't had enough snow to help the lack of moisture for the last year.

The puppies were out for ages today, its so much fun to watch them exploring :) They even got *MUDDY*! :o) Redi left for her new home today, she might not be thrilled with the 8 hour car ride, but I think she will be with the rest of her life!

enjoy the pics........