The Herd

I knew it would happen sooner or later. I've been waiting for it. But it turns out I wasn't as prepared as I thought I'd be. Looking back, I could have probably gotten so many great shots, but I got so caught up in what was going on I wasn't really even thinking about shooting. These were all just kind of on the fly.

This is modern day sheep herding. The dogs still do the work, but the ute (small truck) comes up behind to keep the sheep from breaking. These sheep are being driven down the road to the next pasture. The road is lined with fencing, and there are pastures on either side.

These dogs are unbelievable. There were 5 working this herd. They'd ride in the back of the utes and leap over the side and spring to action when they got a command. Each dog was going by a different set of instructions, all 5 working independently on the master plan.

There were several times when a number of the sheep would make a break for it and exploit any weakness in the fence line.

Close to 100 made it through a gap into this field. They were bunched into several pockets scattered about. 

This 1 dog took off like lightening, ran them all together, and pushed them back toward the main herd. 

All in a matter of minutes. The intelligence of these dogs is absolutely incredible. They are single-minded, relentless, and clearly working out problems as they go.

I will tell you, that at this point I was out of the car pushing a couple of strays that had made it past the dogs back up toward the herd. The adrenaline is so high with the yelling and whistling, dogs racing, and hundreds and hundreds of sheep bleating, that it is almost impossible to just sit back and watch. 

When they had all been rounded into the new pasture, the rancher came to our car to chat. He wanted to say Thanks to us for being so patient. Can you imagine. Here I've been completely engrossed in every second, and he's thanking us for being patient. Apparently, these are all spring lambs that have just been taken off their mums. He says the lambs all run willy-nilly because "they're just like children with no adult supervision and they don't know how to behave yet."

He turned around, gave a whistle, and 5 dogs sailed clear into the bed of his truck, and off we all went.