April 2017

Thanking the rain God for my lovely 150 mls last week and feeling for those who got far too much. Flood, fire or famine. What a country. So lucky to live here where we mostly manage to avoid all three.

An interesting little bit of info from Marina;I asked her, on behalf of a client, about feeding pigs’ ears.

“The pigs aren’t going to cause harm unless they’re salted or sulphured but what is a problem when when they get too much hide of any kind is that it’s taking the place of good young bone of which an adult needs a minimum of 25% and a pup needs a minimum of 50% daily, mind considering differences in individual dogs I like to feed my adults around 50% bone to keep their digestive health at it’s best.

Pigs ears are not as bad as using fruit and Veges as fillers but you know how the term “Not as bad as” can throw everything out of balance.

You could feed pigs ears if you feed the same percentage in young or soft bone but stool health will tell them how well their dogs are digesting them, if stools aren’t hard and if they have odour? More bone is needed☺️”

I wonder how many of us feed that amount of bone?

As I write this Heli is about to whelp to Wills. She spent all morning digging a huge crater and is now back in her box, barking non stop. My other bitches all whelp quietly, thank goodness! She’s very big so I’m hoping for a nice litter to fill some orders. Demand is high at present, good cattle and goat prices are no doubt the reason. I am still getting a lot of enquiry for companion dogs in city homes; many people have no idea of the energy level of young kelpies, and I continue to read online of many problem dogs who are trashing their owners’ homes! There’s no doubt that a dedicated owner can manage, many do, but the average person has neither the skill, patience nor staying power…in my humble opinion.

Brandy and Lily are still holding off coming on heat….so the infra red lamps will be working overtime when their pups arrive. Winter pups are easier than summer ones though. Remy is back from Nyngan and Mocha has gone out for some real life experience; she was a bit shell shocked at first, but Ron reports she’s getting used to seeing more than 100 sheep at once! Remy is due to Harvey at about the end of the month.

I am pleased that Maggie, my Wilson x Heli bitch has started well at last. She’s been having a great time hooning around in the big run with the other dogs, but finally got serious last week. The rest of her litter have been working for awhile. Another pup to start is Nessie(Polo x Mocha), a little escape artist who also looks as though she’ll love backing, she’ll jump and climb anywhere. Of course the camera battery went flat just as she got going nicely but this bit is funny.

Nat Grimmer has been staying with me for a few days and we worked a few dogs after the rain stopped. When she returns north next week I’ll have four dogs less to feed, including a young bitch Nat bought on the way down. She took these photos of Wills and Wings for me.