February, 2016
Well, January finished with a few days of storms, most of which I’ve missed, but the rain that managed to find me was very welcome….and we missed the very rough stuff, thank goodness. One bonus of my gully failing to run (so far) this summer has been the lack of worms in the sheep; only two drenches in two years! All you Western Victorians must be jealous!
Pups are continuing to leave for their new homes, three headed down to Victoria this weekend with Canine Carriers who actually deliver them. I haven’t used them before, preferring to fly pups over long distances, but their rates are very competitive. Two very nice black/tan Chopper x Peggysue pups that look like sire material have gone to two studs down south. The pup I kept looks a bit more like Peg in type, and the blue/tan boy and the creamy are both big leggy pups. After being told that Chopper was unlikely to sire any more pups I decided to keep Polo, the cream boy. He impressed greatly first time on sheep. I am also running on the bitch pup, Poppy, who looks great.
Emma Zeimer came down for a quick visit bring a nice K.Hardy(R.Glide x K.Brandy)xVie(K.Landy x R.Trixie) bitch,K. Vonny, and also K.Kahlua, who has come back home after a few years working cattle for Derek and Em. Vonny came down in October to be tattooed and I was extremely impressed by the way she started on sheep, I don’t think I’ve seen a pup start better. She’s been working cattle and showing a lot of correct strength, so I’m very happy to have her. Emma also had their Tracker ChiefxKahlua bitch pup Midnight with her; she’s a lovely looking bitch and a real character, already working.
I collected Wings(WilsonxPeg) and Mocha(K.BrockxK.Lyndy) from Jeff Ritchie late Jan. and am very happy with their enormous progress in only two weeks. There’s a video of Mocha working for Jeff on Brock’s sire page. Sadly I mucked up the Wings one which was equally as good. Both look like being kept in the stud at this stage. Jeff was surprised that Mocha ‘exploded’ in the yards and did a great job when they were drenching lambs, even trying to back on her second go. Her dam Lyndy is very nice bitch owned by Lisha Bennett who brought her in from Longreach to mate to Brock; she tells me the rest of that litter is working well.