September 2018

Still dry here, as in many other places. Let’s hope things turn around this month; although we don’t usually get storms until later on, anything can happen these days. A sheep update to start with! I had to start the ewes on corn after shearing as they were losing too much weight with frosts every night. They seem to be holding OK now, and some are actually looking a bit too good.

Despite the dry year the ewes cut well and Cameron Griffiths, my shearer, said he thought it was the best clip I’d had. Micron was down to 16.5 and yield 76.6%…. amazing price of 2400c! A shame I had to sell the wethers and weaners months prior to shearing.

So back to dogs. I am feeling quite liberated at present with a few empty kennels at last! Good sales through August and the young litters well booked up apart from a couple of little dog pups. There are some nice young bitch pups that I’m running on, and they’re a pleasure to handle; I have a lovely little bitch from Gemma by Wills(Wiggle) below left and another by Brock from Bimber(Bliss)below right who are looking like keepers. Pup in the middle is Harris(Hardy x Tash). Dallas (T.SpyxRemy) is away with Arthur Crumblin at present.

Wings is proving to be a really good mum after being so hard to mate, so maybe she’ll cooperate again in the future. Her pups by Wills are doing extra well. The two black/tan bitches have quite a few light hairs behind the neck and shoulders. The white mark on one of the boys has almost disappeared…! That’s a first.

Two of the girls.

I took Heli and Poppy, my two bitches by Baldwin’s Chopper, down to Goondiwindi on Saturday to go out to Nyngan with Ronnie Robb for some real work. Wills was going too, but was busy down at Tenterfield attending to a couple of bitches! The wind change the previous night had blown up a dust storm, all the way over to the coast. Below is the view from the top of the hill above my farm.

The Wills x Poppy litter has done really well and are almost ready to leave. I’m going to keep Peach, a nice little bitch with the lighter tan. The two boys, lower pics, are for sale.

I was really disappointed to have a nice young dog returned after being worked with an injury for six months; he was supposed to have bad stamina and/or bad hips. A chap who called in to look at the dogs on the day he came home called in the next week to see how he was getting on, he was so worried about his condition. A few weeks later and after some physio treatments, he’s a different boy. X rays taken months after the injury were checked by an expert vet who said it all happened too long ago to determine the cause….but he’d been working cattle, so no prizes for guessing. The brown hair is an indication of lack of blood flow to the damaged area. Lovely natured dog. He now has a new home with light work and future stud duties.

From:Geoff Collyer <geoff.collyer@hotmail.com>
Sent:Wednesday, 15 August 2018 8:54 AM
To:admin@bentstreetvet.com.au
Subject:Fw: Bobby

Bobby was examined 18/7/2018 with ongoing weakness and gait abnormality in hind legs. full lateral spinal xrays were taken and hip views. After consultation with referral orthopaedic veterinarian, and case discussion. The last lumbar vertebrae is misshapen. This is most likely due to L7-S1 disc disease. Due to the length of time the dog has shown hind limb paresis, identifying the initiating cause of the disc disease is problematic.

Sincerely, Geoff.

Emma and Derek visited last week and brought some dogs and pups. Midnight and Bimber will be mated to Wills, they’re just coming on heat now. We tried some pups for the first time and the outstanding ones were by Wills and Brock. It’s always exciting to see the results of planned matings turn out as expected…or better!