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David Kennard's Blog

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For those who are unfamiliar with the tales of ‘Mist’ on Channel Five, I probably ought to explain why a North Devon sheep farmer comes to be writing on the Mole Valley Farmers website. It all started ten years ago with a whim of an idea about diversification, based around my two sheepdogs Greg and Swift.  We started with some sheepdog displays for the summer visitors to Woolacombe, followed by a film about the working lives of the dogs, then came a couple of books. Most recently the ‘Mist’ children’s series has been shown on Channel Five, consisting of 39 ten minute stories of the real and not so real lives of the Borough Farm sheepdogs. With a flock of 700 ewes to keep, the last few years have been busy, but one of the biggest draws on my time in the last year has been trying to train the next generation of sheepdogs.

An archive of David's articles is available.

Read on for his latest news...

Welcome to Mole Valley Farmers Brand New Blog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

'A Busy Time at Borough Farm'

August 2011

August is a busy time for us at Borough Farm. Not only is the season of sheepdog displays in full swing (18 displays to be done this month) but with the summer warmth the sheep also need their fair share of attention. Blowfly strike is an endless problem in the warm weather so I need to be up to date with the preventative treatments. There are the puppies to young dogs to train and  the older dogs to keep up to scratch, but on top of all that there is one extra problem that tends to crop up in August.

 

Living just outside the holiday resort of Woolacombe, North Devon means that the summer months bring holidaymakers by the thousand. The coastal ground that I farm at Morte Point is owned by the National Trust and is open to the public. Over twelve months nearly 100,000 people walk through the 200 acres of the point. The vast majority just enjoy the stunning scenery, the wildlife and the sheer tranquillity of the area, but a small handful of visitors each year bring mayhem with uncontrolled dogs.

Virtually all dogs possess an inherent desire to chase livestock,  and with two miles of unfenced cliffs around Morte Point, a dog chasing sheep causes serious problems. Back in 2005 one family with three dogs were responsible for driving five different groups of sheep over the cliff in one week. When eventually caught, their reaction was scarcely believable, ‘it doesn’t matter it’s only sheep'!

I’m always called out on these occasions, with directions that rarely identify where a stricken animal can be found, so it usually results in an hour or so searching the cliff edges. But I’m not the only one who is impacted by such incidents. On one occasion last year the coastguard was called out by a member of the public who had witnessed a dog chase a sheep onto the rocks. The coastguard called me but by the time I arrived, Swansea Coastguard Control had deemed the incident serious enough to call out 8 more Coastguards from the neighbouring station, they also called out the local police and put the lifeboat on standby!

So the moral of this story is that if you are walking your dog this summer and there is livestock around, please, for everyone’s sake keep it on a lead!

David Kennard Borough Farm - ZolaBut all that sounds a bit negative, so I’ll finish with something more positive. The new pups, Zola and Colin are now six months old. They have started to work and are looking great! Colin is thoughtful and careful, where as Zola is stylish and fast. All in all, a really encouraging start. Here’s a picture of Zola, her eyes tell it all!

Find out more about David Kennard and his sheepdogs by visiting his website at:  

www.boroughfarm.co.uk  

info@boroughfarm.co.uk

Words and photographs by David Kennard

 

 


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