I love having dogs on our homestead…
But up until now, I never considered homestead dogs as anything other than pets (and occasional chicken killers).
But after talking to Jordyn Kelly of Working Aussies Homestead on my podcast, I’ll never look at a homestead dog the same again.
I enjoyed our conversation so much, I asked her to share some of her wisdom on the blog today. I know you’ll enjoy her creative, time-saving tips as much as I did!
~ Jill
6 Surprising Ways to Use a Herding Dog
Growing up, I would read any dog book I could get my hands on and would study for hours about different breeds and their purpose and usefulness. I had always dreamed of growing up to have a farm and loved reading about herding breeds who could be useful tools with various livestock.
I didn’t fully understand a dog’s potential for jobs until we truly started getting into homesteading. Before we bought our property, I had done some more advanced obedience training with our dogs as well as training some basic and intermediate tricks as well. The key aspect was simply applying some of that training to the opportunities the homestead would offer.
Some of the tasks I have asked my dogs to complete on the homestead are a little revolutionary when taking time management into consideration.
Surprising Herding Dog Use #1: Paper Weight
Operating our market garden using no-till practices means we need to be creative on how to prep our growing beds for the next season. One very efficient way we do this is by using silage tarps. Our property is relatively flat with very few trees so it is usually windy most days. With just my husband and I attempting to move the tarps, the wind would usually catch the tarp and blow it away from us.
We use a fifty foot by one hundred foot tarp and I had the idea to put a few dogs in a down-stay at one end of the tarp so we could stretch it out completely before finagling it in place. Having completed more advanced obedience with our dogs, despite their confusion regarding the tarp, they did what I asked of them.
By placing my dogs in a specific spot to hold the tarp down, it helped complete the task at a much faster rate and much more efficiently.
Surprising Herding Dog Use #2: Meat Chicken Wrangler
As homesteaders who have raised our own meat chickens, we have used a few different housing methods to contain the birds while rotating them on pasture. In our first season, we made a too-tall, too-heavy tractor that only my husband could move by himself. When it came time to butcher, the chickens were spastic and extremely difficult to catch.
The next season, my husband built a tractor based on Joel Salatin’s design, where the structure is 2 feet tall. When we went to butcher the next round using the new tractor, it was frustrating to climb in and crouch down to catch the birds. So for the next batch we did, we tried to think of ways to make the chickens easier to catch. We tried putting a divider in to give the chickens less space to move away from us but it was still difficult.
At that time, I had begun working with one of my dogs more to help herd the laying chickens and keep them within their fencing. As I walked over to the chicken tractor to attempt to climb in and catch a bird, our dog showed great interest in helping. So I asked him to jump in and bring the birds to me. Without touching a single feather, he applied the proper amount of body pressure needed to get the chickens close enough for me to quickly reach in and grab a foot.
Since that day, our herding dog is now a crucial part of butcher days to ensure they go quickly and smoothly. However, this is something I would recommend doing only with a dog whose temperament and training makes sense for aiding in this task.
Surprising Herding Dog Use #3: Search & Rescue (Homestead Version)
There have been a few instances on the homestead when I have begun to lose hope in finding objects or animals that have great importance. My dogs sense this in me and come to ask to help. On one such occasion, a rabbit hutch latch had failed and I was missing one of the 5-week old kits with no insight on how long it had been out. I asked one of my dogs to come help find it. He sniffed at the momma and other kits and whined, to which I responded, “yes, like those! Go find the missing one!”
I honestly believed it was a lost cause until about 5 seconds later when Finn had darted into the greenhouse and I heard a rabbit squeal. I asked him to be easy and bring the rabbit to me. He again applied the perfect amount of body pressure for the kit to get close enough to me that I could reach down and grab it quickly. There have also been missing baby chicks, missing chickens, and missing baby goats which my dogs have helped track down and locate.
Such a useful tool on the homestead, to have herding or homestead dogs who can help search and rescue.
Surprising Herding Dog Use #4: Pasture Manager
When you value raising your livestock on pasture, a key aspect is found observing your pastures. On our small homestead, we rotational graze using electric net fences for our sheep and goats as well as laying chickens. The main use I have for my herding dogs is using them as pasture managers.
They need to be there when we are rotating livestock to make sure the move goes smoothly and to stay with me until the fences are hooked up and I turn them back on. My dogs help add that natural pressure to keep the stock from going backwards in rotation, pushing them into the next paddock I have set up or into the area where I will be setting up a new paddock.
Surprising Herding Dog Use #5: Gatekeeper
This is another underrated yet extremely useful way to use your herding dog. There are times when I need to go into a pasture but I do not want the sheep or goats to follow me or go near where I have opened the fence. It is in these circumstances where I will ask a dog to come into the paddock with me but ask that it leaves the livestock alone.
I will then position the dog in a down stay near the open section to help keep the livestock from going to that area. This is a really good exercise I use when working with my younger dogs as well because it helps them gain better impulse control around the livestock.
This will also gain you more respect from the livestock to understand that the presence of the dog does not always mean the dog is there to add chaos or always there to move or work the stock.
Surprising Herding Dog Use #6: Animal Husbandry Assistant
I cannot stress enough how useful this position is for my dogs. Raising livestock on pasture without the use of supplemental grain means your livestock are less reliant on you and are quite happy to be left alone. However, raising livestock holistically, it is still important to complete regular animal husbandry checks to ensure everyone is maintaining optimal health.
Having goats and sheep, we are regularly checking eyelids according to FAMCHA to ensure Barber Pole worm pressure is at a minimum. I will also use our dogs to help trim hooves in the pasture rather than go through the work of bringing them into the barn and tying them up.
By taking a dog into the pasture and having the dog place proper pressure, my goats and sheep will stand around me and stay that way so that I can put my hands on them for these regular health checks. My goats may like a good scratch or two but my sheep would prefer I keep my distance.
Honestly, I find it is safer this way to maintain livestock. My sheep are not regularly testing the fence and my goats don’t take the opportunity to get out as soon as I turn the fence off. Having a dog there with me to ensure everyone is healthy puts way less stress on them than if I tried chasing them around the paddock by myself only to wrestle them to the ground so that I could examine them.
Final Thoughts on Using a Herding Dog
Having herding dogs on our homestead helps so much with our time management but they have so many more uses than simply moving or sorting livestock. These dogs become part of our family first and as companions, they want to partner with us, making them the perfect hired paws for all types of jobs on the homestead.
You can learn more about herding dogs (how to use them on the homestead as well as how to train them) on my website.
~Jordyn Kelly of Working Aussies Homestead
I loved looking at your herding dog photos and hearing these cool stories. I am supposed to be adopting an Australian shepherd today from someone who is moving, if all goes well. So I am getting really excited.
I had no idea herding dogs could be used for so many things besides herding cattle. The idea of using them to help with the tarp is genius!
What a great article! We have a Blue Merle Australian Shepherd and a Great Pyrenees that have been such a great help around our farm. With the crazy times we’re living in, we actually had someone trespass at midnight not too long ago, and our sweet dogs scared and chased him and he ran off with nothing! These dogs are worth every penny!! (So are good game trail cameras.)