As a boy, I worked on a farm mornings (milking, cooling, bottling and delivery), evenings (milking, mucking out cooling and storing milk), weekends and school holidays. It was the only farm in my experience to have working corgis. I never knew one of them to be hurt even though they worked close to the hoof. We also had collies that were used for herding sheep, of course, but they were never, ever used for cattle herding. They are two totally different tasks requiring different approaches and canine personalities/skills. I've never known a working collie to bite a sheep but the corgis did nip at the front hooves of cattle. I hasten to add that corgis were never used on the dairy herd.
My house abuts onto farmland where beef herds are kept and the cattle kept there have on occasion "shown interest" in my dog even though she shows no interest in them. She is aware of when "interest" turns to something more agressive and she can easily, and does, outrun the beasts. If she was on a lead it would be a different story.
Posted: 29/08/2009 at 18:36
