Sheep Dog Demostration
While enjoying your stay at Grasmere take the opportunity to see the sheep dogs in action and witness a sheep being shorn as well as being able to ask questions about any aspect of High Country farming.
by prior arrangement
Grasmere Farm Experience
While staying at Grasmere, you have available the opportunity to witness and learn about some of the main work operations that take place on the Station.
For the demonstration, sheep dogs will be used. There are two main types of dogs on farms. One type is the Heading dog. They are normally black and white or black white and tan. They are based on the Border collie but in New Zealand they are usually shorthaired. This is so they are better able to work under the very hot conditions experienced in summer. Their job is to run out around the sheep or cattle and bring them back to the shepherd. They also ‘wing’ or guide a mob so they travel in the intended direction. They do not bark and often show strong ‘eye’. This is when the stare intensely at the sheep until the sheep feels uncomfortable and moves in the intended direction. These types are known as Eye Dogs and are very popular with competitors at Dog competitions as well as farmers. With big mobs of sheep they sometimes do not put enough pressure to move the large number of animals so often a more plain eyed dog is employed.
The other main type of dog on New Zealand farms are called Huntaways. As the name suggests, they chase the sheep away from the shepherd. They are normally large black and tan dogs with a deep bark. They are used to get the sheep moving during a muster and when the sheep are in the yards they chase the sheep up the race or into the shed for shearing. The breed has standardised in New Zealand but if you looked into their genetics you would find all sorts of bloodlines from the early days of New Zealand settlement.
There will be a sheep shearing demonstration. There are two methods of shearing sheep. Machine shearing is by far the most common but there is still a large number of sheep shorn in New Zealand shorn by hand or, as it is commonly called, Blades. Blade shears have not changed much in over a hundred years though modern methods are use to sharpen them. Blade shears leave much more wool on a sheep so that they are better able to withstand a sudden storm. After shearing it takes up to five days for the skin of the sheep to thicken enough to withstand a sudden cold storm. Blade shearing leaves at least two weeks of wool growth on the sheep. In the high country of New Zealand we can get a snowstorm at any time of the year. There have been two White Christmas’s in this area in the last 35 years where over an inch of snow has been on the ground on Christmas day.
Farming in the High Country does have risks. Heavy snowfalls are the biggest fear. In the past large numbers of livestock have been lost but nowadays better machinery and weather forecasting have helped. Fencing, development and feed crops have allowed more sheep to be kept near the homestead. All sheep are wintered outside so there is still the potential for losses.
State Highway 73 · Cass · Canterbury · Private Bag 55009 · Christchurch · New Zealand
Telephone +64 3 318 8407 · Fax +64 3 318 8263 · E-Mail Retreat@Grasmere.co.nz
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