I have had farmcollies since I was tiny. My first farmcollie, Midgie was about 35 lbs, looked like Sheryl's Lilly and Daisy, Tom Maxwell's Butcher line ES. I had two older siblings, but three kids don't play good together, so Midgie was my playmate. Midgie brought the cows in for milking, no great feat as they came in anyway, she would also bring them in at command at other times. She was good with all of the livestock, no varmints of predators came close, but her primary charge was me.
I went for twenty years (many of which I was raising kids in the small farm situation) without being able to find the old fashioned ES/farmcollie working type, so having found them again I am dedicated to breeding them and establishing them for posterity, and have been working toward that goal for the last five years.
Traveler is registered in my name, was a present from my husband five years ago just after we got married. (Poor Ron did not know what he was getting into!)
Traveler currently lives at the farm with my Ex husband.
Here is my Susie Q
Cimarron English ShepherdsHello, My name is Sheryl Chesney. I am pleased to be on the AWFA board. My husband, David, and I live on his families old homeplace (small working farm) in Glenn Springs. We raised and homeschooled 3 sons and a daughter here along with more dogs than you can shake a stick at.
Currently our farmcollies are Lilly, Haley, Ella, Buck, and Bubba. The last 4 are youngsters who are doing very well with the livestock. One, maybe both, of the 2 males will be going to their new home in Columbia, on another small farm, in a few weeks. We have raised farmcollies for years for small farms in the surrounding area and for our own use, as it was so hard to find a good working farm dog.
We raise goats and small pigs for market in the Spring and have a yearling calf (for the freezer), muscovy ducks, assorted breeds of chickens (sell eggs), and 3 horses. This makes for lots of work for us and the dogs.
Sheryl ChesneyOk Hi everyone, I am Cindy Pollock 34 and I live out in Eagle Point, Oregon with my husband 41, and our 4 children, Jeff, Tyler,Stephanie, and Daniel ranging in age from 7-14. We have a goat farm called "Silver Cloud Farms" and of course have goats, but also a few rabbits, horses and a G.P dog named Samson and our wonderful little farm collie pup "Shep" (Kala/Banjo) we got from Sheryl. We are new to the farm collies and hope to learn allot from this wonderful group of people!
Thanks Cindy**SCF*My name is Serena Lanza and I live in Wilmington, Mass on a small 5 acre ranch with my husband Bruce. We have horses, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, dogs and cats. Although I work full time, I am a farmer at heart. Sharing our homestead are two (three until Friday) wonderful FarmCollies, Scarlett and Lassie. I got both Scarlett and Lassie from Sheryl Chesney in South Carolina. They are brother and sister from two separate litters. (Lilly/Banjo)
I got Scarlett as a replacement for two dogs that we lost back in the spring and summer of 2001, one was a German Shepherd and the other an Aussie. I wrote to one of my lists asking if anyone had a good farm dog looking for a home. Sheryl responded that she had "farmcollie" pups. I asked "what is a FarmCollie" and that's where it all began.
I love these dogs and am very impressed at their working ability. Lassie is really a super star, having mastered the art of herding the chickens and ducks at only 5 months of age. He is now working on mastering the goats, he is more of a header than a heeler but always works the stock gently.
Last night Lassie caught and killed some kind of varmint (not sure what it was, it was dark out but it sure was squeaking) Now he's a hunter too!
LassieMy name is Laura Phillips. I live on a small acreage in western Missouri with my husband, 3 teenagers, dairy goats, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and too many cats. Blue, my 6-year-old Aussie, and Sadie, my 2-year-old farmcollie, are valuable helpers and guardians with the livestock, and they're now helping me train Ralph, the new ES pup.
Sadie and RalphI am an English Shepherd lover and occasional breeder in Oregon. My husband and I have 4 kids in middle school and high school, and 4 English Shepherds. I came to the world of farmcollies in a rather back-door fashion -- many of you seem to have the farm, then get the dog; I have the dogs, maybe someday the farm...
I stumbled onto English Shepherds about 10 years, and through a combination of hard research and good luck ended up with Dover. Best dog ever. Imagine my alarm when I found out that this wonderful breed I've just fallen in love with is disappearing. Being a rather activist person at heart, I got involved. Currently I am the secretary of the English Shepherd Club, head of the breeder support and bylaws committees, webmaster for their website, keeper of the breeder list, mediator between factions ;-), retarded student to an excellent herding instructor, and an occasional breeder. Occasional because for all my love of the breed and desire to perpetuate them, I realize you can't just manufacture good dogs -- breeding is an amazingly complex art..
Mary PeasleeI and my better half live on 20 acres in Deltona Fla. We have two large hogs and are breeding chickens and Turkeys. I plan on dairy cattle in the indeterminate future. I need a herding/guard dog to keep the pigs in line, and to chase off small predatory animals llike coons and foxes. Right now the poultry are in pens, but they will be free range as soon as we can bushhog our property. I already have an australian shepherd cross who is good at alerting me to when the pigs get out, but she is too intimidated by them to help much with herding. I am not sure if the English Shepherd/Farmcollie breed or the Kelpie would be better down here, it is very hot and humid in the summer. I am interested in learning more about these dogs. I definately need a working animal- prefer to have two.
PatMy name is Amy Dorsch. My husband Mike and I and our 7 children live in northern Illinios. I've had herding dogs (BCs) for years and have been involved with farmcollies for several years. My current dogs are Ellie, a BC registered with AWFA, Judah, who is out of Sandra Niedrauer's Jacob and Jenny, also registered AWFA, and Hollie an ES from Beebe lines.
We are a diverse small farm with draft horses, goats, a cow and poultry as well as sheep and pigs off and on. Our dogs help in all facets of the homestead work; protecting the stock, hunting varmints, and herding. They each have different strengths. I was drawn to the all-purpose, balanced nature of the farmcollie and have tried to bring that out in the two litters I have bred. I've been with AWFA since close to its beginning and am priviledged to currently be serving on the board.
I don't have a personal web page, but the dogs do have a page on AWFA's site Good Shepherd Farm
AmyWe live in Northeast Wisconsin on a large dairy farm. My husband is Dan and we have two boys. Our dogs are loving family pets and useful farm tools. Please visit our site for more details.
Red Bank Farm and FamilyI'm Dotty Harala. My husband Brad and I live on 5 acres in the Idaho panhandle. We have chickens and sheep (Icelandic), and occasionally raise a pig or two. We've had Beau since 1998- he is from Elaine's Traveler, and Dovey who is from Sandra's Jacob/Jenny litter from 1999 (I think she and Amy's Judah were littermates). Dovey and Beau had a litter in April. We kept two of the pups (only planned to keep one, but Brad just wouldn't let Shep go!), a sable and white male (Shep) and a tri female with lots of freckles named Tarn.
The website with puppy photos is www.ianuacaeli.com/Puppys It hasn't been updated in a long time, but we'll try to get some more recent photos of all the dogs up soon. Harala's FarmcolliesI'm Sue Hogan, and I own Polly, one of Amy's second litter out of Ellie by Judah. She's smallish, heavily freckled black and white with a black eye patch, and very fiesty. My husband and I currently own a half-acre at what used the be the most outlying fringe of a small rural town in the Finger Lakes of NY. We have been in search for the Right Property/Farm for almost two years now with an eye to llamas and other fibre critter, as well as a market garden. We have 3 kids: 14,12, and 8, another do, Flurry (half Bassett/half Springer) three cats, and a new guinea pig (t was a birthday present). Polly doesn't have a whole lot of work to do just now, but I try to keep her acquainted with llamas, and I hope to introduce her to a friend's herd of sheep soon. In the meantime, she herds the cats and bosses Flurry (her senior by 10 years) unmercifully.
PollyMy husband and I live on a farm in NW Minnesota. We both work off the farm but when we are home our lives are all country. We live on my family's farm. My dad has moved to town but still has a small (20 head or so) herd of registered black Angus cattle. The cattle are on pasture during the spring/summer/ fall but are back at the home place for the winter.
We also have about 40 dairy and dual purpose goats which we milk. We have Nubians, Alpine, Kinder and Nigerian Dwarf.
We also raise rare/heritage poultry. We have mostly concentrated on geese and ducks but we do have several breeds of chickens and guinea fowl too. We raise about 100-200 free ranging broilers every summer. All our birds range when they aren't in breeding pens or contained to gather eggs and we have problems with predators. We sustained severe losses over the winter last year to predation by a Mink who did major damage to our duck population.
We have a Pyr who does a wonderful job guarding our farm and he will even help with animals that are "out of place" but he isn't really proactive and he also isn't about much during the daytime. We don't expect it of him as it isn't his temperament but we are hoping that a Farmcollie will be able to fill in some of the gaps as far as keeping away predators and strangers who stop by the farm during the day time. We also hope she will be able to assist us with moving and sorting our animals.
Because of the diversity of animals on our farm we searched for Farmcollie lines that seemed to do well with poultry. We got a female Farmcollie pup from AR who we named Aberdeen (Abby). So far are very impressed with her temperament and her intelligence. We now also have Skid, an Aussie and Justice, an ES.
We are looking forward to working with and learning about these wonderful dogs.
Trisha-MNBy way of introduction, we live outside of Eugene, Oregon; we acquired one of Kathleen Sanderson’s puppies, whom we renamed Gillie; she’s now grown. She has helped us round up chickens.
We have small acreage, (about 5 acres adjoining BLM & other forest land) with chickens, horses, 3 dogs and 4 cats; also, assorted wildlife including cougars, bears, coyotes, and the usual assortment of possums, raccoons, and small rodents. We **NEED** dogs to keep all this at bay. Gillie is an understudy for the old farm dog, Hooch, a massive Chesapeake Bay Retriever, who is now 12 and slowing down some. The middle dog is Pepper, a McNab cow dog, 5 years old and intense.
I’m a hand-spinner and we may acquire some goats – Cashmere or Angora (although the discussion about Pygoras was interesting) in the future – I worry a bit about the health of smaller livestock with the above-mentioned wildlife in the neighborhood.
I’m delighted to find this group – we seem to have many interests in common including dogs, livestock, and living in the country (mostly)
GillieHi, I'm Tish Toren. I live on a 70 acre (mostly) organic farm in the Fingerlakes region of central NY with four children. We run a mixed flock of about 65 sheep, dairy and fiber goats, keep an assortment of free-range poultry, grow veggies, and make our own hay.
I spent over a year searching for a replacement for our farm dog, an Aussie mix we'd come to depend on to guard the farm and stock, help with herding and loading, and keep the rodents and other "critters" at bay. We didn't realize how much we needed her 'til she was gone.
Most other farmers I knew of kept a variety of specialized dogs; herding dogs so hyper most needed to be confined when not working, and primitive guardian breeds that bonded and stayed with the flock that could be dangerous under certain circumstances. I wanted to find another dog that could do it all, that could be trusted around new lambs and my small children, and be my best friend.
The all around farmer's dog I was looking for no longer existed, or so I was told. I had just about given up hope when I came accross the various farm collie information sites. The dog I was searching for was an old-fashioned "Farmcollie", a piece of our American heritage that had come as close to extinction as the small farm had!
I am so thankful there are others who value this rare type of working dog enough to join together in an effort to preserve it; to restore the Farmcollie to his rightful place on the small farms of America.
I am Sarah Cate and I live and farm (homestead) in sw Missouri with my better half, Eric and our seven chidren. We have two farmcollies: Sadie Mae (JacobxEllen) who is two, and Stormy (JacobxJenny) who just turned one.
We had goats and sheep as well as ducks andgeese and chickens, until we moved this past June. Now we have chickens and three sheep. We are anxious to get a few goats, and a couple more sheep as soon as we finish setting this place up. And next spring we wil probably get some ducklings-they are lots of fun to have around and great help in teachin herding.
We are so thankful to have found this effort and feel especially blessed by our own dogs. Raising them from several week old pups has definitely had its ups and downs, but we are now seeing the reward of diligence. We can rest much easier at night knowing our livestock is being watched over, and our right hands are ready to serve at our beck and call. And the fun we have with them is icing on the cake! I couldn't ask for better dogs to raise our children with.
Sarah CateOver 35 years ago I had a wonderful old fashioned AKC collie that truly exemplified the Terhune/Lassie type dogs. After marriage I started the search for a similar type collie to show and breed and discovered that this type of collie was basically impossible to find. Spending many dollars and hours through the years netted only discouragement.
A couple years ago I was thrilled to find Elaine and Sandra via the net trying to locate others with some of the same goals.I have great hopes for the future now that so many people who care about the truly important aspects of the dogs have been able to get involved as a group via the net and think the AWFA plan of recording the dogs' abilities is a wonderful way to help breeders make decisions.
I live in beautiful western NY with my husband, our 5 youngest children (two older ones have their own families already), 2 ponies, a thoroughbred mare, a filly, three cats, and last but not least three English shepherds- Beau, Pearl and their daughter Sadie, and a mostly collie (dash of Australian shepherd) puppy Molly. Hopefully we'll get some stock to work the dogs on next year and see their true capabilities. I found that the farm type dogs have the perfect temperament for me, understanding human relationships very well. At this point I would like to maintain two lines- one pure English shepherd and the second collie x English shepherd, both based on Beau. We'll see what happens but the future looks bright!
Barbara HollandsI live in Oregon with my daughter Juniper at the moment. I own Scout a son of Jacob and Ellen. We also had Belle, a daughter of Rebel and Petunia, but she is now living on a sheep farm in South Dakota. Tish's Hannah and ML's Gillie are daughters of Scout and Belle.
KathleenMy name is Diana Bratton. My husband, our 6 year old daughter and I live on 10 acres in Banks, Oregon. We have had horses, cows, ducks, chickens, and goats. At the moment we have a herd of Pygora goats. I have always had a dog help me with the chores and when Tucker our 13 year old Australian Shepherd began to show he couldn't do it anymore I began looking for my next helper. I decided on an English Shepherd, because of all their traits they are known for-herding, guarding, hunting. Because of the coyotes I looked into a livestock guardian breed, but 10 acres is to small of an area and they may interpret a child running with the goats as a threat to the herd! Yikes! English Shepherds can guard and they are great with children! Pippi came to us from Erin Hishke by way of Mary Peaslee. She loves children, is a great watch dog and has really begun to show interest in herding. As my husband says she is now one of the family and I can see I have a great helper on my hands!
We don't hunt, and we may not have much need for herding ability (maybe just helping keep the kids out of the road and rounding up chickens) - mostly we need guardian ability, and a good family pet. Local predators include coyotes, neighbor's dogs, coons, skunks (though we see them here rarely), snakes and hawks and owls - nothing major like bears or big cats!
Nicole in KY