FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 2, 2009

Border Collies vital assistants to livestock farmers

Contact:           Jim Knight, media director
jim.knight@ncagr.gov

FLETCHER—Vicki Hughes makes quick work of rounding up a small flock of sheep and moving them through a gate into a confined are for examination. More correctly, Vicki and her border collie Sweep work together to manage these sheep in short order.

Hughes, from Possum Hollow Farms in Rutherfordton, will demonstrate livestock handling with border collies at the 2009 N.C. Mountain State Fair in the round pen near entrance E in the upper portion of the fairgrounds. Hughes will hold demonstrations at 4 and 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11 a.m., 2, 5 and 8 p.m. each Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She will also have information available during non-show times in an exhibit in Barn D.

“We utilize voice commands, whistle commands and body language to direct the dog in moving the livestock,” she says. “A trained border collie can work with sheep, goats and cattle, herding small groups or large flocks or herds.”

Livestock farmers use border collies to round up animals from distant fields, herd animals from one pasture to another, hold animals off feed troughs until the farmer can clear, and move animals into trailers, sorting chutes and other management spaces.

A complete schedule of fair activities is available at www.mountainfair.org. The fair runs Sept. 11-20 at the WNC Ag Center in Fletcher.

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