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<blockquote data-quote="Katpau" data-source="post: 1147024" data-attributes="member: 9933"><p>In this part of the country, a really good dog is almost necessity. Cattle are generally run in large groups on tracts of land that are measured by the section, and not by the acre. A section for those who don't know is 640 acres or 1 mile square. The ground can be pretty inhospitable, and even an ATV may not be useful. Cattle are usually gathered using cowboys on horses and their dogs. A good, well trained, dog can take the place of three cowboys. A $3000 dog can be a bargain under these conditions. I myself run less than 100 cattle on about 1100 acres. It is cross fenced, and I don't run more than about 25 pairs per group. We rotate pastures often, and most of the time I have no real need for the dog. Like most who run on the small pieces of land common back East, a trained dog is more a luxury than an absolute necessity for me, but I can understand why others don't hesitate to pay thousands of dollars for one. After all, my dog had over 60 hours of training from a skilled handler to arrive where he is today. That is less than $20 per hour. I consider it a bargain. I went from having an ill-mannered brute, who would ignore me to chase a deer, to an energetic partner, who is looking to me for the commands that allow him to do the job he loves and was born to do. A dog I can really be proud of, rather than one I must constantly apologize for. I do wish I had the skills to have trained him myself, but unfortunately I did not. It would have been like having someone learn to ride horses by breaking a colt.</p><p></p><p>My main purpose in having the trained dog was so I would have help moving cattle around when we gather and work them. We bring the cattle up into about an acre holding area, and move them from there into the corrals and the squeeze. This usually goes well to begin with, but eventually you get some cows who have figured out what is happening up ahead, and they will avoid the gate that brings them up into the corrals. A trained dog will make this go much faster. I may still need to get a bit of help with dog breaking the cattle, but I have high hopes for this dog. Although our first attempt at a gather did not go well because I chose a terrible location. Brush, a creek and fencing were all located in a way that made for an extremely difficult gather for even the most experienced dog. Add to that my improper positioning and my bright idea that we would push the cattle through the gate with a cattle rub extended over it, and you have a good recipe for failure. When we moved the cattle to a better location and I wide open gate we were successful. I have a big learning curve ahead of me. I may get myself a few dog broke sheep, so we can keep up the learning on a more daily basis.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Katpau, post: 1147024, member: 9933"] In this part of the country, a really good dog is almost necessity. Cattle are generally run in large groups on tracts of land that are measured by the section, and not by the acre. A section for those who don’t know is 640 acres or 1 mile square. The ground can be pretty inhospitable, and even an ATV may not be useful. Cattle are usually gathered using cowboys on horses and their dogs. A good, well trained, dog can take the place of three cowboys. A $3000 dog can be a bargain under these conditions. I myself run less than 100 cattle on about 1100 acres. It is cross fenced, and I don’t run more than about 25 pairs per group. We rotate pastures often, and most of the time I have no real need for the dog. Like most who run on the small pieces of land common back East, a trained dog is more a luxury than an absolute necessity for me, but I can understand why others don’t hesitate to pay thousands of dollars for one. After all, my dog had over 60 hours of training from a skilled handler to arrive where he is today. That is less than $20 per hour. I consider it a bargain. I went from having an ill-mannered brute, who would ignore me to chase a deer, to an energetic partner, who is looking to me for the commands that allow him to do the job he loves and was born to do. A dog I can really be proud of, rather than one I must constantly apologize for. I do wish I had the skills to have trained him myself, but unfortunately I did not. It would have been like having someone learn to ride horses by breaking a colt. My main purpose in having the trained dog was so I would have help moving cattle around when we gather and work them. We bring the cattle up into about an acre holding area, and move them from there into the corrals and the squeeze. This usually goes well to begin with, but eventually you get some cows who have figured out what is happening up ahead, and they will avoid the gate that brings them up into the corrals. A trained dog will make this go much faster. I may still need to get a bit of help with dog breaking the cattle, but I have high hopes for this dog. Although our first attempt at a gather did not go well because I chose a terrible location. Brush, a creek and fencing were all located in a way that made for an extremely difficult gather for even the most experienced dog. Add to that my improper positioning and my bright idea that we would push the cattle through the gate with a cattle rub extended over it, and you have a good recipe for failure. When we moved the cattle to a better location and I wide open gate we were successful. I have a big learning curve ahead of me. I may get myself a few dog broke sheep, so we can keep up the learning on a more daily basis. [/QUOTE]
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