Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Look at the structure on those dogs! I love the front and rear extension on the one on the right. the one on the left ...look at that body lean into that curve! what balance and grace. And the one in the back ..the ability to stalk like that. oh my goodness look at that whole body fluid in motion .
I am so impressed. This pic could easily be used to demonstrate the different ways a properly built dog can move. "Form follows function" should form a sacred Union between the two and you can sure see it here.
Karen

I suppose I don't notice it often enough.

Aug 12 2015 - Emmy​

I know I was pleased to capture these two shots of the girls as youngsters.

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Jan 22 2016 - Lacy​

I think a whole mobile of flying ACDs would be fun to do.

Feb 29 2016 - Emmy​

I do note Australian Cattle Dogs have devoted a large area of their body to their head & necks. Their lung capacity is rather good too. So, I guess the rest of the bod is devoted to moving those jaws... We often joke that an ACD is a life support system for a pair of scissor biting jaws (never run with scissors?).

Mar 1 2016 - Lacy​

Thanks for making me look with new eyes again.

Cowdogs have to move, have to veer quickly or get stomped on by the stock they are suppose to be working.

Dec 25 2015 - You can dress them up,
but don't expect them to behave any better ​

The girls have been practising their "moves" since day one by playing together and I guess that is sound groundwork. If you can avoid another Cow Dawg, there's no chance in heck a stock animal like a sheep or cow, bull or ram stands a chance flubbing up an ACD.

Jan 26 2016 - Australia Day, eh
No better behaved than any other day?​

Feb 1 2016 - And one is no better than the other
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I happened to love the breed but there must be something terribly wrong with me to desire chaos & challenges.

Intelligent beasts with bodies capable of great destruction...

Dec 28 2015

Nov 23 2016 - She loves us...
We can get away with anything!! ​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

LEAP...

Feb 1 2016

Feb 20 2016

Feb 21 2016

Jan 7 2017 - Leap and lose yer heads?

Jan 7 2016 - same day, eh??

Jan 26 2016 - Emmy Karate chopping!

Jan 28 2017 - Near a whole year later...still misbehaving??

May 10 2016 - Pouncing on a set of waiting jaws

May 19 2016 - Boxing like Kangaroos do

Nov 23 2016
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Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

After leaping...comes SQUASHING

Dec 2 2015
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Deep snow...what is Emmy doing??

Feb 1 2016 - Squashing Lacy--red good and muzzle there!!

And yes, there is another set of jaws under Emmy

Feb 1 2016 - Emmy's turn

Feb 1 2016 - Same day, reverse...again

Same day...whose turn now?

Feb 18 2016
New day, new month...same old

Feb 21 2016

Jan 7 2016 - Winter
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June 27 2017 - Summer, It jest never gets old ​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Next...ATTACK!

All this on one day...February 1, 2016

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Bite

Feb 1 2016

Feb 1 2016

Feb 1 2016

Feb 11 2016

Feb 18 2016

Feb 25 2016

Feb 25 2016​

Jan 7 2016

Jan 7 2016
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OUCH??

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

DD will never let this stand as is, where is...

TEAM...

Dec 12 2015

Feb 14 2016 (Valentine's Day, eh)

Jan 26, 2016 Australia Day

Jan 26 2016 - same day, eh

Nov 18 2016​

May 4 2016

Oct 1 2015

Oct 13 2015

Oct 27 2015

Sep 21 2016
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Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

Edit - photo file not posted proper...

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Run & Pounce! &

Jan 26 2016

Feb 1 2016

Oct 1 2015 (good day for clicks...also crabapple ripenings!)

<Eeek...was she ever this tiny?>

Feb 1 2016

Feb 1 2016

Feb 1 2016

Feb 1 2016 - "Let's GO!!!"

Feb 1 2016

Feb 1 2016 - "Can't catch ME!"

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Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

And lest we forget...those close encounters??

We don't get "crop" circles here... ​

Heh heh heh....

Jan 22 2016...
It was just another regular evening...running the dogs...

Can you hear the theme music to The Twilight Zone?

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Mulder's gone to the dawgs...​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Some of the differences in the Girls...

Aug 28 2015 -
Waiting on those peas I planted for them puppers to arrive and enjoy!​

I bought this rope toy for Emmy...I bought this handled soft red ball for Lacy. I know what each one of them LIKES the best! Emmy is a beef dog...Lacy is a shrimp or fish dog...I know my beasts best!!

Feb 1 2016
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Misbehave around Emmy, she'll get you with her HIYAH Karate chop!

Feb 11 2016 - "Eat snow Lace!"
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Misbehave round Lacy...she'll just pounce on you!

Jan 15 2016 - "Crushing you...I am crushing you Em!"
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Lacy is always game on for a game..."Play with me...PLAY I SAY!"

Jan 27 2016
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My all time favourite photo of Lacy - captures her completely..."Are you coming...we gotta go play...it's a GREAT day to be a Dog! Hurry up...what in tarnation you doing...the dogs need you NOW! Pretty please hurry up...OK?"

Apr 17 2016 - THAT face...THAT one...fURever!
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And there is little wonder how the porch windows get SO dirty, eh!


Emmy the serious...

Nov 24 2016
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Lacy the jovial...

Nov 24 2016
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From day one...it's been a joyful and happy endeavour...

Aug 5 2015 - 1st full day here in Canada!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Eldad is officially registered as of the 18th. His paperwork is obviously on the way...YAH!

Did the inbreeding coefficients...i prefer to breed within my under 12.5 or so percent tolerances-first cousins, eh.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coefficient_of_relationship

Degree of relationship

first cousins - 12.5%

Human relationships
...

Most incest laws concern the relationships where r = 25% or higher, although many ignore the rare case of double first cousins. Some jurisdictions also prohibit sexual relations or marriage between cousins of various degree, or individuals related only through adoption or affinity. Whether there is any likelihood of conception is generally considered irrelevant.

I won't even tolerate what is tolerable for humans...bwa ha ha...twenty-five percent related...

Good ​

Inbreeding Coefficients - Sept 2017

Dorper Rams
Boss Man - 0.246%
Èder - 1.121%
Eldad - 10.648%

Dorper Ewes
Peanut - 6.655%
Èva - 1.121%
Snickers - 4.079%
D'Arcy - 3.366%
Èden - 2.629%
Duro's dam - 2.863%

Boss Man bred to D'Arcy = 1.779%
Boss Man bred to Peanut - 1.121%
Boss Man bred to Snickers - 2.629%
Boss Man bred Duro's dam 4.197% ~ Duro 2.09%
Boss Man bred to Èva - 25.619%
Boss Man bred to Èden - 26.372%

Èder bred to Duro's dam - 4.950% ~ Duro 2.475%
Èder bred to D'Arcy - 5.782%
Èder bred to Snickers - 8.437%
Èder bred to Èden - 17.027%
Èder bred to Èva - 25.985%
Èder bred to Peanut - 25.985%

Eldad bred to Duro's dam - 3.939% ~ Duro 1.9695%
Eldad bred to Èden - 5.242%
Eldad bred to D'Arcy - 6.743%
Eldad bred to Èva - 7.973%
Eldad bred to Snickers - 9.030%
Eldad bred to Peanut - 14.493%

I am super fortunate my current gene pool is so unrelated! Bolded are all within parameters of UNDER TWENTY FIVE PERCENT! I am ever so blessed to have all these options. I prefer under 6.25% or so. Which shows that Boss Man can be bred to all the ewes except his two daughters (duh!).

Since Eldad is a back cross...and he may be bred to Boss Man's progeny...pretty cool. Keeping Èder company AND able to service the ewe lambs. Life is good!

I suppose in the next few years I will continue searching out an outcross I like. Boss Man is my current outcross, Eldad my back cross...even Èder could be bred to Snickers, daughter D'Arcy and Duro. Awesome does not even cover the options wide open.

As far as we know (which is all anyone can say without testing...and continuing to test...bwa ha ha), we don't have keds, lice, OPP, Johnnes, Caseous, foot rot, or ORF, etc. Over the decades, have managed to avoid abortion storms and other prevalent horrid nasties...don't mean it won't or can't happen, just not present right now which makes my hobby of keeping sheep, rather pleasant.

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I am off to pick up two kinds of deworm for the sheeps...Valbazen is a drench (used it years ago) and injectable Ivomectin. No financial interest in either drug. Plan on doing one kind and repeat it. The parasitic eggs are not affected by either product, so basically you knock down the adult population, hope their eggs shed are killed by the colder weather--many parasites are not bothered by temperatures...drat! Then you deworm the ruminants again, hoping the eggs that escaped the first onslaught hatch out and you kill off a majority of the adults. You are never free of the cycle of parasites...BUT knocking down the numbers is rather good maintenance practice.

I've stumbled on some studies that have been done where theoretically if we ever did wipe out parasites...the host and parasite relationship is somewhat beneficial to both. Not like sheep have not been host to parasites for eons...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitism

In biology/ecology, parasitism is a non-mutual relationship between species, where one species, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host.

Kinda funny we call it a parasitic relationship because without parasites, there has been thoughts somehow it is beneficial (yes, MORE so for the parasite than the host) for both.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada