day 3 of the fair

[piranha]

i actually got up early, watered my garden, cut back the blackberry spreaders once again, and then made it to the fair in time to not have to seek for a parking space. took some time in the poultry barn trying to take pictures of feathers (for the most part it was just too dark for freehand photography), watched halter classes, 4H sheep judging, sheep shearing, goat milking, western riding for beginners, and miniature horse driving, and was finally all faired out around 14:00 and headed home before i could actually get a real sunburn.

i have 350 photos to go through and pick the most interesting ones to post. it'll be a while.

what now, brown cow sheep this is my favourite picture from today, though technically it sucks. this could have been SO me, many many years ago, if i had been in 4H and raised sheep. matching butts, matching hair. too cute.

astoundingly, i did not just fall onto the couch and called it a day, but i swept kitchen and bathroom, vacuumed, did dishes, and cooked dinner. i don't know where that energy came from, that's for sure.

Comments

Australian sheepdog

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

I'm musing about Australian sheepdogs, because they don't look quite like anything we have here and I'm trying to figure it out. I know the dog that looks most like them, but I don't think they're actually called Australian sheepdogs (they're not cattledogs or kelpies, but my mind is blank otherwise). And your kind seem fluffier and cuter-looking than the dogs I'm thinking of here - but that could partly be that they need more fur in the colder climate.

Re: Australian sheepdog

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

the australian shepherd is not actually an australian breed, it originated in the US, and was well established by the time australian herding dogs came over in larger numbers. i have no idea why the name, except that the merle colouration is so well known from australian breeds that maybe americans called anything that was merle "australian" after they got exposed to those.

Re: Australian sheepdog

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Well, that explains why they don't look familiar. I didn't realise the merle colouration was distinctive, though.

Re: Australian sheepdog

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

not a lot of breeds have merle colouring: collies, border collies, shelties, smooth collies, great danes, cardigan welsh corgis, and dachshunds (called "dappled") have it, and i think it occasionally expresses in a few others -- it's not a colour that's easy to breed because it carries blindness/deafness, and many breeders don't want that sort of genetic baggage, nevermind the latest colour fad (there are now chihuahuas in merle, *sigh*). blue heelers sure look to me like they have it too, but i've heard it vigorously denied, and i am not familiar with ACD genetics; maybe it's a different gene that creates the blue speckles in them. it could be, since IIRC blue heelers don't have blue eyes with their blue colouring, and the merle gene affects eye colour as well.

if you look at that list, there's lots of australian herding dogs.

Re: Australian sheepdog

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Given what I've now read about merles, and the care in breeding them, I'd guess it's very unlikely it's the same gene in the ACD/blue heeler. It's a knockabout working dog, I can't imagine most farmer owners being willing to put up with either blindness/deafness risks, or careful matings to avoid them.

Looking at your list, I don't see anything I'd call "Australian herding dogs" - I see dogs that are popular as herding dogs in some parts of Australia (the ACD was bred specifically for heat tolerance because eg Border Collies don't have it), but originating in Europe. I suppose they may have got to the Americas via Australia.