The Greater New York Herding Club
Debra Feliziani
President
(631)-218-3466
The GNYHC has been in existence since 2000. Our club's purpose is to support the sport of sheep herding and specifically for our club, herding in the tending style.
We are a small group of 20 members with 3 members actively tending sheep for over 13 years each. We currently work flocks in Rushville, New York, (reference White Clover Sheep Farm), South Western Connecticut and formerly, Columbia, New Jersey.
Our mission is to keep the ancient tending style of herding active and to help support the few specialized flocks appropriate for this type of herding. More than a decade of dedication to tending has led us to the desire to develop our own flock.
Over the past 4 years, to secure the funds necessary to support our mission, the club has hosted AKC agility trials at the Suffolk County Farm.
Raising Sheep in the Tending Style
Tending is an ancient style of herding that is especially "Green" following the tenets of Sustainable Farming in the use of pasture land to raise animals that graze or browse to receive nutrition. Tending is part of the transhumance system of farming that involves rotational grazing to establish and maintain pasture, minimize parasite infestation and raise livestock that is totally grass fed. The transhumance system is an essential principle of land management in places where vast fertile pasture is not the norm and where the need for preserving available fertile soil is required for the continuous development of pasture for grazing or for other agricultural purposes. Flocks reared in this style generally number from 60 to 200 and above, limited in number by available graze.
As a style of sheep farming, tending combines the resources of land, livestock and vegetation to provide material, meat, fertilizer and income for shepherds in the following ways:
- Sheep are used to help improve soil by grazing in harvested fields and eating remaining and unwanted vegetation or designated pasture areas. While doing so they also fertilize their grazing area to improve and enrich soil to renew pasture land or in preparation for the next planting of crops.
- Sheep are versatile as a marketable species. They can be maintain their wool to provide fiber for a variety of uses, matured to marketable weight for the freezer or kept for milking for the cheese industry.
- While sheep continue to amend pasture soil providing a correct environment for the regeneration of vegetation, their eating style does not destroy grasses and is ideally suited for land.
The Dogs
Our dogs are German Shepherd Dogs, descendants of dogs that currently tend sheep on working farms in Germany. They are bred for herding instinct, obedience, gentle nature and a strong desire to work in partnership with their handler. They work quietly and effortlessly exhibiting great endurance and weather tolerance. There are several other breeds also used for this type of herding, such as Briards, Beaucerons, Belgian Tervuren and Belgian Sheepdogs.
As working sheepdogs our dogs are employed to work quietly without putting undo pressure on the flock. German Shepherds are not meant to guard the flock. Livestock guarding dogs occupy a specific niche and are not part of our proposal for the farm. Tending dogs act as a "living fence" to contain sheep and other livestock in designated areas to graze and assist the shepherd in moving the flock to new pastures, taking the flock from and to their night pen and assisting when needed in daily management tasks.
The primary goal of any flock master is to tend sheep in as stress free an environment as possible.
Keeping the flock healthy and content increases yields whether fleece and fiber or meat is the goal. Toward that end, our dogs work quietly and diligently but do not put undo pressure or stress on the flock. In this way sheep grow to a marketable weight, develop their fleece, and remain healthy and injury free, rear their lambs and live a predictable, routine oriented life. The sheep understand the role of the shepherd as their leader and the dogs as part of their daily life. Tending dogs understand the rules of the system and are well acquainted with daily routines. The system is harmonious and relaxed without chasing, racing and harassing of livestock.
Our dogs are all very experienced with sheep and other livestock. They have achieved a wide variety of herding titles in both AKC Tending competitions (Course C) and German herding competitions (HGH). Our dogs have been personally trained and handled so the relationship between dog, handler and the flock is well established, predictable and reliable.
|
