Skipton Dog Sale in the UK

Sometimes the very best costs a little more. In the case of this remarkable sheepdog, quite a lot more. Marchup Midge is the world’s most expensive sheepdog after she was sold at auction for £8,400. New owner Eddie Thornalley, 45, believes her impeccable breeding, work ethic and sweet nature make her worth every penny.
 

Top dog: Marchup Midge, an 18-month-old, has been sold for

more than £8,000 - a world record

 

Old and new: World Champion breeder Shaun Richards (left), from Lancashire,

with Midge's new owner Eddie Thornalley (right)

Midge will become his right-hand border collie, taking charge of a team of five dogs which look after his flock of 200 sheep in East Anglia.

 

‘She’s an incredible little thing. Intelligent and stylish and with great working ability,’ he said.

Last Friday’s sale in Skipton, North Yorkshire, beat the previous world record of £6,300 set at the same place last year.

Breeder Shaun Richards was thrilled with the price. ‘I have not had a drink in two-and-a-half years,’ he said. ‘I feel like having one now!’

In action: Midge does what she does best -

whipping the sheep into shape (above and below)

 

 

Well bred: Midge has incredible strength, speed and instinct from

 her world class sheepdog genes

 

Skills: Experts say there is a lack of well-trained sheepdogs,

which is why Midge was so expensive to buy

Midge is so valuable because she comes from a family of outstanding sheepdogs, has been trained by a former world champion breeder and has become well known for her speed and agility as well as her ice-cool temperament.

Also, a large drop in trainers means that getting a top class sheepdog is getting more and more difficult - and increasingly expensive.
 

Her price, reached at Skipton Auction, North Yorkshire, smashed the previous record of 6,000 guineas - £6,300 -also achieved at Skipton last year for 13-month-old Dewi Fan.

Midge’s sister Marchup Sam was sold by Mr Richards at Skipton’s summer working dogs sale in July this year for 5,000 guineas - £5,250 - at the time the second highest price in the world ever paid at an official sale.

 

Mr Thornalley has now bought three dogs from Mr Richards and his latest acquisition will be used primarily as a work dog, as well as being used in local nursery trials by Mr Thornalley, who is a member of the East Anglian Sheep Dog Society.

Previous record holder John Bell, who was also present at the sale, was among the first to congratulate Mr Richards on his success. 'Records are there to be broken,' he said.Sheepdog breeder Shaun Richards, who sold 18-month-old Marchup Midge, said he was 'gobsmacked' by the final price.

The 45-year-old said: 'She exceeded all expectations. When the money started to go up I was speechless.
 

In the family: Midge's siblings have

previously been sold for huge sums at auction

One man and his new dog: Marchup Midge and

 new owner Eddie Thornalley, who will be

taking her to her new home in Suffolk

 

'She’ll go into the sheep dog trialling world after this, where she will excel. She has a lovely temperament, she was like a pet but also one hell of a good sheepdog as well.

'I’m sad to see her her go but I do this for a living so I am also happy to see the amazing amount of money. I got my first dog when I was 12 so I have been doing this a long time.

 

'I’m topping sheepdog sales all over the country and I think that’s because I don’t trial them, just train then. I don’t keep the good ones for myself.'

 

Contract shepherd Eddie Thornalley, 45, who bought Marchup Midge, said: 'I’m very happy to have got her. I’ve had my eye on her since she was about 12 months old.

 

'She is very well bred with excellent workability, she’s absolutely fantastic.'
 

LINK TO ARTICLE

 

Thor and his babes

OK, I picked Thor. It wasn't a name that was actually submitted but a deviation of a name that was submitted. Thanks to Pam for the name. She submitted "Tyrus (form of Thor) or AKI (bright or sparkle)"

Thor

His babes, otherwise known and the Katahdin and Dorpers.

The two new Dorper/Katahdin ewes that I just got.

Thor is much bigger than his girls. He will provide some substance to the lambs for next year. He was checking them out when he first arrived. He was quite pleased.

He will have a total of 16 ewes!

They really didn't want their photo taken.

I think the black and browns ewes will soon be named too.

Thanks to everyone who helped in the naming of the new ram.

Happy Mother's Day

I have the best Mother in the World. I must have been an angel in my prior life, as I have said before, because my Mother is superb. Of course, I have the best brother in the world. I might be a bit biased too!

Anyways, for Mother's Day, we cook for my Mom. She did make her world famous Gyoza but that is all we let her do.  Usually she makes a ton of food when we have dinner at out place but we told her "No-Go" so she counter-offered with one dish. Sigh...

Getty cooked New York Steak and Lobster. Mom brought over fresh corn so he grilled that as well. My brother made homemade coleslaw and curried potato salad. I put the dishes on the table and poured the drinks. I was pretty useless today in the cooking department today. But I was very tired from the day before. I did a lot of work around the farm and trained dogs and wore myself out.

My mom is super energetic and can run circles around me. She is in her 70 and walks over three miles a day around a lake, feeding the ducks and taming the wild birds. She loves animals. The dogs all adore her and when she arrived today, I could hear the happy barks of joy. I told the girls to be quiet so they barked louder. When my mom arrives, they only listen to her and she spoils them rotten. Maid has gotten into this routine too. My mom speak to Maid in Japanese and Maid understands her (so it seems). My mom calls her "Mae-Mae" and she jumps up and down and her tail goes 900 miles an hour. Then my mom opens the one pound of super expensive, gourmet soft meaty dog treats and feeds it to them They all sit down and just opens their mouth like baby sparrows and she feeds them the treats. Then she opens my dog's treat jar and feeds them some more. Then off to do cooking, where they get more treats. I tell them to go to their dog beds in my stern voice and they all run and hide behind her and she pets them and tells them they don't have to listen. They don't. It's been a ritual for years so we have fun with it.

We had a fantastic dinner;  grilled New York Steak, lobster, home curried potato salad, homemade coleslaw, homemade Gyoza and corn on the cob. Of course, I stuffed myself. The girls got the leftover from my mom- no surprise there.

(these pixs are not from today but from a couple of weeks ago)

My mom feeding the chickens. Notice the girls and ducks are below her. She doles out bread to them too. The girls get at least five pieces of bread. I let my mom feed everyone as much as she wants as that make her happy. The dogs and ducks all swarm around her feet the entire time getting handouts.

The sheep adore my mom too. They get tons of treats. They see her and start "baaing" the entire time. Some will eat out of her hand. Some of them recognize her car and will start crying as soon as she comes up the driveway. She goes and feeds them, of course!

The Hair sheep have only seen her once but figured out the free meal program.

Winifred, the Guinea that I got from Pasado's Safe Haven has my mom trained to feed her. Winnie is tame and loves to eat. She is first in the chow line.

Banjo, the lamb came running as soon as he heard my mom!

My brother, Nelson and Rainey. The girls love him as he fusses all over them. Maid thinks he walks on water, as  the first time she met him as he fed her some steak. He always has some goodies for the girls.

Last but not least, Jim. Jim is my brother's friend. He loves the animals too.

So after dinner, we wandered down to the barn. My mom got to see the new lambs and hand fed those mama ewes. They eat out of your hand and are gentle. She was thrilled with that. She loves Silkies Chicken so I got some more baby Silkies chick and she ooh-ahh all over them. Then she fed the chickens the bread. Next was the sheep. She would toss bread or hand feed the sheep, give a piece to each of the girls, drop some more for the ducks, feed a piece to the horse and some to the LGD. I gave her quite a few loaves of bread and she had a great time. It's good to see my mom be so happy. The animals all recognize here and come running for their treats. Sort of like I do. I let my mom feed the animals and the girls as much as she wants. It make me happy to see her have so much fun. The next day the girls and I are on a diet.

It was a sunny day that was very enjoyable. We all had a great time, had a wonderful meal and it was nice to have a family dinner.

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day !

Heppner Sheepdog Trial recap

 The Luck of the Irish happens on St Patrick’s Day and since I am neither Irish or my name is not Patrick, luck was not smiling on me at the Heppner Sheepdog Trial. I had heard about this trials for years but never was able to make it. Last year it was due to work, the prior years I was having one of many heart surgeries. But this year, I sent in my entry and was in! Kathleen Torkelson was kind enough to drive me as I am very sick from my heart issues. My heart beats at 39 beats per minute, I have atria flutter and some of my beat are half heartbeats. So I get tired very easily and driving 5 plus hours to a trial was going to be tough. Instead, I was able to sleep while Kathleen drove her van. She is a godsend. I brought Nan and Maid to run in Open on the freshly shorn range yearlings. People may say that this trial is not tough or worth their while but they are so wrong. Perhaps they should attend and see how tough it is!

Over 200 wily range yearling were trucked in and we had fresh sheep for the first day and they were rerun the second day. There were harder then! The setout was over 450 yards away and down in a gully for the first few runs before they moved it closer to set the sheep on the top of the gully. The trailers that they took the sheep out were behind and to the right and if your dog was weak or slow, they bolted back. They would stand eye to eye to dogs and not move and if the dog should any weakness, then they would challenge the dog. It was not easy and many folks fell by the wayside, even the best. It sure made you realize that these sheep should what you had or needed to have!

I loved the sheep and the course and it made me work for every point. On Saturday, the drive was to the left, near the exhaust, then to the crossdrive panels that sheep took great delight in  avoiding and then bursting up to the trailers. If you did succeed in the doing the drive, the shed was next and they would hold their heads high and stick like glue. The last part was the pen and they had no desire to go into that at all.  They were more than happy to dart around the pen then bolt to the exhaust. They certainly didn’t like people and if you moved towards them, they would scurry like ants from a hot fire.

I had the short straw and drew up first so Maid and I went to the post. She went out and cast out deeper and gave in and the sheep broke towards the trailer. I was unable to get them back online and Maid didn’t stop for me so by the time I got her under control the sheep were near the crossdrive panel. We got them back online for the rest of the fetch being proper and a nice tidy turn and a dead straight first leg. I turned her a shade too quickly so the sheep scraped what little wool they and left off the panel and then she continued to drive them up the field and up the field. So I retired and gave her a wide away flank and she brought the sheep back. It was a combination of my bad timing, poor whistles and Maid being good and then bad. But, this time we did get farther on the field and when she was good, she was very good. The first part of the journey with Maid is the first step and we are still learning that.

Nan  was the second  of my dogs to run. She ran out clean and deep and lifted fast and most of the first fetch was like the final stretch at the Kentucky Derby. All I could see was sheep galloping, dust kicking up behind and nostrils flared opened and eyes wild and white. Surely  it was not a good sign to see at the post. I was thinking I was gonna be rolled over like a blowing pin so I rather loudly told Nan   to lie down and she perked her huge ears up at me as if to say,  “Say what?” and did lie down and the sheep slowed down in front of me at the last second the sheep skirted the fetch panels so that cost us dearly.

The turns was nice and they lined up and started on the drive but the draw was tough and they were in a straight line but to the right of the panel so we missed them. The turn was a wee bit wide but we got them online to head to the crossdrive panel. The sheep danced to the right and left and didn’t want to go through the panel but after the union mediator stepped in, all parties were happy and they went through the panels. Nan had a tight turn to the shed and I lined up the sheep and she burst in like a fire cracker and they spilt. She did such a good job that when she went to regroup them, they wanted no part of her and one bolted. She went after it in full teeth mode and I scolded her and she keep her fangs to herself and did not grip. The other sheep tried to slip out of the field near the hospitality suite, perhaps they wanted a coffee and pastry but Nan got them all bunched up and headed to the pen. They complied and soon marched in without a peep and we landed with a score of 69 and in tenth place out of 56 dogs. I was quite happy and it was a good way to end for me.

Kathleen and I went to Chinese dinner with Ron and Hope and I can honestly say, it has been a long time since I had bad Chinese food.  But we did and made a point to make that restaurant was on our no return list!

Lucky for me, I was not up first on Sunday but 18^th so we didn’t have to get up at 5:00 but 5:30ishand for those people like me, that is akin to fun to like having my wisdom teeth pulled with no drugs or hearing fingernails on a chalkboard.

Nan was the first dog out and she had her superb outrun and a hard lift and she was hot on the sheep and I got her under contrail just past the fetch panels. One ewe took exception to her smacking hard on the bubble and challenged her at the turn and she hit the neighboring ewe. That didn’t impress Miss Surely Ewe so she tried to take Nan on and Nan faltered so she had her game. On the second challenged, Nan rode neighboring ewe like a Rodeo Queen on parade down main street, her teeth firmly fastened the on ewe and was rewarded with a DQ for her efforts. I guess we were the bug that day since we were the windshield the day prior.

Maid was nice on her outrun and checked in and settled nice behind her sheep. The fetch was off to the trailer and slowly worked it’s way down the field. A smaller repeat of the day before! We got back online at the fetch panel and had a nice turn and then started on the drive. The ewes were tough and didn’t want to go on the drive at all so she was patient. They spilt into two and then three then four goups of singles, then thought about grazing, then maybe moving along when Maid got into  their face. She did hit one that thought she was going to tackle Maid and we got through the first panel and the swung nice to do the crossdrive. It was a struggle as the sheep were heavy, tired and hungry and wanted to go back to the trailer or exhaust. Maid did get them through the second panel and one turned on her and she hit the head and it quickly  joined her partners but we got a DQ. I was zealous with my commands and Maid chose to be kind to me and not lose her head but I will have to be aware of that. The game little dog did take all of my commands and was quite good about it. So we did get farther and I know what I have to fix on my end. Less commands. Sound easy enough, right?

I wandered over after my run to eat some of the fine corned beef, cabbage, onion and carrots stew that Patti had made. I rewarded Maid for putting up with me with part of my bread, beef and carrot and she forgave me.  Karen Mahoney, Meredith and Patti served up hot Irish traditional lunch and their famous cobbler each day. They also had hot coffee, tea and breakfast goodies. This trial is one classy trial with great tough sheep, challenging course, superb food and anything you may desire. Plus top handlers who run and you can learn from their runs.  I was happy with what I did correctly and what I did wrong will be my homework in the next few weeks. Karen and crew go all out to make this one top notch five star trial. Thanks to them for this wonderful time!

Right after my run with Maid and the lunch, Kathleen and I hit the road. I slept a good portion of the way as I was beat from this weekend. I could tell that my heart was giving me issues when I couldn’t punch out my whistles and had to use my voice.  By the end of my runs, I was mentally shot and had to take naps. I did manage to wake up in time for a late lunch in Ellensburg and we arrived back in town as the sun was setting. It was good to be home and soon I fell asleep again, this time dreaming of actually having perfect lines and no gray hairs.

Wednesday: Patrick and Andi’s run on Saturday (due to technical difficulties).

Rocky Ewe March Trial results

Well, some days you are the windshield and some days you are the bug. This day we were certainly the bugs, especially in Open. Kathleen and I car pooled and she drove to and from the trial which helped me a great deal. PN, was first, Novice, Ranch, Nursery and then Open. Karen Mahoney was the judge and she did a superb job. I ran Rainey in PN and she was flat. It probably was the worse she has ever run for me. She didn't want to hold the pressure on the fetch nor walk into the sheep on the drive. I had to flank her to do the first drive since she refused to push on the sheep. She didn't lean on the sheep on the crossdrive so then did a big banana loop but we made up for it on the last part of it and then popped them into the pen. She pulled up lame so that might have been it. I had Vet Diane examine her the next day and her knee is a little loose so she is on "walks" for the next three weeks so the inflammation will dissipate. She did place 7th out of 21 dogs so it wasn't too bad. Her score was 60.

I ran Maid first and she started a bit tight and I wasn't too sure about it, but kept my mouth shut and then she veered out nice and deep and came in deep behind the sheep. She only lost one on the outrun and one on the lift. As she came in, the sheep bolted to the comebye side and I gave her a huge, wide sweeping away flank. She took it like a trooper and  hit the ground as I gave her a big down. I walked her up slowly and she snuck the sheep back on to setout to march them down the field. But all good things must come to an end and then *poof* it ended! The sheep veered to the comebye side a few steps which put them in the middle of the deep pond. They stalled and Maid got pissed and then went after one. But the sheep were in the pond and when she launched herself at the sheep, she hit the pond, went completely under, got totally dunked in frigid winter water and came up sputtering mad. She split the sheep and we got them back but they split again and then I went up the field to call her off as it was starting to look like "ring around the Rosie" or more like the "pond"

Nan shot up the field like a bazooka and that was the best part of her run! Had a nice outrun, a bit F-A-S-T, deep lift and sporty fetch but good so far. Then the drive that had no square flanks or  downs and it plain sucked.  We timed out as we were going to the pen. We probably would have done the pen and single with ease if we didn't take all the extra side journeys on the drive. Those side journey do not garnish any bonus points. I was expecting Karen, the judge, any time during my run, call out to me and ask "We are not driving to Calgary nor San Diego. Please keep the drive in the town of Roy, please." But she has manners and refrained from but I am sure she banged her head on the dashboard a few times on my run!

Well, my two Open dogs didn't shine and my PN dogs was a tiny twinkle! Oh well! Such is trialing!

Kathleen had a better day than me. She ran Josh in Nursery and he scored 60 and placed second. He had one of the best outruns, and lift of the day and handled the sheep with ease. I tried to point this out to Nan and Maid but they sneered at me. I pointed this to Rainey and she fell asleep. She ran Gael in PN and placed 8th, hot on Rainey's heels. Gael and Josh have made great strides recently and are a major contentors on the field.

Judy had her RV and it was running so I was able to charge up my batteries for my heated vest. She also had a propane heater so I camped in front of that all day. So my inner core was warm and I didn't get sick.  It was very generous of her to do that. She also had hot lunches, hot roast beef sandwiches (made by Kathy Rivers), beef stew and bean soup. Not to mention all the side dishes. The company was great and I enjoyed myself.

Kathleen must have felt sorry for my whipped ass and bought me a "red dragon stock stick". It was a very nice gift and I showed it to the girls who rolled their eyes. The girls (Nan, Maid, Rainey) said they don't need no "stinking red dragon stock stick" as they are dragons themselves. I agreed! Lora makes these cool sticks.

It was pointed out to me that 1st and third in Open were dogs from my kennels, a Tess daughter and granddaughter. The fifth place dog I sold to Lora and is the half sister to Nan. So If couldn't do well, then at least dogs from my kennels shone like diamonds.

Kathleen and I went and had some rib-eyes for dinner and the journey home was enjoyable. Moments after she dropped me off, my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I went into a 12 hour coma until Sunday, when I found out my 12 hour coma was shortened by an hour due to day light savings time!

Trained female Border Collie for sale

Cait still is available SOLD

Black and White female.

D.o.B. 24/04/2009

SIRE: MIRK {DK EVANS}

DAM: ROZZ {MISS JP BEALE}

• Natural Wide Outrun
• Knows her flanks, well started on Driving,
• Works Cattle and Sheep. She is fearless, More of a heading than an heeling dog

PRICE $2500.00

OWNER: CHRIS HANSON

250-546-3664

cthanson@telus.net
People have asked for a video of her driving so here it is. She is located in Canada.  I have gotten dogs from Chris before and they are exactly like he states. My Delmar Scott and Gael was from him. He puts a great foundation on the dogs and I would buy from him again.