Sheep and Sheep Trials in Georgia - The Firefly at Madison

We learned something recently about sheep and sheep dogs. We had a couple of pleasant guests the other day that brought along their beautiful border collie, Sia. They were headed out to a place near us to do “sheep trial training” and get some country fresh air, and invited us to go with them.

A Sheep Trial is a sport. The object is for a human and its dog to figure out how to herd a little group of five sheep. They’re supposed to move through a series of obstacles, inside an enclosure. The dog has to fight off its natural instinct to grab the sheep by the throat and have a feast. The human has to fight off its natural instinct to whine at the dog and allow it to do whatever it wants because it is cute.

So, as so often happens, this started out as one thing and ended up as another. This is a story of sheep, sheep dogs, and Sheep Competition.

Why do you need to know about Sheep and Sheep Dogs in Georgia?

Well, as part of the Bed and Breakfast lifestyle, we enjoy it when people take day trips and road trips around the place. It’s good to get to know a little bit about the local history and economy. It’s also good to explore, and we are explorers too. Part of our value as a B&B is to know about what is in the area, and this is a perfect example.

Sheep Trials

All you can think of is bad sheep, busting into your garage to steal your chain saw. They then are hauled off to the joint. But among lovers of the Border Collie, this is a sport, and there are prizes.

There is a place near us that breeds and trains these things. This is Woods End Farm, which is about 10 miles north of town toward Watkinsville. They have a website, which I put in the links. We met Doyle, who is the brains of the gang, and some of the other dog people.

Apparently it’s OK for your dog not to be a border collie but that is the preferred breed. These things are OCD and the O part of it is for herding things. It’s also OK for the animals not to be sheep. A similar sport is done with cattle and runner ducks. It is more about the herding.

The sport itself is for a human and its dog to figure out how to herd a little group of five sheep. They’re supposed to move through a series of obstacles, inside an enclosure. The dog has to fight off its natural instinct to grab the sheep by the throat and have a feast. The human has to fight off its natural instinct to whine at the dog and allow it to do whatever it wants because it is cute.

I also posted the rules for this down below. The winner of this is called the Supreme Champion, which sounds pretty impressive.

Sheep and Sheep Trials

So the scene was this collection of dogs, excited to get their chance, and a pen full of nervous sheep. They are sent out in groups of five, and the dog/human team herds them and ushers them through some barriers.

Points are given for how well you do this. To the dogs. Unlike in bull riding, there is no score for the sheep.

Clearly both the human and dog are trained to work together to do this. The human has to understand both sheep and dog behavior. He or she has to “command” that the dog get into the right position. This gets the sheep to move predictably. The sheep don’t always cooperate, nor does the dog. You get into situations like your six-year-old human dance recital when a few of the participants start to walk off.

In all it was very interesting, and the locals out there didn’t mind gawkers.

Sheep and Sheep Dogs in Georgia: Sheep Judging

So we were coming back from this, and passed by the livestock barn north of Madison, and saw there was something going on. Come to find out there is such a thing as the Georgia Club Lamb Association, and they have a dozen lamb contests all over the state.

Without thinking about it too much we stumbled into the awards ceremony of the GA Born and Bred Final Showdown, which was for all of the marbles, so to speak, there were cash prizes.

The intent of all of this is to encourage FFA and 4H kids to appreciate raising animals, give them wholesome fun, and get them out of Dodge for 12 weeks a year, unless the contest is in Dodge, in which case you get to go to Dodge.

There is a website for this too, and I posted it down below. These shows are all over the state and there are points accumulated throughout the year, and a main champion is crowned somehow. I guess it’s the same sheep and kids and moms and dads that go from place to place. Yes, there were a lot of dads.

So these lambs, which are pretty good sized, are raised, pampered, sheared just right, and taken care of by a lot of wholesome farm kids. There are very elaborate trailers and campers so that they can come in, spend the night out in the Sale Barn, and then show their sheep in some fashion.

It was all a pretty impressive thing, in a small town kind of way. Here are some photos.

Unanswered Sheep Questions

We did notice that some of these things had their tails “surgically” removed, and it didn’t seem like they missed them, but it is evidently a practice. There will be no wagging of tails behind these lambs.

It is also evidently a practice to dress them in pajamas in their spare time like this one is.

It would be easy for the parents to get involved in this just like the beauty pageants and the Pinewood Derby. There is a presentation element of this too, where part of the talent is how cooperative the animal is, and that can be worked on.

But more serious question is: What happens to sheep #4? The first three get prizes. What does #4 get? Body shaming? Bullying? Anyway these are farm animals, the lucky ones are selected for selective breeding, and the unlucky, slightly less beautiful ones get turned into something less fun.

Sheep in Georgia

This is not really a thing. Georgia is the #30 state in the US for sheep and sheep by-products, and you can see why. They are covered with wool, and don’t do well with humidity. They are most commonly found out west where it is cold and dry.

So the few around here are probably more like pets or movie props, or show animals, to teach kids how to work with livestock that won’t roll over and try to kill them, like a cow or big hog.

Sheep BBQ is not a thing. Yet.

What to make of all of this?

Well, first of all we were glad to get introduced to the Dog Trial activity firsthand. This is an interesting thing, and the ongoing ability of a human to make a dog do work for him or her instead of vice versa is a productive activity that might come in handy. There are similarities between training unruly dogs and unruly humans.

Secondly, we were glad to get introduced to the Sale Barn, and the fact that there is still, in the land of plenty, a few kids who are willing to break a sweat to manage livestock.

And thirdly, we are glad that with a little effort, very little, we can find some interesting things to do in a Little Southern Town that are keeping traditions alive, and preserving a way of life that is important in and of itself.

If we had our act together we’d get some kind of information on what is going on at the barn. The actual name of this thing is the “Morgan County Agricultural Center” and there is a website, but not really a schedule, so “stumbling in” like we did may be a thing.

PS: Did you know we were published authors?

We’ve explored every one of the little towns in this area. Coming soon to Amazon is “Little Southern Towns: The Nickel Tour” which is a light hearted view of the area, that we hope you will pick up on and share with everyone in your family, and they will share. There are a lot of trips like this which start out being one thing, and end up being another.

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