N.Z. sheepdogs popular in Wales

Press, 8 December 1976, Page 2

N.Z. sheepdogs popular in Wales

NZPA London Jan and Bob have become two of the bestknown New Zealanders in Wales since their five children were bom six weeks ago. They have appeared on television three times, have been heard on the radio twice, and have had their photographs in the newspapers. They have also become a major talking point on the farms and sheep pastures of the famous Brecon Beacons. Jan and Bob are sheepdogs, and Wales has never seen their like before. New Zealand huntaways, they

bark on command, unlike the Welsh and Scottish collies commonly used in the area, and they clamber on the backs of the sheep to get the leaders of the flock moving. “They have set the eyes popping of all the shepherds around here,” a farmer’s wife, Mrs Megan Davies, said yesterday. “They all want them.” Mrs Davies and her husband, Brian, who run 1100 breeding ewes on a hill farm at Cefn Maescar, brought Jan and Bob to Britain after seeing them on a holiday in New Zealand last year.

Jan and Bob’s pups, three dogs and two bitches, are believed to be the first New Zealand sheepdogs bom on a farm in Britain. Local farmers are clamouring for the pups, and the Davies may bring more out from New Zealand. Traditionalists have said that the days of the collies, whi h have been used on British farms for generations, may b" numbered. “A shepherd with one huntaway can handle 1000 animals, which would need seven or eight Welsh or Scottish collies,” Mr Davies said.

He was so impressed with the huntaways that he paid £6OO to buy the dogs, and pay their fares and quarantine costs. “They are incredibly intelligent,” he said. “I have never had to explain anything to them, or tell them anything twice.” Jan came from the Poronui station, near Lake Taupo, and Bob came from near Gisborne. The arrangements for their purchase and shipment were made by Mr Bob Rowntree, who manages a sheep farm near Otorohanga. ‘ Four of the pups have

already been sold, for £lOO each — about five times the price a good collie pup fetches in Wales. “We are saving the other one for a local sheepdog sale in April,” Mrs Davies said. “The interest in the dogs has been tremendous. The traditional collie men would not have anything to do with them at first, but when they saw Jan and Bob working they were very impressed. “They can certainly get the animals from A to B in the shortest possible time. They are also easy to train, and have a wonderful temperament.”