Cattle clinic with Terry Wofford

   Around the same time last year (end of April) I had just done Diva's first exposure to working cows. If you look back in the blog archives the video is there along with a write up. After that first exposure we signed up for a Terry Wofford cattle clinic to help get us on our way. I like Terry immensely and his way of getting the dogs comfortable works so well. It was a great experience so this year I wanted to do at least one day of his spring clinic in PA. Luck was on my side this time so my daughter happened to have Thursday and Friday off of school which made it possible for me to make the 3 hour (one way) trip to the clinic. *(This is also a very good place to say thank you to everyone, in all of the venues I participate in, for being so tolerant of my children coming with me to clinics, lessons, and trials. Without this tolerance I would not be able to do what I do. I appreciate it so much and I work hard to make sure that the kids are polite, respectful of the dogs, and helpful when needed. So far we have had nothing but compliments :-)!)*


  I explained to Terry what we had done since last year and where Diva was in regards to holding pressure and bouncing out of the pocket. He decided for our first go we would drive the cows down the fence line through a couple of obstacles and then into and open sided pen. Once they were in the pen we would have Diva hold pressure and then send her in the pen to move them back out. Diva was stressing about the pressure and so we put her on a line and I got in there close to help her out. It was mentally hard work for Diva and Terry picked a good point to end. In the afternoon session she had improved and while pushing the cows through the chute she was getting pumped up. Terry had me pull her out of the chute because in his words, "She is fixin' to bite but I think she's gonna do it up high and we don't want her to get kicked right now." Good call, Terry! Again we practiced putting them in that pen and then sending her in to push them out calmly. It was great to see her get more comfortable and I really wish that I had been able to come back for another day or two of the clinic to continue. 


I made the decision at that clinic that I wouldn't work the B cow and her herd for a while. Diva needs to be on some broke cows in smaller pens for a while to build that strength and confidence. When we have the chance we will get up to PA and NY again to work cows in a more controlled situation. Besides, the old girls are going to be due to calve at the end of August and they will be having a "gentleman" visitor to help them with next years calf crop also ;-). No need to work cow/calf pairs and no need to work a bull! I think that I will wait until spring again to visit them.