Air, Landier, and Sea

We started our day off with a huge highlight- seeing the West Kerry Sheep Dog demonstration!

We expected to be shown what sheep dogs do and to see the farm a little, but Bridget and Seamus really made us feel at home.

First, we met their pet donkeys, Alfie and Sooty, and then they’re very friendly dog, Max.

Max is a younger sheep dog (about a year and half) who is still learning the ropes.

As excited as he is about herding sheep, he’s even more excited about being loved up on. Max showed us how he herds the sheep towards Bridget and away.

The sheep hang out in the hills just above the farm and graze on the grasses.

We found it very interesting that Max (and the other sheep dog) need to learn to chase the sheep away from the farmer so that they stay in the hills and not get hit by cars.

After Max showed off his skills, Jess (the more senior, 8 year-old) took the stage to demonstrate a sheep dog competition.

While Max will work for anyone, Jess is loyal to Seamus. Seamus gave Jess commands to lead the sheep through the gates, up to him (they must pass by on the left side), back through the gates, and then back up to be separated three and two (the most challenging part because the sheep like to stick together), and then into a gated area.

Jess is truly a champion at this and it was amazing to watch as Seamus called out commands “Away!” (Which means heard them up to the left) “Come Bye”, “Walk on” (walk slowly behind the sheep so they don’t spook) (heard them to the right), “lay down” (lay down), “That’ll do” (yes, just like in Babe, which means all done) and our personal favorite “look back” where the dog adorably looks back over her shoulder for further instructions.

Sheep have eyes on the side of their head, so they can always see behind themselves, this is why they always know where the dog is.

After the demonstration, Bridget spoke with us about the type of sheep she raises.

The Blackface sheep make wool that used to be more valuable for clothing, but now Merino wool (mostly from Australia) is preferred for clothing. This type of wool is often used for rugs and Bridget also weaves it into art.

Our next highlight was feeding the baby lambs. The male lambs are typically taken straight house for meat and then the females are kept for breeding. They only have enough rams to breed, and they want to avoid inbreeding (hence straight to lamb chops for the males) so their farm has about five.

Sometimes, a sheep gives birth and doesn’t accept the lamb as her own, so they need to be bottle fed. Feeding lambs this way is a lot of work (they need to eat 6 times a day) so it’s not common for farmers to keep these lambs, but Bridget will so some farmers bring them to her.

We each were given a bottle and then we held on as the lambs charged towards us, battling for a bottle. For little lambs, they’re quite strong!

Next, we were welcomed into the farmhouse where Bridget gave us some family history of the farm. Her father was the only one of his many siblings who stayed in Ireland and worked the farm. Bridget’s aunts and uncles emigrated to the United States. Bridget also has many siblings and she has a niece who also enjoys doing sheep dog trials with Max.

Seamus then gave us a traditional Irish drum demonstration and a “dancing man” performance.

And to top it all off, we got to meet the newest member of the West Kerry Farm, Boots! She gets her name because she’s got big boots to fill when Jess retires soon. Needless to say, Boots is adorable and if I had any room in my carry-on, I gladly would’ve brought her home.

After saying farewell to our new friends, we made our way to the gorgeous town of Dingle for some shopping (more Irish gifts) and some lunch.

And, most importantly, Murphy’s ice cream! It not only was fantastic, but the flavors were wild, including Dingle gin and chocolate whiskey ice creams.

The fog came in a little as we were enjoying our ice cream, so our scenic drive along the Dingle peninsula was a little clouded, but still absolutely stunning!