Swiss Frau Farm Products

Jenni (the Swiss Frau) and our working dogs.

Chicory joined our working dog team a few years ago. She is the niece of Indigo whom we lost a few years ago. She loves Robbi and they make a perfect team. She is from Drywood ACD’s in South Dakota. Same breeder that bred Indigo.

Our current working dog is a black and white Tri-color Australian Shepherd named Robbi  (Cardinals Rock On). Robbi moves the goats around for me, taking them to the milking parlor and puts them in their stanchions and brings them back, guarding open gates and putting the goats where they need to go. Everything he does seems to be done with great joy and he brings so much life and vitality to our barn.  He saves me a lot of time rounding up and moving goats.

Robbi, all grown up and always ready to work.

Robbi greeting the first born kid of 2013 Swiss Frau Ursi

Indigo worked for me for 3 years and is now retired.  He was an amazing herding dog. He was able to take goats out to pasture daily and bring them back putting them  into their stalls. He could sort, hold and move any livestock we had from sheep to Guineas, ducks, geese, chickens and goats.

Here is an old photo of Indigo working sheep in Portage at a herding facility. Indigo during hunting season out moving goats. The goats wore orange ribbons. Toggenburg goats look a lot like deer.

Indigo’s only claim to fame was when I showed him at the Australian Cattle Dog Nationals in Pennsylvania about 5 years ago. He was shown in a small Properties class for altered dogs. He won for best altered male on a national level. That was really fun. I am not a dog show person but I was there as a vendor carving Cattle Dogs at Nationals. He is a wonderful representative of the breed in conformation, working instinct and temperament. He has traveled everywhere with me working livestock in training situations.  Because he is so good to take places he has opened many doors for me. We have goats because of Indigo. We needed stock to work him on and started with sheep but quickly realized sheep weren’t for me and switched to goats and then more goats and pretty soon we were milking goats and well, things just grew from there.

Indigo is a Drywood dog out of South Dakota.  Drywood’s Indigo Get Em

Sadly Indigo passed in July of 2018. He was 13. In August we went to the same breeder in South Dakota, Drywood ACD’s and bought his niece Chicory. She has been working goats since the day she arrived.