Get The Flock Out Of Here!

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Some good photos on the link

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/22/border_collies_hired_to_chase_canada_geese.html

Border Collies have been hired to solve a geese problem at a federally operated research farm in Ottawa.

BORDER CONTROL BIRD DOGS PHOTO /

A border collie bred and raised by Border Control Bird Dogs in Stirling, Ont., chases away pesky Canada geese.

By: Curtis Rush News reporter, Published on Wed May 22 2013

Border collies, known for their intelligence and tenaciousness, have traditionally been used to round up sheep.

However, the dogs are good at throwing a scare into pesky Canada geese too.

They are so effective at chasing away geese, in fact, that they are being counted on to stop the destruction that has been going on at the Central Experimental Farm.

The farm, located in Ottawa, has a scientific focus as the location for laboratories and research plots for the federal Department of Agriculture’s Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre.

About 10 scientists manage 400 hectares of land at the farm, where crops such as soy beans, corn, barley and wheat are grown for research.

The focus is to develop better crops for Canadian farmers, who are always looking for better yields.

Last year, the damage from the geese was estimated to be about $250,000.

The geese eat the crops. They either eat the young shoots in the spring or the grain in the fall. The droppings, however, are not a major issue for the crops.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada representatives have tried various methods to control the birds, including decoys and human patrols.

Fireworks can’t be used because of the noise since the farm is located close to public spaces.

Nothing has worked.

This year, they hired border collies, and the early results look promising after about a month.

“There is only so much that humans can do. We just don’t walk as fast as dogs do,” said Marc Savard, director of operations for the Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre.

He said it is “depressing” for scientists to see their crops destroyed by the geese.

Gareth Williams and Heather Williams, who operate Border Control Bird Dogs in Stirling, Ont., were hired on a one-year contract to get the job done.

The cost for two dogs: $44,000 per year.

The dogs, working with a handler, patrol the farm five days week. They work three hours in the morning at dawn and return to work three hours at dusk.

Since April, about 1,500 nuisance geese have flocked off.

“So far so good,” Savard said. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”

Border Control Bird Dogs, which has about 18 dogs that are bred and trained in Stirling, has been operating for more than 10 years.

“We just solely concentrate on geese management,” Gareth Williams said.

Their border collies have been used to control geese populations on golf courses, at cemeteries, city pond areas and at universities. Anywhere where there is a goose problem.

The border collies move the geese away by what’s called hazing, Williams said.

“Rather than chase the geese away as a normal dog would do, they more or less stalk the goose and that makes the goose think it’s a predator,” he said.

“It’s an environmentally friendly way to get rid of the geese. It’s kind of fighting nature with nature. It’s making the goose feel uncomfortable and threatened so hopefully it will move off.”

This program doesn’t work overnight.

Williams said repetition is at the heart of the success of it.

“You have to educate the geese to get them to move,” he said.

The border collies have to be trained as well.

They are so smart that if you don’t keep them busy, they will find other ways to amuse themselves outside of the work they were hired to do.

“It’s good that they are such an intelligent dog,” Williams said. “It’s bad that if they are left to their own devices, they will find their own entertainment.”

There are always at least two border collies on site with a handler.

“When I left the farm yesterday, we had zero geese,” Williams said.

However, he added that the geese will come back in the fall because the experimental farm is on the birds’ migratory path and transient geese might drop in.

“Our job is to run around and keep them off the crops as quickly as we can,” Williams said.