SUZANNE McFADDEN catches up with an enduring rural ritual and meets the family who have been taking part in it for more than 50 years.
When the Child family go on their annual holiday, they pack their babies - Tim, Rose, Rangi, Faith, Pearl and little Beau Tye - into boxes on the back of their cars.
This year, the five Child men and their passengers have travelled from the opposite ends of New Zealand to spend the week in Gisborne.
But it is no vacation for the likes of Rose and Rangi, who have been put to work out on the hills.
They are the stars of the national sheepdog trials - where 500 noisy huntaways and crafty heading dogs try to outwit, out-stare and bark stubborn sheep into submission.
It is an annual challenge for the Childs, who have been whistling, cajoling and bellowing at dogs for more than half a century.
The family patriarch is 74-year-old Ellis Child, a stalwart in New Zealand dog trialing, who still keeps up with his dogs, Pearl and Morse, on his 4ha block in Maungatapere, near Whangarei.
This week, Ellis, two of his sons and two grandsons have been running their dogs up the hills and along the flats of Pouawa, a small farming district north of Gisborne, where the trials are being held.
It is a family reunion for the Childs, as grandsons Hamish and Stuart now work on sheep stations in different islands - one at North Cape, the other Central Otago.
Their father, Neville, and uncle, former Northern Districts cricketer Murray Child, still farm in Northland.
This week has brought back sad memories for Murray Child. Last year he won a North Island huntaway title and was runner-up in the national championship.
Then both of his star dogs - Chug and Katie - suddenly died.
"They both had twisted gut - something that is getting more common in huntaways, but without any apparent solution," he said.
"Katie died three days before the club trials - I can't help thinking about her this week. She was a great young dog."
But their champion bloodlines live on. One of Murray's promising young dogs at the nationals, Beau Tye, is the son of Chug.
Although almost 300 farmers are at the championships this week, the number of competitive sheepdogs is in a slow decline.
In the north, sheep farms are becoming "tourist attractions" and some modern-day farmers are rounding up the flock on multi-wheeled farm bikes.
Murray Child believes the bikes have a bit to answer for.
"There are a lot of four-wheel motorbikes about now, and maybe they have had an effect on the dogs. The dogs aren't as natural as they used to be - they seem more mechanical," he said.
"Following a horse was much slower and calmer. Nowadays everything is in a bit of a rush."
Murray has kept the Child name on the leaderboard - he and Rose are hanging on in the top seven with a good chance of making tomorrow's final in the short head and yard.
For Levin woman Wendy Schmidt, the week has been a long, nerve-racking wait. Her dog Rose was one of the first competitors on the straight hunt course on Monday, and her name has stayed on the leaders' list.
She is the only woman to feature on the board during the week so far.
But another Rose did not smell as sweet yesterday.
Local farmer Merv Utting, a former national champion, was feeling confident as his Rose quietly pushed the sheep up a hill in the long head event.
But Rose had to retire from the course prematurely, suffering the ill-effects of eating the wrong flavour of dog sausage the night before.
Trials of a dog's life
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.