Dairy farmer on both sides of the fence at sheep dog championships

Dairy farmer Derek Brown musters sheep on his horse, Wong, during the South Island sheep dog trial championships on Monday. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery.

Ask Derek Brown his official title at the South Island sheep dog trial championships and he laughs.

''I'm just the rouseabout. I just do what I'm told,'' he said, while sitting astride his big grey horse Wong on the zigzag hunt course.

The championships got under way earlier this week at the Warepa Collie Club's grounds between Balclutha and Clinton.

Mr Brown (49), a local dairy farmer, was there as both a competitor - campaigning dogs Patch, Tarn and Manna - and a helper, clearing the course occasionally with Wong and his dogs.

Seven-year-old Wong has had a busy fortnight, accompanying Mr Brown on Beaumont Station's autumn muster last week. The pair were at the trials for the duration of the championships.

With late nights and early mornings on the agenda for Mr Brown, he quipped it was ''a bit like milking cows''.

Horses were a big part of his family's life, and with about 17 on the property it was not a typical dairy farm. He also spent 10 years as master of the Eastern Southland Hunt Club.

When he got Wong, the horse was a ''bit of a handful'', but that had been rectified. ''He had a bit of attitude when he was younger. We're mates now; he decided there's another way in life,'' he said.

Originally from the North Island where he grew up on a dairy farm, Mr Brown has always been interested in dogs and horses.

Now milking 400 cows at Taumata, he kept 20 sheep - ''just enough to play with'' - to keep his hand in.

He used his dogs with the cows and also did some casual mustering. He enjoyed getting out in the hills with his dogs as his own sheep got too quiet.

Mr Brown particularly enjoyed the social side of dog trialling and the good people involved in the sport.

Asked his chances at the championships, he said he was ''just glad to be here''.

It was the second year Mr Brown had qualified dogs for the championships and he was pleased by how they had been going.

He was looking forward to the New Zealand championships in Gisborne at the end of the month, as he was a shepherd in that area when he first left school.