ONTARIO BORDER COLLIE CLUB

We asked three young Ontario herders about the challenge of balancing family life with young children and pursuing sheep herding. They were asked to consider life in the sport before kids, changes they faced during pregnancy and in the early days with kids, if and how they are introducing their kids to the lifestyle and any suggestions for others considering kids in their futures.

What follows are three very different stories of these exceptional women and how they make it work.

Not Too Feral

By Florentine Maathuis
*Photo credits to Simcha Verweij for the first and Florentine Maathuis for the remainder.

Do I recommend herding 1,500 goats in the middle of the Saskatchewan Prairie while pregnant? No. Would I do it again? Absolutely.

My first reality check about how life would change as a mother came when I was working on a sheep farm near Milton and trying to get pregnant. With accelerated lambing year-round, I was constantly dealing with deliveries, birthing fluids, and milk — all high-risk for airborne zoonotic infections that could cause miscarriage. For the sake
of my future child, I had to quit the job.

Then, I had the opportunity to take my dream job: goat herder in the middle of nowhere, Saskatchewan. Just a couple of weeks before starting, I had to call the grazing manager to let them know I was pregnant. I wasn’t planning to quit again before I’d even started — and luckily, the manager simply said, “Well, that’s life!” and welcomed me anyway, promising we’d figure it out.

That summer was brutal: a heavy drought, wildfires, 40°C days with no shade, and endless hours on an ATV. It wasn’t the wisest decision I’ve ever made — but it was by far the best. It was the best time of my life. And doing it all while growing a tiny human inside me made it even more surreal. A bonus: my child is now the easiest road trip
companion and absolutely loves ATVs.

The first two summers after she was born, I brought my daughter with me on the grazing projects. We lived in a camper, moving from one remote project location to the next. She (unintentionally) bathed in goats’ water troughs, tagged along to cattle and sheep trials, and accompanied me as I trained and trialed my dogs. The trial community out West is wonderfully supportive and family-oriented — there’s even a Junior League, and everyone looks out for each other’s kids while you run your dogs. The kids play in the mud, grass, and dust, and the general parenting philosophy is simply: don’t let them get too feral.

I loved it. I tried to make it work. But I was riddled with guilt and exhaustion. I was desperately clinging to the woman I was before. I wasn’t just a mother — I was a goat herder, a dog handler, a competitor. But with a little one at your side (or strapped to your back), you don’t move fast enough to train a dog fairly. You can’t fully focus on your dog or your stock when someone’s crying for you. Both the child and the goats’ projects require your whole self. You simply cannot be 100% responsible for both simultaneously. Believe me, I tried.

Reality hit, and for the sake of my family, I had to quit again.  

It felt like giving up on my dreams — but sometimes, things come together in unexpected ways. My daughter started going to daycare more regularly, which gave me the time and space to focus on building something new. I began working toward my own goat grazing business in Ontario. We acquired sheep, goats, and more dogs. My
daughter still plays in the water troughs, the mud, the grass — but now at home. During the grazing season, I’m away a lot, but on weekends I get to be home with my family. My toddler ‘helps’ feed the goats, dogs, and chickens, snuggles with the goat babies.
The dogs are her best friends.

When I drop her off at daycare on Monday mornings and see her rain boots covered in goat poop, I smile and think: “Oops — too feral.”

Motherhood and Herding - Things that Make You Feel Free

By Beth Harris
*Photo credits also to Beth

I would say my decision to get into the sport was a result of motherhood.  For some background, before kids and trialing, I took on my family’s flock of Katahdin sheep. At the time it was a flock of around 60 mature ewes. My husband Peter and I built the flock up to around 120 ewes for a few years before having kids. In the winter and throughout lambing, we keep our flock in the barn. In the summer months, we rotationally graze the ewes all over the farm. Finn, my second border collie, was the one who got me started in sheepherding. There aren’t many trainers in my area, so we learned on the job and attended the odd clinic. We became a good team at home, and eventually our chores became a little more ‘creative’ so that we could work sheep for a bit longer. I began trialing the summer of 2022 (Winston was 18 months old). It was a way for me to commit to doing something for myself and by myself. Once I started, I was hooked. 

When I was pregnant with my first baby, we realized we would have to scale things back a bit. It was busy. As with most farmers, we still had off-farm jobs. So adding a baby into the mix was… interesting. I started realizing that this was going to get a lot harder. As I got bigger and slower, my dog became more and more important to my ability to get the work done on my own. It was the first time I haven’t been able to do things independently, and I can’t say that I liked the feeling. Having Finn as a teammate let me do my part for a lot longer. 

I had my son, Winston, in November 2020. Physically, I was feeling pretty rough. Mentally, I was adjusting to my new reality. I had one job now, and it was this baby. It was hard for me to accept at first. I felt guilty for not pulling my weight with chores. Everyone told me to give it time, and enjoy the stage we were in. It was easier said than done. 

Spring came and Winston and I got back to work. He was not the most helpful farm hand…. But he was the most stylish. Two words: Baby Carhartt’s. We found new ways to do things, and became very creative when it came to making ‘baby jails’. The Baby Bjorn and our ‘barn stroller’ were lifesavers. And when that didn’t cut it, it was time to load the dogs and baby into the gator and go for a ‘snooze cruise’. Eventually we all settled into our new routine and actually slowed down enough to enjoy the changes. 

I now have two children, Winston (4) and his little sister Gwendolen (1). They are smelly little farm babs through and through. They are lucky kids. This lifestyle is what they know. Whenever I get a dog out to move some sheep Winston asks if we’re “going sheeping”. They like to take my whistle and say “tweet tweet”. Each of them has a favourite dog… although for Gwen three of the dogs appear to have the same name. 

As for advice, I have one practical suggestion and one slightly cheesy suggestion: 

• Be very cautious going into lambing barns when you are pregnant (especially early pregnancy). Most diseases in sheep are zoonotic. It’s not worth the risk. 
• Hold onto the things that make you feel free.