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Ronnie Morland
By Peter Wood, 2003
Ronnie was born in 1928 and had an interest in
Beardies from an early age. He acquired his first one when he
was 25 years old. It was a red bitch and came from
Stirling. Ronnie had her for 12 years.
At some point Ronnie’s wife, Kathy, wanted Ronnie
to have another Beardie pup so Ronnie got a second pup from
Tammy Dean of Burnsgill, Muirkirk. An interesting point brought
up by Ronnie was the fact that Tammy Dean's Border Collies, when
bred to Beardies, produced Beardie appearing pups. This female
pup became Nan, and it was soon evident that she wanted to work.
When a neighbour said he was short of a dog, Ronnie loaned him Nan.
Nan started working by bringing in the cows regularly, and when she
returned to Ronnie, she very quickly started working sheep also.
One day whilst lambing, which was done in the fields on the
lower ground, one of the ewes lambed a pair of ewe lambs.
Ronnie thought to himself “they will be two to keep for the
future.” On returning some time later, there was no sign of the
lambs. Ronnie thought they must have been taken by a fox but
could find no traces of blood anywhere. While walking
back, feeling a little upset, he noticed Nan. She was some
distance away from him when she suddenly cocked her head to one
side and began to bark. She was reluctant to leave the spot so
Ronnie went to investigate. Nan was standing by an old
drainpipe in the field. When Ronnie arrived at this spot,
lo and behold, he found the lambs tucked inside the pipe.
Ronnie went on about his work the rest of that day feeling much
happier and with yet another indication of the worth of a good
Beardie safely tucked into his memory.
Until he retired, Ronnie used to shepherd 860
Scottish Blackface ewes on the open fell, or hilltops, and the
lambs would be grazed, after weaning, on turnips to fatten for
slaughter.
This work with sheep was all done using
Beardies. The last Beardie Ronnie worked was a bitch called
Stumpy. She was called this because of her short tail, a
characteristic which turns up in the breed from time to time.
Stumpy was bred by Paul Turnbull, sired by Paul's Blue out of
Paul’s bitch named Pam. Stumpy was registered with the
International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS). Blue, of course, is
known as Turnbull's Blue, and is known to just about everybody
who knows anything to do with Beardies. Blue was
registered, on merit, with the ISDS after Paul demonstrated, on
numerous occasions, Blue's ability to handle stock.
Blue is also the reason Ronnie’s name will be
remembered in the history books, etc. because Ronnie bred Blue
from his Nan. Blue's sire was Scott, bred by Archie Reid
(who later loaned Scott to Georgie Howieson).
As can be seen by the photos below, Ronnie was
instantly recognisable. He almost always wore his
deerstalker type hat; he was a large man, standing five feet
eleven inches tall, and he weighed around 280 pounds.
Ronnie's immense knowledge of working dogs, and his very
critical eye, can be described as "superb." In spite of
the level of his knowledge, he was always fair when evaluating
dogs.
It has been one of the pleasures of my life
knowing Ronnie and being able to consider him as a friend.
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Ronnie Morland. Courtesy of Brian Iddon,
Photographer.
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Photographer, Derek Ross, took several
photographs of Ronnie when he (1) worked a flock of sheep and (2)
engaged himself in the process of sheep shearing. Mr. Ross
graciously consented to the use of this picture, as well as the five
that follow, on this website.
The wind made for an interesting picture. Not only
is Ronnie's coat blowing backwards, but so
are the dog's ears and coat.
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Ronnie is checking his flock from a vantage
point. Although it is difficult to see in this picture,
there are two dogs at work. One is almost entirely behind
a large rock.
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Ronnie is holding the sheep up with the help of
his dogs, which are out of view, in this particular picture.
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Ronnie was contemplating the coming storm.
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This is a mobile unit
shearing gang where several shearers travel from place to place
to do the shearing of the flock. One sheep is obviously
anxious to return to its flock after undergoing the removal of
its fleece.
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Ronnie is no longer engaged in
the actual shearing of sheep, but he still worked at rolling
fleeces and packing them into the wool sheets (a very big bag is
provided). |
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