Duck, duck, dog
WORDS Liam Stretch
You’ve more than likely heard of herding sheep or even herding cats. What about ducks?
For Wairau Valley farmer Donald Stuart, herding ducks is nothing out of the ordinary.
Though this new norm hasn’t always been the way for Donald, some 35 years ago, a seemingly standard rural exchange led to an extraordinary outcome.
“Back in the early 80s, I bought a young heading dog off a fella. I didn’t have any sheep. And he told me to use ducks while the dog’s young. Because a young heading dog will be able to outrun the ducks, and wherever a duck turns his head is the way he’ll go, so a dog will balance on them quite good,” Donald says.
So, never one to step back from a challenge, Donald set to work with his dog and his ducks, but he faced some avian assembly scepticism from other farming folks.
“People told me there is no way you’ll be able to train a duck because they don’t have a big brain. They know when to come to tucker; there must be something there, so I thought, ‘well, I’ll go and prove these fellas wrong’.”
And prove them wrong he did. Not only did he succeed in herding them, he was featured on a 1988 telethon in Nelson.
Now, with his herd of Indian Runner ducks and his loyal five-year-old heading dog, Charm, Donald continues to wow crowds up and down the country and is set to return to an important stop on his performance calendar, The New Zealand Agricultural Show in Christchurch.
Donald gets a real kick out of performing to the big crowds. “[I do it] just to see the look on kid’s faces. Some of them nearly have their eyes falling out.”
“They’ll come up to me afterwards and ask if they could train their own dogs to do it.”
Donald says that the ducks enjoy it just as much as him, particularly a piece of playground equipment.
“I think the slide is the most entertaining part of it [my show] because the ducks just love it, so they do it themselves. They don’t have to be forced to do it.”
And the ducks most certainly do have minds of their own, something Donald says adds to the spectacle.
“They tend to know what the dog wants them to do. There’s usually no problem. There is the odd one that doesn’t go where the dog wants it to go, and the crowd just love it.”
Patrons can be assured that Donald, Charm, and the Indian Runners have a few tricks up their sleeves – or under their wings – for this year’s Agricultural Show. 2023’s show is set to continue to share the country with young and old, something General Manager Tracy Ahern is excited about.
“It’s going to be amazing. We’re so pleased that entry is free again for kids up to aged 16 years so they can get an idea of life on the farm.”
When asked if he prefers ducks over sheep, Donald recalls his long career as a musterer around high country Marlborough and the Sounds; Donald replies, “I do now; I don’t have to climb hills.”
New Zealand Agricultural Show is on 15–17 November