The young wether is a well-loved addition on Leigh Kempinski’s Girgarre dairy farm where he’s one of the boys among the kelpies, a crack gun at moving cows and a terror in the flower garden.
Mr Kempinski got Nigel in 2019 as a surprise Christmas present.
“My son thought I needed a sheep after my last one died,” Mr Kempinski said.
“Nigel was three days old and from Stanhope way.”
Mr Kempinski’s first sheep was meant to be freezer-bound, but after raising the lamb the family went soft and let him live to old age.
“The first one helped move the cows as well, so I thought, why not keep him?” he said.
Nigel picked up the cattle-shifting trade after a childhood (or lambhood) spent following the kelpies every morning while they fetched the farm’s 200 or so dairy cows.
“He just figured it out and joined in, he thinks he’s one of the dogs or cats,” Mr Kempinski said.
Partner Tara Beames said Nigel used body pressure to move the cows.
“He will step up if the cow is rough with him, but otherwise he’s soft. If a cow turns around and has a go at him, he’ll have a go right back and they’ll be butting heads,” Ms Beames said.
Nigel moves exactly like his kelpie mates, threading back and forth behind the cows and pushing them up.
The farm dogs include four kelpies — old Bob, Levi, Bessy and Jed — alongside golden Labrador Charlotte and a young female kitten called Gary.
During winter Nigel can be found hanging around the hay shed, eating at bale corners like an overgrown mouse and keeping himself dry.
In the warming months the sheep/dog goes on a whirlwind tour across the farm and neighbouring property, chasing “grass and pats” according to his owners.
Mr Kempinski said Nigel was a “great guy and good worker".
Nigel has only been shorn once so far, and it wasn’t an easy affair.
“In December me and my old man sheared him. Nigel didn’t like that much,” Mr Kempinski said.
“None of the wool was kept, mainly because the two shearers weren’t too good.”
Nigel is well-loved by local milk tank drivers who all know him by name after a rocky start.
“One day I found the tanker driver out with a wheelie bin between him and Nigel. I said ‘what are you doing?’ He said ‘I wasn’t sure if he’s vicious or not’. Now all the tanker drivers know him,” Mr Kempinski said.
Fed on a buffet of endless hay, warm milk from the dairy and stolen dog and cat food, Nigel would probably make a fatty freezer addition anyway.
Best to keep him in employment.
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