Herding livestock - dogs

I currently only have 1 Border collie/Mcnab working herding dog who is used to herd 3-12 animals or has been as well as she has been used to herd cows periodically (keep 30-100 head off my fence they destroy). She herds cows off the property daily certain periods of time and this is also half her main job here.  I may have a litter or litters in the future. I have currently shifted my farm & kennel to raising katahdin/dorper mixed sheep and obtaining more Border collie/Mcnab dogs and border collie/kelpie mixed dogs for future herding training as these dogs are dual purpose (cow/sheep/goat herding) and are good with smaller kids sometimes or wont bite them hard - which for a family herding operation is important.

The dog needs to bite a little when needed, but not hurt livestock or push them too hard.

I do not follow fancy herding training, I have learned form online videos how many other people do it.  I'm on such a small farm I have implement simple commands for my use. I have not taught my dog  "come by" or "away" yet (have started but need to build a round pen after building a huge dog run area currently under construction). I do not have a lot of land or sheep so I dont need these commands yet (soon). I only use what I need. I am self-taught. 

My dog knows "skit the moomoos,"(to move cows away until I tell her stop-and or use my electric collar to vibrate her although I don't use it now for this), "skit the sheep" which means to go faster towards them (sounds silly but yes), "walk up," and "easy," "wait," and "no more," and "down" and "stay." She is only 1 and has only now started to settle some from the explosive sheep herding initially - as she was too excited and very very into herding. These dogs or mine, like some borders, have a very soft mouth and don't bite a lot some not much at all. They have a softer mouth than a Australian cattle dog anyways-or pure bred McNab's/kelpies. They are great for children (sometimes) if you need a herding dog, although they run super fast and can easily knock you and the kid down and do- so be forewarned, when they are puppies and excited sometimes. My herding dog is a fast rocket - I call her the "torpedo." She's a missle.  The cows don't stand a chance, she's so fast they cant catch her.

These dogs prefer 5-10 miles of exercise a day, they don't make good pets only, they MUST have a job or at least lots of running daily. This mix has more stamina and heat and cold tolerance than the purebred border collie-that I have owned. They are working dogs-never just pets. They do well with family and kids, but like to be outside - running most of the day, over larger spaces. A regular in town yard on a quarter acre or so will not do for these dogs, they need wide open spaces or access to them or lots of work.

I've found when raising my half McNab/border collie side by side with a border collie the border collie wouldn't come back to me or come check back it'd more take off and wasn't "biddable." The border/McNab mix was very biddable always wanting to do what I wanted and see what I needed her to do and stay with my or come back after working livestock to check.

The border/Mcnab has A LOT of stamina from a younger age and can go and go and go 5 or 10x plus what a pure bred border collie can do - at least the border collie I had. Some borders yes probably can go all day, just not the one I had owned. The McNab/border get less hot than a full coated border the other border would get way to hot and peeter out much sooner. The border I had was just terrible quality..it would herd well, but peter out quick bark excessively (couldn't be alone). 

There's many gat border collie I just didn't get one that worked for me. So I wont ever be owning, at least not intentionally any more pure  bred border collies on my farm. Unless, there rescues.

Also the Mcnab/border collie is more cold resistant than any dog I've ever owned. My dog will stay outside for hours in -15 or below and not freeze (because she runs so much).  She is amazingly shockingly resilient. She's happy about being outside, that's the weird part. Most dogs will shiver wait at the door, but not this dog.