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Chasing a sheepdog show with homemade ice cream a sweet treat at Farm Museum

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Ben Eidson works off some of his ice cream calorie intake by chasing a pair of chickens Satuday at the N.H. Farm Museum in Milton. (Lebanon Voice photos)

COPYRIGHT2017© MILTON - It was as relaxing as savoring homemade ice cream on a spring afternoon or as frenetic as watching some of the nation's best herding border collies put through their paces running foursomes of sheep through an obstacle course for national ranking.

In all, some 25 dogs out of the New England Border Collie Association and their handlers vied for points in an event sanctioned by the U.S. Border Collie Handlers Association that played out at the New England Farm Museum on Saturday.

Pam Hunt, a summer resident of Kingston who was running May, a seven-year-old border collie from Wales, Great Britain, said May did a good job after their performance.

Pam Hunt readies May for the start of their herding competition on Saturday at the New Hampshire Farm Museium on White Mountain Highway in Milton.

"She's highly trained," Hunt said, adding that May had been on the Wales national team of 2014.

"On the other hand, I've just been doing this a year," Hunt said, adding, "I trained horses for many years but I just started doing this last year. I like to say I've gone to the dogs."

Out on the field, Hunt directed May as she rounded up sheep trying to direct them between fences, around cones or into pens.

Commands of "Lie down" were interspersed with different whistle shrills May emitted through a special whistle that hung around her neck.

She said a separate physical whistle is used for each dogs. "Lie down" commands are used to get the sheepdog to stop chasing the sheep so they can get calmed down and ready for the next chase, she noted.

"It was a little hard out there, these sheep are tough," she quipped.

Asked if she gave May a treat after each performance she shook her head.

"You don't need to. These dogs are so motivated," she said. "They just want to work."

While the pooches were chasing sheep Ben Eidson, 6, of Brookfield, was chasing chickens between gobbling up homemade vanilla ice cream out of a cup.

"It's delicious," he said between bites.

Jack Malone, 7, of Farmington pumps water from the well, while Zachary Alexander, 10, of Rochester gets ready to carry buckets on a yoke carrier and Rynn Sabey, 7, of Milton looks on Saturday at the N.H. Farm Museum.

Eventgoers learned how to make all things dairy on Saturday at the Farm Museum event, including yogurt, cheese and butter.

Children and adults were also treated to tours of the farmhouse and other events that re-created the rigors and joys of an earlier era of New England farming.

Museum Director Mark Foynes said he was very happy with the turnout and hoped to have even more for the Civil War encampment next Saturday.

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