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by Gina Bisco
FOFC was originally concerned with finding other families of working farm collies like Erika DuBois' farm collies in Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia farm collies have two features which are rarely combined in the same dogs today: the farm collie character as described by Holmes in The Farmer's Dog, and the scotch collie appearance with its thick coat, heavy ruff, relatively high ear set, and the old style broad head with distinct stop and muzzle of medium length. As time and publicity efforts have not located remaining working farm collies, we started evaluating the characteristics of the modern collie breeds to see which ones might provide the best sources of possible outcross mates for the few existing working farm collies.
All the modern collie breeds have differentiated more or less from the old working collie of the British isles. Each of these breeds has the potential for producing throwbacks that could be used to enlarge the gene pool of the currently endangered working farm collie population. Aside from throwbacks in any breed which might combine the scotch collie appearance with the farm collie character, each of these breeds seems weighted toward one side or the other. The Border Collie and the Australian Shepherd breeds seem to contain many individuals in the scotch collie range of type, but are unlikely to have the farm collie character as described by Holmes. The Shetland Sheepdog very like the scotch collie, only smaller, yet the farm collie character appears to be not common in the breed today. The English Shepherd is variable but overall seems most likely to have the farm collie character, and some lines combine this character with the scotch collie type. The Collie breed also seems to have kept the farm collie character for the most part; this is a huge population, and retains quite a lot of variation in type worldwide. Some Collies have the more working-style moderate coat, some have quite the old scotch type head. While all the old scotch type features still exist in the breed, the are not usually found combined in the same individual.
As contacts have been made looking for throwbacks in the Collie breed, it turns out that some people are interested in trying to breed back to the farm character and scotch type within the Collie gene pool. There seem to be many individuals involved with the Collie breed who love the breed temperament and true collie character, but prefer the more old fashioned head type with a stop, shorter nose, broader skull, larger eyes as well as the shorter coat. There is a need for a club that would help these people try to reestablish and keep the scotch type going in this breed. Some English Shepherd owners and breeders are interested in preserving the lines with scotch type plus farm collie character in this breed as well.
This interest in preservation of farm collie character plus scotch collie type within established collie breeds suggests possibilities for organization of a formal farm collie club and registry. One idea is to have the FOFC be an umbrella organization that would provide information, contact and guidance for development and maintenance of farm character + scotch type collie lines within any of the collie breeds in which there is interest in doing so.
On the FARMCOLLIE email list, we've discussed the idea of forming a registry with divisions based on pedigree. Division A would be reserved for the original group of working farm collies along with their progeny. Progeny registered in Division A could be the result of crossing with members of the other divisions, but outside Division A, each division would be for registering appropriate individuals from a single already registered breed. Perhaps only Division A would be considered officially "Old Farm Collies" and the other divisions could be considered "Honorary Farm Collies". In any case, the individuals registered in the other divisions would be good candidates for use in enlarging the too small gene pool of Division A.
There could be a single Farm Collie Description that applies to all divisions, possibly with brief additional guiding statements explaining differences in each division.
Those of us already interested in working toward the farm + scotch collie within the Collie breed will be forming a club, possibly called the Victorian Collie Club. This is an attempt to attract the many breeders and owners of Collies who have always preferred the old types but whose voices have been drown out by those who only want the current show type to be bred. This is not a move toward separation from the FOFC. We believe we have the same goals as other farm collie fans and want to work together and be part of the organization of a formalized farm collie club and registry, as well.
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