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Field notes4 min

Cowboy 101: Ode to Warnie

A working cowdog is a coworker. Warnie was the best coworker any of us ever had.

GY

Gil Yearwood

2024-11-01

Cowboy 101: Ode to Warnie

Photo · Ellett Valley archives

Warnie was a Border Collie, blue-eyed and thirty-eight pounds soaking wet. She ran this farm from 2009 to 2023. Every cow on the place knew her, and every one of them respected her.

"She could gather a hundred head out of standing timber and put them through a gate without a word from me. On her last day she rode shotgun in the truck to check pasture, laid down in the grass, and didn't get up."

You bury a dog like that at the top of the hill so she can still see the herd. She's buried at the top of the hill.

- Gil Yearwood, from the porch, Blacksburg VA