Our Willy (Highland's Willy Scott) herding ducks ca. 1980.

1 June 2014: Above, our three previous dogs, Jack, Sage, and Kate

Woolgather Farm is currently located in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts where we had lived for 23 years before moving to New York State in 1992. From 1981-1992 we owned a much smaller version of our farm in Merrimac, Mass. When we moved to New York State we bought a 40-acre farm in Candor, south of Ithaca, NY. On Thanksgiving Day 1997 we moved to our new (smaller) farm in Tyngsboro, Mass., bringing with us our sheep, llamas and pony, our cats, and our Border Collies.

Carole is a fiber artist, writer, publisher and editor. David, a.k.a. "Pres", was a software engineer for many years and is currently retired except for volunteer work.

We have had Border Collies for 40 years.


Left, Pres with Kate and Flash, and far right, Carole.

The thumbnails link to pages for each dog. (Photos of Willy, Jute and Moss by Tony Esposito of Bethany, Connecticut.)

1978-1994 "Highland's Willy Scott" NASDS 27702 bred by Maurice MacGregor

1980-1995 "Ettrick Linn" bred by Jack Knox

1982-1996 "Watermoon Jute" NASDS 36938 bred by Dennis Moonan

1984-1999 "Woolgather Moss" NASDS 44344 bred by Carole Presberg

"Corinlea Black Suede" KC P1353801P01 1989-2004 bred by Mrs. Karen Holliday (Dalgleish) of Sheffield, England

FDX CGC ABC 34844 1993-2008 bred by Francis Raley of Crawford, Texas

FDX CGC ABC49811 1994-2008 bred by Francis Raley of Crawford, Texas

FDCh CGC ABC 120802 1997-2011 "Westwood Fenn" bred by Suzanne West of Oliver Springs, Tennessee, originally owned by Carole and David Presberg, subsequently owned by Kathy and Craig Chittenden of Sugarbush Farm in Stephentown, New York

CGC ABC 183159 2000-2014 bred by Christine and David Eisensmith of Chafee, New York

2002-2017 bred by Anja Dassen of Belgium and the Netherlands

CGC 2002-2016 bred by Chris Caswell of Dyer Brook, Maine

b. 2003-2018 who came from North Carolina

b. approx. 4/6/2011 who comes from Texas

b. approx. 2009 who comes from New York State

In 1984 we bred Jute to Willy and at the end of October of that year Jute whelped a litter of five pups. We kept Moss and sold the others. They are all sadly gone now.

"Woolgather Jess" NASDS44345

"Woolgather Maize" NASDS44346

"Woolgather Wizard" NASDS44348

"Woolgather Ruby" NASDS44347

"Woolgather Moss" NASDS 44344

We don't currently breed (been there, done that), and all our dogs are neutered.
Please don't call us about buying puppies, because we don't have any
and we don't keep track of reputable breeders.
Instead of buying a puppy, please consider adopting a grown dog from rescue.

Since 1991, we have been involved with Border Collie rescue. I (Carole) am the founder of the North American Border Collie Rescue Network (NABCRN) and one of the founders of New England Border Collie Rescue (NEBCR).
In 2006 I retired, as president, intake coordinator, website manager, and a foster home, from NEBCR. My husband and dogs were happy to have me to themselves again.

PRINCE
ca.1980-2011
He lived with us from 7 years old until his death in 2011 at 31 years of age.

MEET OUR NEW PONIES



Magic and Sweetie were adopted in mid-May 2015 from the MSPCA Nevins Farm.
Magic is a chestnut gelding Shetland pony about 15 years old and Sweetie is an roan Appaloosa mare about 18 or 19 years old.
They came into the MSPCA large animal shelter together and we decided it was unfair to separate them since they had been together for many years, so we adopted them both.

Above, Ranger the llama meets the ponies for the first time.

Sweetie and Magic in their new stall.

Me on Sweetie, July 9, 2015

A freight line runs behind our property.
We actually like having the train in our backyard,
as it runs infrequently, goes slowly and adds some interest to the day.
As you can see, it doesn't disturb the animals.

We raised sheep for their wool since 1981.
Our sheep were mostly colored Border Leicester crosses and a few Jacob's sheep.
Currently we are no longer in the sheep business,
and the last old ewe, Doris, a Jacob's, who appears at the front of the photo above, died on June 19, 2006.



Our fleece was sold to handspinners
through our wool business,

or used by Carole for spinning, weaving and felting.
Carole is a fiber artist who makes small bags of wool, felt, and leather
Her bags may be seen on the Thistle Woolworks web pages

Above, Eva Lambert and Carole Presberg
with their tour van in Scotland ca. 1986.

For ten years, from 1983 to 1992,
Carole ran the Sheep to Shawl Tour of Scotland, a sheep and wool tour,
with Eva Lambert, who lives on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
Eva now runs
Shilasdair Yarns.

In the summer of '96 we added two llamas (Ranger, far left, and Hennessey) to our flock, also for their wool. For those of you who spin--their wool is absolutely beautiful, and also yields soft guard hair which feels like human hair and will be good for making soft cordage. Although we had been told that llamas work best as flock guardians if they are by themselves rather than in pairs, Ranger and Hennessey really have protected our sheep. We've seen them do it. They worked as a team. One day a friend's dog got into our pasture. Hennessey drove the sheep to one corner, and Ranger went after the dog. Sadly, Hennessey died in 2003. He was only 8-years-old. Ranger lived a long life, dying of old age at 21-years-old in 2016.

Sheep grazing on the dunes by Richard Ansdell

VISIT OUR FARM IN MERRIMAC, MASSACHUSETTS

VISIT OUR FARM IN NEW YORK STATE

THE OTHER WEB PAGES WE MAINTAIN

These web pages are copyright ©2016 and maintained by webmeistress Carole Presberg
with technical help from webwizard David Presberg
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
If you are interested in using ANY material on this website, you MUST first ask for permission.