Two easy steps to being a sheepdog

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a sheepdog? No, us either. But researchers at Swansea University have and they’ve just published the results of their study into that very question.

The team, headed by Dr Andrew King, used GPS technology to try and understand just exactly what sheepdogs do.

They fitted GPS backpacks to a heard of sheep and a sheepdog and found that the sheepdogs use only two manoeuvres to move their flock – to collect and to drive.

They collect the sheep into groups when they are dispersed around fields, and then drive them forward.

When the data was collected it was sent to Uppsala University, Sweden to be consolidated.

From this, the researchers say it’s possible for them to create a ‘mathematical shepherding model’.

But, what do the sheep farming community think of this news?

Amy Dunsmuir went along to meet one shepherdess who thinks nothing, even robots, can replace man's best friend.