Welcome to the Diamond E Farm !

This is a July, 2010 aerial shot of the Diamond E Farm.  We have 6 ponds that are used specifically for retriever training.  We also have a dove field and various rolling pastures. 

We have approximately 2 miles of walking path around the perimeter of our property.  The terrain varies from flat to rolling and the land varies from pastures to clean hardwood forest to duck ponds.

(Photo by Higher Ground Photography)

The barn has heating & cooling, a full bath, a kitchenette and a great room with a pull-out couch for sleeping.  The left side shelter is for kennels and the right side shelter is used as a patio.  This makes a convenient place for buddies that visit and train.

What could be more fun than sittin' up on the deck with a cup of coffee and looking out at your buddies train their retrievers?

The "cook shed" overlooks the sunflower field and the stick pond in the rear.  It has a really big live oak which provides nice evening shade for both the cook shed and the fire pit.
This picture is before we closed it in.  The next picture shows the "after" look.  There is always a project it seems.

The screen enclosure made the cook shed a lot more enjoyable during spring and summer evenings.  Along with the retractactable blinds it added more shade and keeps the bugs out of the burgers.

A great place for both man and dog to relax after a hard day...........not bad for a quiet, early morning cup of coffee either. 

Taking a lunch break and discussing that big water blind that's coming up that afternoon.

One of my simple pleasures in life is going from the sunflower field to the grill with a bacon wrapped dove breast.  It's a grand southern tradition. 

The new deck with shelter will make those hot days a little more bearable.  It is near the cook shed and will be a great place for our Roxy Ministry Devotions and ribbon ceremonies after Hunt Tests.

The deck is 24' X 36' and has seating for 50 plus.  The back of the benches flips over to make a table.  You can see dogs work in the beaver pond from this view point.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons at the Diamond E Farm.  The summer has ended and things get a lot busier with the cooler temperatures. 

(Photo by Higher Ground Photography)

Our hay ride around the farm is the best way to see all the ponds, fields and natural habitat for retriever training.

This is a view from the other end of the large Technical Training pond which offers several challenges.

This is one of several challenging casting points on our 5 acre technical pond which is designed specifically for retriever training.

12-26-10
A rare SC snow storm brought several geese and a variety of ducks onto our big tech pond.

We plant sunflowers and corn which allows us to have a dove shoot and cover to train the dogs in.

Sunflowers have become a summer tradition at the Diamond E Farm.  They are a reminder that fall and the big opening day dove hunt are getting closer.

The beaver pond (stick pond) in the back has 4 of these blinds. 

We have several duck blind style winger stations on the property that have walkways out to them.  This makes for quicker and simpler reloads of the wingers.  This one is in the beaver pond (stick pond). 

This is a view from the stick pond looking back up towards the cook shed.

July, 2011
From the South Pasture you can see the Green Tree Pond and the Swim By Pond.  This area offers a lot of  technical training for the dogs.  The Green Tree Pond has a lot of "stick pond" features.

This is a view from the North side of the Green Tree Pond which shows some of the features that are used in training retrievers.

This side of the Green Tree Pond offers a lot of opportunities to work your retriever through trees.

The water depth in the Green Tree Pond is pretty shallow and allows the dogs to run or lunge in a lot of it.  We also plant millett and other waterfowl food sources to enhance the realism of the retreiver training and to also support the wildlife in the area.

in the warmer months the natural grasses grow and add to the challenges for retrievers.

Avery Pro-Staffer Dwayne Padgett and "Storm" take on the challenging down the shore/channell blind in the Green Tree Pond.

This small Technical Pond sits in the valley of a 30 acre pasture.  It has several fingers, points and an island to add to retriever training possibilities. 

This is a wide angle view of our south pasture.

Our pastures have small rolling hills and the grass is cut at different heights so that we can vary the difficulty of land marks and land blinds.

This is a shot from up the hill looking down across the pasture in the direction of the small Technical Pond.  We have strategically planted some small food plots in various places in this pasture around the pond to provide more bird placement posssibilities in training. 

Another "set up" in the South Pasture.

This is another angle of the south pasture looking over one of the food plots and the small technical pond.

This is our "impoundment style" training pond.  Once the grain sorghum matures and heads out we will flood it.  The dogs enjoy the running water and the ducks enjoy the grain.  It's close enough to the small technical pond that you can use both in the same set up.

This is a multi-use pond for us.  We use it as a swim by pond and also when we are mixing land/water marks.

More sunflowers and a reminder that Labs could be running anywhere.