Sheep-herding kangaroo rides flock into their pen

You've heard of Babe the sheep pig - now meet the sheep-herding kangaroo.

Young Australian jackaroo Lochie Ireson was gobsmacked when he saw a 1.6m-tall adult male kangaroo steering an 800-strong pack of sheep in Booligal, New South Wales, by jumping on them.

Ireson said he and his team had been mustering the sheep when the kangaroo came in from the field, jumped up and started moving in with the sheep.

"It was bouncing all around on them as we herded them into smaller and smaller pens," Mr Ireson told Caters News Agency.

"I have never seen anything like it.

"We normally use motorbikes and sheepdogs to herd the sheep, so it was the first time we had a kangaroo helping us there."

Mr Ireson added that his sheepdogs appeared confused by the spectacle of a kangaroo herding sheep.

"They were so confused, and the sheep were thinking, 'what is this?' and trying to run away," he said.

After the kangaroo had helped herd the sheep into a corridor pen the farmers let the kangaroo back out to pasture, where it happily hopped away.

"I only took a few quick snaps because I was working at the time but I couldn't believe I managed to catch one which was so perfectly timed," Mr Ireson said.

"The other guys I was with have been working with sheep all their life and had never seen anything like it before, and it was a one-off for me too."