LOWER sheep, cattle and goat values have been reflected in reduced working dog prices at the annual Jerilderie auction at the weekend.

But a four month-old pup still sold for $19,000 and a young first-timer made several thousand dollars towards restoration of his first ute.

Some sales are being finalized after the Jerilderie Working Dog Auction on Saturday, but Elders auctioneers sold 40 of the 53 dogs offered under the hammer for up to $22,000 and an average of $7725, about $3000 under the 2022 result.

Son of last year’s top dog sells for $22,000

The top-priced dog for the second consecutive year in the AuctionsPlus-interfaced sale was sold by Forbes station manager Brad Pellow, with his 2.5 year-old black and tan Kelpie dog Bart. It sold for $22,000 to a repeat buyer from Wilcannia in New South Wales. Bart’s sire Harry was sold at the 2022 auction for $26,500.

Brad said Bart was bred from Capree and Karrobar bloodlines and will be working on goats and sheep at his new home.

“I just try to breed dogs that are constructive and worky.

“He’s a very good all-round station dog – he can back and bark, he can muster, and he’s a very nice natured dog to live with,” he said.

”He’s got brains, he’s just a really good dog – he’ll work cows, goats and sheep.

“Crutching, shearing, unloading trucks, it doesn’t matter, that’s the type of dogs I’m trying to breed.”

Brad said Bart and his other dogs played a valuable role in saving thousands of sheep when flood waters threatened Jamie and Kate Barclay’s recently.

“We wouldn’t have done it without them.

“We walked ewes with little lambs through flood water that you would never normally shift,” he said.

Co-organiser Andrew Rutherford said there was a correlation between the drop in commodity values and the dog prices.

“Roughly speaking, sheep, wool, cattle and lambs are all back 25 percent on what they were last year and that was reflected in the dog prices.”

There was also an expectation from some vendors for prices above what buyers were prepared to buy and some sellers were caught out by the inability under AuctionsPlus rules to drop their nominated reserves during the auction, he said.

“We had to pass those dogs in and we sold quite a few after the sale.”

Backing and barking machine Dolly was the stand-out sale

Mr Rutherford said all types of good trained dogs were in demand, from sheep-shifters to quiet outside dogs.

“But probably the stand-out sale of the day was the second last lot, the little pup (Drovers Dream Dolly) that $19,000.

“That was a little backing barking machine.”

Dolly was offered by repeat vendor Adrian Allbut from Bathurst.

Up-and-coming dog trainer, eight year-old Tommy Lee from Edenhope sold his five month-old dog pup The Lees Echo for $5500. Tommy’s father David also sold two year-old Gypsy for $14,250, but said Echo was the first dog his son has trained and sold. Echo was bred out of Tommy’s trial bitch Jazz.

“He’s done about four or five trials and has got a few seconds and thirds.”

David said Tommy was motivated to sell a pup to pay for the restoration of his first ute – a HZ Holden one-tonner.

“We’re getting it done up and he wants a chain steering wheel and bucket seats and he wants this colour and I said pull up here, you’ve got no money.

“Then he ducked off and came back an hour later and said ‘Dad, I’ve got a few pups here and he said I’m going to put one of my pups through (Jerilderie) so I can get what I want and I don’t have to listen to you – so that’s how it has come about.

“He said I’m going to put Echo through because he’s a natural little pup and all I’ve got to do is get a call off on him, and everyone knows he’s a pup.”

Auction co-organiser Warwick Doolan said there were not many dogs suited to cattle in the catalogue, although the few offered sold well by comparison to the sheep dogs.

“Basically, it was a buyers’ market, anything that was in short supply sold well,” with a definite preference for dogs willing or trained to bark.

“The more bark, the more money.

“It really was a sale where anything off the peak in quality was really brought back into line on value.”