The 2026 auction lineup, from left, Casterton Kelpie Association president Karen Stephens, Paul Macphail, Teresa Purcell with Flea, Ellie NcDonald with Stella and auction chairman John Matthews.

A LIFELONG dedication to Kelpie type and working ability was vindicated with a dominant sale result for Welshpool stud Beloka Kelpies at the 30^th Casterton Working Dog Auction on Sunday.

Beloka principal Paul Macphail became the only breeder to sell the top-priced dog and pup at a Casterton auction twice, when he sold 22 month-old Beloka Stella II to stud breeder Ellie McDonald for $23,500 and six month-old Felicity (Flea) to Victorian farmer Teresa Purcell for $20,000.

In the 2024 Casterton auction, Beloka Kelpies sold a bitch to the father of Australian boxer Mitch Leek for $20,000 and Mitch bought a Beloka pup for $9000.

Auctioneers James Tierney and Bernie Grant sold 52 of the 59 dogs and pups offered in the 2026 AuctionsPlus-interfaced auction for an average price of $9194. Keen interest in trained dogs was apparent, with more than a third making $10,000-$23,500.

Beloka has sold top-priced dogs at Casterton several times over the years, a sale consistency Paul Macphail puts down to breeding true-to-type Kelpies that work properly and presenting them well at auctions.

“They’ve got to have that natural ability to work and hold sheep outside; I can’t tolerate dogs that can’t hold sheep.

“Also type; I’m pretty particular about good physical type – a good head and ears – and generally just good loyal dogs; friendly dogs that are onto you,” he said.

“I always take dogs that I would like to keep myself; I take dogs I really like and I think it’s a premier working dog auction and I would want to buy this dog because I really like it.”

Paul said the socialisation and correct handling of Kelpie pups from eight weeks of age to five months is critical to their behaviour and obedience later in life.

Paul and his partner Anneke Homan, and a couple of sons run sheep and cattle on about 700 acres in south Gippsland, and the couple run at least one working dog training clinic a month during the year, mostly in Victoria, but also in South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania.

Next month the couple travel to Belgium for the first time to hold a clinic for Kelpie handlers, but Paul has also done clinics in the United States and the United Kingdom. Every year for the past 30 years they have run the popular Beloka Sheepdog Trials at Welshpool that attracts dog owners from rural and metropolitan Australia.

“So we can do the miles without going anywhere,” Paul said.

Ellie McDonald runs the Hopea White and Black Suffolk stud with parents Andrew and Paula at the family’s mixed sheep and cropping property at Dadswell’s Bridge, home of the infamous giant koala.

“We’ve been wanting to get a good dog for a few years and because I don’t have a massive amount of time to full train a dog, and the ones we have are just, it’s about time we get a good one.

“I went through the catalogue to pick any dogs that I like, and all but one were Beloka dogs,” she said.

“I liked the look of his type; they’ve got to look like a Kelpie to me, and they’ve obviously got the work attributes as well.”

Stella’s price was well over her budget, but after watching the demonstrations, Ellie said the bitch was the “the best one by far.”

“I wanted a bitch because we’ve only got bitches here, so I really didn’t want a dog, and she was the top pick.

“I don’t think we would have gone much more, but when you think about it, you’ve got to pay a casual worker $50,000-$60,000 a year so she is going to make my life a hell of a lot easier with my sheep, it’s a pretty good investment when you look back at it, but at the time it’s a bit scary.”

Ellie said it has been a good year of lamb and ram sales, and with the current good season, the family is looking forward with more confidence after two years of feeding sheep.

Teresa Purcell farms sheep and cattle at properties at Warrayure and Bessiebelle in south-west Victoria.

She did bid on Stella earlier in the auction, but opted to focus on Flea.

“One or the other was definitely coming home,” she said.

“Stella was an amazing bitch, but I did pull out of her because for me, Flea had a bit more gumption about her.”

Teresa also bought Beloka Bloke as a pup at a previous Casterton auction about nine years ago and he is still working.

“He does everything except open a gate.”

She said she likes the breed style of the Beloka dogs.

“Paul does an amazing job with them – I love the reliability; I know regardless of age and regardless of how they demonstrate on Sunday, they never cease to please.

“I know they are bred to work and they are going to come home to work.”

She owns other Kelpies and Border Collies, but believes a dog must be able to work in the yards and in the paddock, and work in a team and solo.

Se full auction results on the AuctionsPlus website.