Lamb Production

Wagga auction’s top dog Tash sells for $8500 + VIDEO

Terry Sim, May 6, 2019

KELPIES sold for up $8500 at the annual Wagga Yard Dog Club Auction at the weekend, with demand reflecting buyers’ budgets in a difficult season and the level of destocking on properties.

At a new venue at Euberta, auctioneers, Elders’s Joe Wilks and RMA’s James Tierney sold 26 dogs for an average of $4460.70, which was just over $70 more than last year’s result, but the top price of $8500 was well below the 2018 record result of $12,800.

Three dogs were withdrawn and 11 dogs, mostly younger dogs, were passed in as vendors’ reserves failed to match the budgets and judgment of some bidders.

Top-priced Tash had a good work ethic

McDougall’s Tash.

The top-priced dog was Lot 40, Geoff McDougall’s six year-old black and tan Kelpie bitch McDougall’s Tash, which sold to Wagga lamb producer and lot feeder Ben Robilliard. Mr Robilliard said he liked Tash’s work ethic and her working background.

“I liked the way she is a no-fuss worker.”

Tash will be used in his lamb feedlot and across Robilliard Ag’s 10,000 ewe first cross flock.

Tash was described as a high energy yard dog with the ability to back long distances, including to the top deck of trucks. Mr McDougall said she is very good at moving goats when aggression is needed and her 13 pups from two litters had turned out to be good honest station dogs.

Other top prices in the auction included the $8000 paid for Brad Pellow’s two year-old Kelpie dog Fred. Neale Taylor’s 3.5 year-old Kelpie bitch Lucy also made $8000.

Ben Coster’s two year-old Kelpie dog Kraken Cash was sold for $6000. Cameron Reid’s four tear-old black and tan Kelpie dog Mac also sold for $6000.

Club president Matt Whitley said the auction was “hard enough” with many producers short of cash after spending to keep stock alive during the drought.

Wagga Yard Dog Club secretary Simon Hartwich said the effect of some producers having spent more than $100 a head keeping sheep alive during the drought showed during the auction, with vendors’ expectations often not met by what bidders were prepared to pay for some dogs.

“Those people who have destocked don’t need to go out and buy a dog, do they?”

After the $25,000 top price and national record for a Kelpie at the Jerilderie Working Dog Auction in February, Mr Hartwich said the Wagga vendors had set “solid reserves” with organisers often having to follow-up underbidders to finalise sales after bidding stopped just short of reserves.

“It was a combination of the money that buyers had to spend and also the expectations of the sellers.”

Auctioneer Joe Wilks said the auction was very tough, despite having one of the best lineups of dogs for several years.

“Locally and further abroad we have 30-40mm of rain and we thought everything was going to be good, and a really good crowd, but no flow of bidding.

“A lot of people have reduced their livestock numbers through the drought, so they are not that confident about paying $5000-$6000 for a working dog while they don’t have a lot of stock to work with, I suppose,” he said.

There was avery high calibre of dogs at the auction, but it was a buyer’s market.”

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