The champion farm dogs saving Aussie producers hours of work

One of the most valuable tools on the farm

On sheep and cattle properties across the country, a good working dog is one of the most valuable things on site, saving hours of labour and taking the heat out of moving stock.

At the farm dog championship at Sheepvention, in Hamilton in Victoria's Western District, the best of them are put to the test. One of the toughest trials in the state, its course squeezes a full day's work into a single run: penning sheep, boxing two mobs together, pushing them up a race as if to drench them, drafting off a set number, then loading them onto a truck and easing them back through a gap in a fence.

Every run starts on a perfect 100, and the judge docks points for each mistake along the way.

Joe Spicer, who describes himself as one of the country's biggest working dog breeders, bristles at the idea that trial dogs are a breed apart.

"A trial dog is just a farm dog tried to a high degree. It's exactly the same," said Spicer. "All these dogs are doing work day to day on farm, so they're all farm dogs."

The most underrated workers on the farm

What surprises newcomers, Spicer says, is not the scoreboard but how much the dogs actually do.

"People just don't realise how amazing these dogs are and what they can do, and how much time they save you," he said. And it is not only the hours saved. A good dog settles stock and takes the friction out of the whole job.

The best dogs work by persuasion rather than force, managing stock by teaching them rather than harrying them.

"They make it easier by slowly educating the stock. If they go the right way, the dog will take the pressure off," Spicer said. Done well, it lets the handler lead from the front rather than chase from behind, "pretty much the Pied Piper."

Calmer stock, better welfare

That control pays off most in the yards. A dog that can hold sheep quietly and tightly means they can be drenched, vaccinated or drafted without a chase.

"It's actually quite safe for the animals, because they don't have room to move and get hurt," kelpie breeder and Victorian Farm Dog Championship organiser Josh Latty said. “Less pressure on the stock, and less on the handler.”

Breeding the next generation

The competition is also where the future of the national working dog line is shaped. The dogs that perform here become sought-after sires and dams. "They become the genetic nucleus, the seed-stock for the rest of the working dog population," Spicer said, whose business runs an online auction of about 20 dogs at a time, from fully trained animals down to pups around six months old, alongside training clinics and stock work.

Latty treats a trial as the ultimate test bench for his dogs. It is next-level control on the same jobs a dog does at home, and a way to learn what an animal is really made of before breeding from it.

"It helps us make decisions on breeding, because we've tested the mind and the abilities of these dogs to a higher level," he said. What he is chasing is not just obedience but character, how deep "that ability and that heart and that try" go.

More than a competition

For all the competitiveness, the people are why many keep coming back.

"It's a great community, great sport, very welcoming, and it doesn't discriminate," said Latty, who reckons anyone prepared to put in the time will get results.

 "The most important thing when you're competing is to have a good time and enjoy the moment," added Spicer. "It's a sport. We're not playing for sheep stations."