National Yard Dog Championships and National Kelpie Field Trial Championships 2024

Report by Nan Lloyd
Photos by Nan Lloyd and Karyn Buller

The Australian Yard Dog Association Championship was held at Mobrup Polo Ground 10th – 14th of April 2024. The National Kelpie Field Trial and the Australasian Open Field Trial was held at Binnaburra farm, Kellerberrin 17th – 21st of April 2024.

History in the making. Aoidh Doyle and Whisper Snip winning both the Australian Yard Dog Championship and The National Kelpie Field Trial Championship.

Its has been six years since WA last ran the National Yard dog championships and National Kelpie Field Trial. In 2018 The yard was run at Dinninup showgrounds and the Kelpie trial at Ken Athertons property at Arthur River.

Our Yard and Utility Committee decided that we would have fresh sheep for every competitor in the National Yard dog Championships. This was a tall order and we received more entries than expected so needed to find almost three and a half thousand sheep, a difficult task due to falling sheep prices and ongoing drought, however thanks to the Stretch family in Mobrup we were able to do this.

The Mobrop Polo Cross grounds was chosen for the venue which was near Stretchs farm. The sheep were mustered daily, counted out, drafted, sorted and moved back and forward across the road each evening, by our small band of helpers.

Two large holding yards were built, one across the road and another at the trial grounds, to hold all the sheep. It all went without a hitch.

It has been a difficult dry year here in WA, so we were lucky to obtain such a large number of sheep.

There were 79 entries in the novice and 104 in the Improver/Open.

The novice sheep were mainly red tag ewes. The most difficult section was the long yard from the race to the draft. If the dog did not cover, the sheep broke back a long way and it was hard for the dog to pull them up. The rest of the course worked quite well.

In the Open, mixed age wethers were used and they were tricky, splitting and breaking when they could, mainly in the gathers. The truck was added to the course and this caused the most difficulty. Getting the sheep into the force for the truck was hard going for some people. The draft worked quite well, with some sheep balking about entering the race.

The venue and facilities were very good, and food at the canteen served by the Mobrup Polo Cross club was excellent, keeping us all well fed (Especially the vanilla slice).

The West Aussies did well, with Karyn Buller placing third in the Improver, Rod Forsyth sixth in the novice, Ken Atherton eighth in the open and Allan Dunn placing 10th in the Championship.Novice.

Novice Judge was Nan Lloyd from York. Improver/Open and Championship Judges. Rod Cavill. Vic and Lyndon Cooper. SA

The next event was the National Kelpie Field trial championship. This was run at Binnaburra near Kellerberrin.

The Kelpie trial was last run there in 2012. WA also ran an Australasian trial for Collies and unregistered Kelpies.

Novice and open were run in conjunction and there were 15 entries. Both events were won by Simon Leaning and Marionvale Di.

For the Kelpie trial there were 59 entries in the novice and 86 in the Championship. It was dry and dusty and much warmer than usual for this time of the year, so this caused a few headaches, especially for the final when the temp rose over 30 degrees.

The sheep were two year old wethers. They flowed quite well through the yard with the odd jam up in the draft and a few breaks at the gather. However outside they were not easy, choosing to split and run wherever possible, and refusing to settle for most dogs.

The gap was the first obstacle and this caused the most problems. There were very few pens, and those who penned were generally the ones in the placings.

History was made at these two trials with both events won by the same dog and handler. Aoidh Doyle and Whisper Snip from Victoria who put up some amazing runs to take out both the Australian Yard dog championship and the National Kelpie Field trial. This has never been done before. A fantastic effort.

West Aussies were once again in the mix, with Simon Leaning taking out the Novice Kelpie trial and Gordon Curtis 5th in the same event.

In the Championship Nan Lloyd was second and Ken Atherton was fifth. Judge for the Australasian was Richard Mcguire from Kojonup. Novice Kelpie field trial Judge was Nigel Armstrong from Woottatting. National Kelpie field trial judge was Grant Cooke from Grass Valley.

There were some great examples of stockmanship, and spectators enjoyed lots of action. Sportsmanship and camaraderie was great, with most people encouraging their fellow competitors through some tough going. It was a great social event, with a huge shed for meals and drinks, where most of us gathered in the evening to talk through the days events.

Our small Yard and Utility committee did a fantastic job in organizing and running these two national events, having started with planning well over a year ago.

We heartily thank our many sponsors particularly Hypro dog food, We would be unable to run these events without their generous sponsorship. Also thanks to Midland stockyards for delivering a full set of yards all the way to Mobrup for the yard event.

It was wonderful to see so many eastern staters make the trip over and hope to see many of them back here in six years time.

It was great to see Barbara Cooper make the trip to WA. Barbara helped judge the best type Kelpie, assisted by the Carlon twins, Mandy and Sandy.


Australasian Finals

National Kelpie Field Trial Finals

Australian Yard Dog Association Champions


National Kelpie Field Trial Championship replay:

Adrian Carpenter – Wyanbah Monster Kevin Howell – Karana Roy IV Nan Lloyd – Kumbark Lexi
Aoidh Doyle – Whisper Snip Gary White – Whites Billy Ken Atherton – Ramulam Prickles
Gary White – Whites Broke    

National Kelpie Field Trial Novice replay:

Adrian Carpenter – Wyanbar Monster Tony Overton – Gwydir Zeva Simon Leaning – Marionvale Woody
Adrian Carpenter – Tumutvalley Sue II Gordon Curtis – Binnaburra Chloe II Rod Cavill – Tundabardi Mate
Rex Hocking – Washpool Tabitha    

2024 Stretches Novice Event – Judged by Nan Lloyd

 HandlerStateDogScore
1Kevin HowellNSWKarana Ned V178
2Bree CludmoreVICRoustabout Cherry166
3Adrian CarpenterTASKararooka Meg165
4Steven WilkschSAJones Rose162
5Adrian CarpenterTASBamma George156
6Rod ForsytheWAYarralonga Forrest86
7Kevin HowellNSWKarana Spud IV85
=8Mandy CarlonNSWBallydine Hank84
=8Gary WhiteNSWWhites Albert84
10Tony OvertonNSWGwydir River83

2024 Cooperative Bulk Handling Improver Event Judged Lyndon Cooper and Rod Cavill

 HandlerStateDogScore
1Tony OvertonNSWGwydir Zeva136.5
2Gary WhiteNSWWhites Pint128
3Karyn BullerWABoonining Turbo127
4Kevin HowellNSWKarana Ned V108.5
5Rex HockingSA Washpool Genie72.5
6Mandy CarlonNSWBallydine Brook72
7Tara HerbertWAMarionvale Tess56
8Tanya deBijlWARamulam Secret55
9Mandy CarlonNSWBallydine Abby46.5
10Gordon CurtisWABinnaburra Marvin40.5

2024 Midland Stock Yards Preliminary Open Event

 HandlerStateDogScore
1Darren JenkeSAGameon Cheeky154.5
2Bree CudmoreVICVera Slim153.5
3Simon BowdenTASFouroaks Butch152.5
4Dean IncherNSWHulk151.5
5Rex HockingSAWashpool Felix151

2024 Hypro Premium National Yard Dog Championship

 HandlerStateDogScore
1Aoidh DoyleVICWhisper Snip166.5
2Dean IncherNSWRafa154
3Mitch JubbVICHopkinsriver Karma149
4Tim Hall TASHilton Park Dusty148
=5Dean IncherNSWHulk142.5
=5Lee MickanSAWaramara Joker142.5
=7Darren JenkeSAGameon Cheeky141
=7Bree CudmoreVICLarnach Moana141
9Bree CudmoreVICVera Blue137.5
10Bree CudmoreVICVera Slim114.5
11Allan DunnWAGogetta Thor107

Australasian Championship: Sponsored by Livestock & Land
Novice Event

 HandlerStateDog
1Simon LeaningWAMarionvale Di
2Grant CookeWAPendalup Gilbert
3Tara HerbertWAMarionvale Morton

Open Event

 HandlerStateDog
1Simon LeaningWAMarionvale Di
2Grant CookeWAPendalup Gilbert
3Grant CookeWAGrassvalley Bluey

National Novice Kelpie Field Trial date 19th April 2024 54 dogs
Judge Nigel Armstrong Mundaring WA

 HandlerStateDogScore
1Simon LeaningWAMarionvale Woody127
2Adrian CarpenterTASWyanbar Monster113
3Adrian CarpenterTASTumutvalley Sue II91
4Rex HockingSAWashpool Tabitha78
5Gordon CurtisdWABinnaburra Chloe71
6Rod CavillVICTundabardi Mate68
7Tony OvertonNSWGwydir Zeva57
8TonyOvertonGwydir Georgina36
9AdrianCarpenterBamma Alf26
10KevinHowellKarana Pixie II24

National Kelpie Field Trial Championship 21st April 2024 Working Kelpie Council 76 dogs
Judge Grant Cooke Grassvalley

 HandlerStateDogScore
1Aoidh DoyleVICWhisper Snip122
2Nan LloydWAKumbark Lexi117
3Adrian CarpenterTASWyanbar Monster114
4Gary WhiteNSWWhites Broke106
5Ken AthertonWARamulam Prickles80
=6Gary WhiteNSWWhites Billy57
=6Kevin HowellNSWKarana Roy IV57
8GordonCurtisBinnaburra Marvin46
=9GordonCurtisBinnaburra Buzz45
=9GaryWhiteWhites Albert45
=9BreeCudmoreMarista Zoe45

Interstate Challenge for the Australian Yard Dog Championship.

 StateTeamScore
1NSWDean Incher & Justin Tombs291.5
2TASSimon Bowden & Tim Hall291
3VICBree Cudmore & Aoidh Doyle 265
4SALee Michan, Joker & Gus 258.5
5WANigel Armstrong & Allan Dunn 166.5
6QLDCallum Storey & Errol Gill 103.5