Hypro Binnaburra Yard & Utility 2025

Report Nan Lloyd
Images Karyn Buller & Jess King

Northern District sheepdog club hosted the final Utility trial for the year, held at Binnaburra near Kellerberrin.

The weather was mostly pleasant, but nights and mornings were chilly and on the last day a freezing wind made things a little unpleasant.

There were record entries for the event, so organizers had no choice but to combine the novice and open utility to allow the trial to finish in time. This has never happened at a utility trial in WA.

Great to see some new competitors and also some older ones coming back to the sport.

The sheep were black tag wethers, well grown, with plenty of energy. Outside they were difficult to settle and could run far and fast.

If they decided to jump the fence it was hard to change their minds. Quite a few runs came unstuck when one or all of them went over the fence. They usually escaped when trying to get them into the holding pen near the yards, or bringing them out again to do the paddock section.

In the yard they worked quite well, generally flowing around the course. However, the first gather caused a few issues, when the sheep faced the dogs and would not turn.

For a new challenge, and for the first time at a Utility trial, a Maltese cross was added to the course. This was run under Trans Tasman rules but without the drive section that precedes the cross.

It was good to try something different, and most people worked it quite well. It took a little longer to complete the course, so there were not many pens for the trial.

As usual the evenings were spent around the big Diesel “Woofer” in the large shed, catching up on the latest news and comparing dogs.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to the judges.

---

---

Novice Utility
Judged by Ken Atherton
Ken judged by Nigel Armstrong and Hayden Harries
(105 points)

Place	Worker	Dog	Score
1	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Marvin (K)	89
2	Grant Cooke	Grassvalley Gilbert	86
3	Shelby Harries	Just Coke	79
4	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Chloe (K)	72
5	Karyn Buller	Boonining Turbo (K)	70
6	Grant Cooke	Grassvalley Palmer	59
7	Ivan Solomon	Perangery Trish	48
8	P Roberts	Lady (K)	47
9	Neal Eastough	Easties Ziggy	46
10	Richard McGuire	Yarralonga Boss (K)	43

Novice Yard
Judged by Ken Atherton
Ken judged by Nigel Armstrong and Hayden Harries
(45 points)

Place	Worker	Dog	Score
1	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Kipper	40
=2	Neal Eastough	Easties Bo (K)	38
=2	Nan Lloyd	Kumbark Pocket (K)	38
=2	P Roberts	Lady (K)	38
=2	Nigel Armstrong	Yarralonga Arrow (K)	38
6	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Chloe (K)	34
7	Neil Whyte	Yarralonga Buddy (K)	32
8	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Pete	30
9	P Roberts	Dollar (K)	30
10	Jess King	Westgrove Brock	29

Improver Yard
Judged by Simon Leaning
Simon judged by Nigel Armstrong and Hayden Harries
Final Judged by Richard McGuire
(100 points)

Place	Worker	Dog	Score 1	Score 2	Total
1	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Scotty (K)	88	94	182
2	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Marvin (K)	88	89	177
3	Allan Dunn	Barkervale Mate (K)	86	88	174
4	Neal Eastough	Yarralonga Ziggy (K)	83	90	173
5	Neal Eastough	Easties Bo	83	75	158
6	Tara Herbert	Marionvale Tess (K)	88	66	154

Open Yard
Judged by Simon Leaning
Simon judged by Nigel Armstrong and Hayden Harries
Final Judged by Richard McGuire
(100 points)

Place	Worker	Dog	Score 1	Score 2	Total
1	Nigel Armstrong	Yarralonga Opal (K)	96	96	192
2	Karyn Buller	Tarworri Clancy (K)	94	95	189
3	Gordon Curtis	Kumbark Scotty (K)	88	94	182
4	Allan Dunn	Gogetta Thor (K)	88	93	181
5	Tara Herbert	Marionvale Morton	90	90	180
6	Hayden Harries	Waterlea Tas	89	89	178
=7	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Marvin (K)	88	89	177
=7	Hayden Harries	Just Buster	90	87	177
9	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Woody (K)	89	87	176
10	Allan Dunn	Dunns Chopper (K)	85	90	175
11	Allan Dunn	Barkervale Mate (K)	86	88	174
=12	Rod Forsyth	Yarralonga Forrest (K)	88	85	173
=12	Neal Eastough	Easties Ziggy	83	90	173

Open Utility
Judged by Ken Atherton
Ken judged by Nigel Armstrong and Hayden Harries
Final judged by Nan Lloyd
(105 points)

Place	Worker	Dog	Score 1	Score 2	Total
1	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Marvin (K)	89	78	167
2	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Di	87	77	164
3	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Prickles (K)	88	74	162
4	Grant Cooke	Pendalup Gilbert	86	70	156
5	Hayden Harries	Just Buster	78	60	138
6	Karyn Buller	Boonining Turbo (K)	70	57	127
7	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Fella (K)	63	56	119
8	Shelby Harries	Just Coke	79	LS	79
9	Ken Atherton	Ramulam Laydee (K)	76	RTD	76
10	Gordon Curtis	Binnaburra Chloe (K)	72	RTD	72
11	Simon Leaning	Yarrabee Jack (K)	70	LS	70
=12	Grant Cooke	Grassvalley Palmer	59	–	59
=12	Simon Leaning	Marionvale Woody (K)	59	–	59

---

---