Sheep and cattle dogs have long been praised for their work ethic on Australian farms but now a new challenge has been set up to demonstrate their endurance and show how valuable they are to farms.
The Cobber Challenge has been set up and will test eight working dogs across the country in their natural environments.
The dogs have been fitted with a GPS collar and their activity including kilometres travelled and speed will be logged for three weeks.
Two New England farmers have dogs entered in the challenge- Armidale’s Jeremy Grills with two-year-old Tammy and Delungra’s Matt Ehsman with his seven-year-old dog Minute.
Ehsman said the value of his dogs can’t be underestimated and believes they can get through the workload of four men.
"It saves a lot of time and effort plus it handles your stock a lot better so the biggest thing with handling cattle and sheep is how to handle them right so there is no shrinkage,” he said.
"The best thing about dogs is when they are well bred and under control quite well is they are always in position and always know how to handle the stock even better than we do at times.”
Ehsman breeds and trains his own dogs and said he put Minute forward for the challenge for his ability to work in a team with up to three other dogs to get the job done.
Many farmers have elected to use vehicles to move sheep and cattle over the last few decades but Ehsman said a team of working dogs can get the job done more efficiently and place less stress on stock.
"When everybody was using horses and dogs all the time, the horses got you from A to B and the dogs did all the work, where nowadays people are doing a lot of stuff on the bike so sometimes they lose that 'stockability',” he said.
"With that as well, the cattle are running a lot more and when they are running they lose shrinkage and that can cost you a lot more dollars in your pocket than what you think it can.
"When stock is handled right, it can save you a lot of money.”
Grills agreed with Ehsman and said working dogs can access some of the tough New England terrain vehicles couldn’t.
“You can’t get the buggy in some of this rougher country so you wouldn’t get the job done without a dog,” he said.
“We’d be lost without a good dog like Tammy.”
Ellen Dunger
Originally from the Blue Mountains, I spent my teenage years in the Riverina at boarding school before moving to Bathurst in 2012 to complete Bachelor of Sport Studies/ Bachelor of Communications (journalism) at Charles Sturt University. I started my career at The Blayney Chronicle in May 2015 and worked casually, one day a week at the Central Western Daily later on that year. I moved to Armidale in March 2016 to take on the role as the Northern Tablelands' sports journalist. Played a variety of sports in my lifetime including touch football, league tag, gymnastics, dance, cross country running and equestrian. Always happy to hear news and tips. www.facebook.com/ellendungerjournalist/
Originally from the Blue Mountains, I spent my teenage years in the Riverina at boarding school before moving to Bathurst in 2012 to complete Bachelor of Sport Studies/ Bachelor of Communications (journalism) at Charles Sturt University. I started my career at The Blayney Chronicle in May 2015 and worked casually, one day a week at the Central Western Daily later on that year. I moved to Armidale in March 2016 to take on the role as the Northern Tablelands' sports journalist. Played a variety of sports in my lifetime including touch football, league tag, gymnastics, dance, cross country running and equestrian. Always happy to hear news and tips. www.facebook.com/ellendungerjournalist/
