Peta and I started our life together approximately 18 years ago on a large sheep and cattle property called “Retreat Station”; I went there as a stockman and Peta a month later as station cook. We eventually married, started a family and now have 2 girls Jayde & Christie. The girls play a big part in raising our pups and are learning how to work dogs.

Retreat is situated on the banks of the Barcoo River near the township of Windorah in western Queensland and is around 350 000 acres with a mixture of country from Open Downs and River Channels to Spinifex and Mulga to rough jump up country . It runs approximately 27 000 sheep and 2000 head of cattle and with stock work lasting up to 10 months of the year, it was great experience for both myself and my dogs. While working here I learnt the true value of working dogs for both their labor saving ability and their ability to handle large numbers of difficult stock for long periods in some of the hottest and hardest country I have worked in.


about_us_002\

Since leaving Retreat we have managed various types of properties ranging from smaller more intensive fattening and background enterprises to larger pastoral stations.
We are currently managing a property Northeast of Dunedoo in the Western Slopes district of NSW. The property is approximately 3000acres and is producing fat lambs, fine wool Merinos, Hereford cattle and a verity of crops including oats, wheat and canola. The intensity and country type is ideal for working dogs, we are always moving stock either from paddock to paddock or to the yards.

The smaller undulating paddocks are ideal for teaching dogs to caste long distances and the thickly tree covered granite ridges teaches our dogs to work on their own with quiet control. The dogs get a large variety of work most weeks and can work cattle and sheep in the paddock, then sheep in the yards all in one day. They do this quietly and efficiently with little fuss. As with all the properties we manage, stress free stockman ship is very important to us. It is a proven fact the quiet controlled handling of stock increases production and saves labor, both of which help to improve profits to the businesses we run. This is made a lot easier to achieve with the use of our dogs


As well as using our dogs for working sheep & cattle in both the paddock and yards, we are able to attend a couple of sheep dog trials a year, Peta & I find this sport both challenging & enjoyable. It also helps to keep our dogs trained to a high standard and is a credit to the Border Collie to be able to all types of farm work one day and compete in trials the next.

We have been selecting and breeding high quality Border Collies from some of the best bloodlines in Australia and the UK for the last 15 years, these dogs need to have a high work drive, intelligence, strength and stamina for yard and mustering work as well as the right temperament to be able to handle the intensive training for trial work. With the the first of progeny from our imported dogs starting to go to work, we are very excited with the direction we have taken.