Karmala Merino and Working Kelpie Studs

The Karmala Working Kelpie Stud was relocated to Queensland from Western Victoria in 2001. It is now situated at Nobby, about 40 km south of Toowoomba.

Only a small nucleus of bitches" is retained for breeding so that a high standard can be maintained.

My aim is to breed sensible dogs who can work naturally and cause their owners as few headaches as possible. I have no time for very excitable, stock-crazy animals. They must value their relationship with their handler to a high degree and want to please in their work. Highly respected Kelpie breeder, John White, wrote recently in the WKC newsletter:
“I always select a dog that is friendly, wants to be with you, to work as a team with you. You can tell those characteristics at a fairly young age.” I couldn’t agree more.

I like dogs that can work with a little distance off their stock when young, and are happy to hold when they have them balanced. They should also be capable of firing up when required for yard work… I don’t guarantee that every pup will comply exactly with this description, but some do, judging by this email received recently entitled ‘Zen and the art of sheepdog handling’…..

“The experience of working her is exactly the opposite of any other I have had with kelpies. It is veritably tranquil; I can hear the wind blowing and the birds chirping instead of myself yelling and screaming obscenities…. it is akin to zen!”

In the last few decades, with the increasing use of bikes for mustering, some old kelpie traits are starting to disappear. Many dogs are now used mainly for yard work, and backing, barking, full-on kelpies are in the majority. I prefer an all-round dog that retains its heading instinct, has some eye, and is capable of mustering difficult country. With this in mind, I have sought sires with bloodlines that have been proven in hard conditions where brains and stamina are essential.

I have accessed old Kelpie families through the Karrawarra and Riana studs and I am very grateful for the help I have received from these experienced stud masters.

Tony Parsons (Karrawarra) was responsible for seeking out and preserving Kelpie bloodlines after the fiasco of two World Wars, during which many ‘studs’ disappeared. His books on the Working Kelpie are an invaluable record of these dogs and are collectively known as ‘The Kelpie Bible’.

Arthur Hazlett (Riana) founded his stud on Karrwarra dogs and is one of the few Kelpie breeders of recent years who has finessed the fine art of line breeding. Outside dogs are rarely introduced, and as a result his dogs are defined in type and prepotent.

Because I have little real work for my dogs these days, I try to ensure that any young dogs kept for breeding are tested in the real world. I have been most fortunate in finding some very kind, like minded stockmen to help me do this, and can’t thank them enough for their efforts. It surely proves their dedication to the Kelpie breed. With cooperation like this, and by working with a loose group of breeders who are looking for the same type of dog, I hope to preserve those Kelpie traits that originally made the breed such an invaluable asset.

I am just back from a huge drive up to far North Queensland, out to Mt. Isa, and home through Longreach. A friend was reviewing Natural Resource Management groups and I just tagged along and helped a bit with the driving. It was wonderful to see so much of this huge and beautiful state and to see it looking so well…it was so green and lush up the coast and even from Longreach home. What an anti climax to return to my parched paddocks!

As seems to be the habit with me, something good is usually cancelled out by the opposite… I had only been home two days and lost Riana Quill to a snake. She was a lovely bitch and had only two litters here.

On a brighter note I have been fortunate enough to obtain Riana Finch as a stud sire. He has been breeding very well over a variety of bitches, stamping his class on all his pups…it’s seldom a dominant sire such as Finch becomes available.

Karmala Rook flew out to Broken Hill and has really struck it lucky. He is now the fortunate companion of Stewart Oates who has bred Drovingmate Stumpy Cattle Dogs for many years with his wife Michelle. Stewy and Michelle made the big trip up here from Menindee mid October, and it was good to meet him and see what a great job he’s done with Rook. We did a day trip up to Oakwood so they could see the country and David Hart’s dogs. It was a pleasure to move a big mob of his well broken weaners, and Rook took to cattle work like the proverbial duck. Stewy took Brand, Qing and Finesse home with him; he assures me he has plenty of time now he’s ‘retired’ for working pups, but he’s also building a home on their block on the Darling River.

Delta whelped to Akubra on Sept.22 and has a good litter of 6. She has settled down into a good mum although she appears at my side the moment she thinks there’s any sheep work on. Four of these pups are slightly longer coated than usual, a legacy of those Collie genes of old, no doubt.

Gift has only one bitch pup to Glide, so I’m afraid those who have pups booked from the mating are out of luck. I’m hoping the reason is a rather late mating, but only time will tell. Meanwhile I will be keeping this pup in case Gift’s breeding life is almost over. She has been a wonderful brood bitch.

Driving up the coast: the blue background of the Great Dividing Range, the green of recently harvested sugar cane, and the narrow railway for the cane trains that follows the highway. The strip of land between the mountains and the sea is packed with cane, no wonder the Great Barrier Reef is threatened.

Cane fires and the Mulgrave River, south of Cairns. Burning cane is becoming much less common.

Camels, descended from those turned loose by the Afghans after the rail link was built, are now popular for eating the prickly acacia pest... here seen near Mt. Isa.

Young weaner cattle from Gulf stations are heading south before the wet. This big mob was near Longreach.

Riana Finch(Riana LohtiXRiana Spin). A class act.

James Oates holding Karmala Rook(left). His dad Stewy has a bit of fun with Akubra(r).

These are big, productive sheep with quality wool, and can reduce the micron in stronger flocks without loss of cut… and increase production in finer flocks without increasing micron. This is stated with confidence based on the results in clients’ flocks over many years.

At Karmala micron, quality and production are the chief selection criteria. The infusion of finer genetics from Rockbank has given a finer ewe base and more elite-woolled young sheep.

An AI programme using Nerstane 43 in 2004 produced a nice lot of young ewes one of which went on to be Supreme Exhibit at Toowoomba and Goondiwindi in 2006.