Karmala

 HERITAGE KELPIES

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The stud is situated about 40 km south of Toowoomba near the historic village of Nobby, famous for Rudd’s Pub;  here Australian writer Arthur Hoey Davis, better known as ‘Steele Rudd’, wrote some of his well known Dad and Dave stories. The old house where he lived is just down the road from Karmala. Established at Lake Bolac in the Victorian Western District, the move to the Downs was made in 2001 when Jan ‘retired’ from farming. This move necessitated an adjustment in breeding emphasis to suit the Queensland market’s demand for dogs that can work cattle as well as sheep. 2020
All the Karmala sires I am using have tested clear for CA. Top row, Brock, Landy, Wills. All bitches have also tested clear of CA or are bred from clear parents. There’s a lengthy CA discussion in the May 2020 post.
3 sires Foundation dogs were chosen from lines of clever mustering dogs and sires are generally chosen from dogs performing well in testing conditions. This is very important, as there is insufficient work on a small property to fully assess dogs. Healthy puppies grow into healthy dogs...these pups are already sharing their mother's food. Matt's team IMG_3493 Mel&Gcr

September 2026

Little change in the rainfall from last month, maybe a total of 15 mls which vanished very quickly. I used to buy about $2k of lucerne hay to feed in winter after finding it a better bet than  putting in oats to graze. So far this year I’ve paid $28, $30 and $38 per bale for lucerne hay! Thank goodness I only have 8 sheep to feed!

The warmer winter is confusing the birds, they seem to be a few weeks ahead of their usual schedule. The wrens are very hungry and getting very quiet, here a little female wonders what rain is.

The refining of stud bitch numbers has continued. Valli has gone to Chris Stone who has Solomon(Gibson x Sun), and she was happy to work some of his weaners next day. They trade a lot of cattle and he said Sol can be a bit random at times but doesn’t let anything get past him… we sold him because he heel bit a lot when he started but Chris says doesn’t do that now! He was really pleased to see me again but then saw the sheep and couldn’t take his eyes off them. Click on “28” for vid of Valli and Sol. Valli’s wondering what these big ‘sheep’ are and decides to go in for a nip…hopefully not too many before she realises it’s not a good idea.

28

Exciting news that Karmala Viv/Nette is in pup(TCI) to Gibson and expecting six pups, end of Sept. Janet Watson owns Nette and was up in Queensland for scenting competitions recently, she competes with her three dogs, the others are Max the Jack Russell and Ottie the Border Terrier. They had a great time hooning around here after the long car trip up from SA. Janet has given Nette the chance to work sheep so I could see what she was like, and for a bitch with so little opportunity I was very impressed at her calm natural work and acceptance of conflicting directions! We have few of suitable pedigree to mate to Gibson so I was grateful when Janet agreed.

Karmala Viv/Nette(Karmala Vlad/Barney x Karmala Clover II) second time on sheep.

 

 

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