DOB 8/10/22
Click above for pedigree
I was very lucky to have the opportunity to buy Speedy. She was bred by Kevin Noble, sadly no longer with us. Kevin and I chatted many times and I sent Wills down to mate a few of his bitches after realising it was unlikely I’d be willing to sell a bitch he liked! He was very fair with me as to service pups and I got Nakara first up, then paid very fair prices for a couple of others including Nitro when he wanted to cut back on numbers.
Kevin mated his favourite bitch Koonamara Lara II to Karmala Skitch(Boss) and kept Quaint as his choice before becoming ill. He asked his friend Peter Chibnall if he’d like to take her, and some time later Peter very kindly offered her to me, saying she was a bit too stylish for his Aussie Whites. He also said she was the best natured Kelpie he’d come across!
I’d seen Motley’s Russell work in the NKT at Allora years ago and when Remy was out at Gerar Stn she was mated to him and Ron Robb kept Skip, one of his favourites and a great worker, if not a good looker! I persevered with a few Russell g’pups but they all had bite on sheep and went to work cattle…John White mentioned to Ron that Tex was the guilty one… so when Peter said she’d never shown any sign of biting I was very keen to try her. One our nicest bitches, Naka, is out of Lara by Wills, which was the seal on the deal. Naka’s been retired from breeding due to ongoing health problems from an earlier illness, so it’s nice to have that connection to Kevin’s dogs ongoing.
Speedy click for video
September 2026
Little change in the rainfall from last month, maybe a total of 15 mls which vanished very quickly. These beds of pickling onions opposite the house have been irrigated, they will be sold under the Three Rows brand… now you know why. A little further towards Nobby I noticed a large area of crop is being worked in to conserve moisture and Fertiliser I suppose. 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.
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(she isn’t the handler or the owner…) so I could see what she was like, and for a bitch with so little opportunity I was very impressed with 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.
Yesterday, Sept.2, Vamp whelped to Sharon and Selwyn Brown’s Gilee, five lovely healthy pups 2F, 3 M. None for sale at present.
Mina and Naka are each expecting 7 any day now.
The Holdem Gossip boys have dispersed to new homes, Griff (LHS)has headed for a life of luxury at Burleigh Heads, next is Gough/Maverick; Jody says he’s very smart and knows his sides already! Grifter/Buster(RHS) is with Wayne Squire at Tingha… and Gaffer, green collar, with Nikki Cleary near Warwick.
The two girls are still here, Greer(purple collar) is staying and Gayle heading out to Augathella mid Sept. The other girl went down to Alison Paas near Wallaroo. Ghabi(pink collar) settled in very quickly, she said.
A few years ago John Fabiano visited wth Guy Hull and took some photos of the dogs. He operates as “Wags around the World” and has won awards for his work. This week I received a copy of his first book, Working Dogs, and am pretty chuffed to star in the first chapter! It’s a great book and available here in Oz from Red Kangaroo books, Alice Springs. These two appeared in the book, John took the others of Guy, which I love.
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