A five-month-old Border collie bitch has sold for what's believed to be an Australian record for a pup, at the second Central West working dog auction, held at Blackall on Saturday morning.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Co-vendor, Rolleston's Marty Addy was still shaking with disbelief at the sale's conclusion after the AI-bred pup, Addy's Snip was knocked down to well-known Rockhampton breeder John Pointon for $23,500.
Snip is from the first Australian litter by Welsh sire Red Spot and is a full sister to the three 4.5-month-old pups sold by Addy's Working Dogs at Rockhampton for an average $15,666 in April.
All four pups are the progeny of a full sister to last year's Rockhampton Working Dog Sale top priced dog, Addy's Lucy, which fetched $23,000.
Mr Addy and partner Emma Sutherland manage Bandanna Station and said they'd watched videos of the pups' sire Red Spot and his progeny for a couple of years and liked their natural ability.
Bids for the lop-eared pup were up to $6500 online before the auction opened at the Blackall Showgrounds, held in conjunction with Blackall's 150th show celebrations.
The rest of the bidding was between people in the stands and a phone bidder, and came down to a northern NSW bidder and John Pointon.
Mr Pointon said they'd looked at the pups on sale at Rockhampton via video but preferred Snip's intensity and the way she seemed to search for the sheeps' heads.
"We wanted a head-hunting pup, not a heel biter," he said.
Along with liking her shorter coat, Mr Pointon and Prue Howard bought the full brother to Snip's mother, Addy's Skye at Rockhampton last year and so know and like the genetics.
"And Snip appears to be a bit leggier than the others, a nice travelling pup," Mr Pointon said.
They will start the pup and hope to trial her before breeding her to US semen.
Immediately after the sale they were approached by breeders present asking if they could reserve a pup from their new purchase.
"We're happy, we got what we came to buy," Mr Pointen said.
The auction-topping buyers last year topped the inaugural sale as vendors, selling Jack for $16,000.
Sale principal Beau Frame said they were very happy with the success of Saturday's sale, which saw 16 lots sold under the hammer for an average of $5437.50.
The inaugural sale topped at $16,000 and averaged $4000.
"Dogs with plenty of breeding were definitely sought after today, and good working dogs also made good money," he said.
Three lots received no bid during the sale and seven were passed in when they didn't reach the reserve, but Mr Frame said they'd all been sold following the fall of hammer.
The top priced older dog was Riverside Casino, a three-and-a-half-year-old female Border Collie sold for $13,500 by Terry McWhirter from Condamine.
It's the first dog he's sold through a sale.
"I've seen the way the dog market has been going and I wanted to get into it," he said.
"But I wanted to sell a really good one, that people would recognise.
"Cass has a beautiful nature - I've done a lot of cattle work with her, and kept a pup out of her."
Her sire is Woodford Pablo and she is out of Riverside Magpie.
Mr McWhirter said he did a lot of mustering by himself a lot of the time and without quality dogs, he'd be lost.
"The best thing about selling Cass is that she's gone to a good home," he said.
Riverside Casino was purchased by Parker Land and Cattle at Monto.
Eight lots were sold online and 15 lots had online bids.
- Selling agents - Frame Rural Agencies, simulcast on AuctionsPlus
ALSO READ:
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
