Thomas Woolford with winning dog, Mac.
Galong now calls a new hero home following a successful championship in South Australia. Their reward? Riding shotgun alongside their human companion all the way
home.
Thomas Woolford, who many would know from Bobbara Station in Galong recently saw his star kelpie, Mac, take out the top spot at the Australian Yard Dog Championship with a total score of 150 points from his first and second run.
Thomas, formerly from Young, works with his dogs on a 10,000-acre farm, which houses approximately 20,000 sheep and 1000 cattle. Without his dogs, he says it would be impossible to carry out his daily tasks.
“They’re in the yards, in the paddock, loading trucks, there’s a lot of work,” he says.
“We’ve got a lot of mountain country out here; there’s not much flat [area].
“The dogs do a lot of thinking for themselves and they do anything; they do all the work.”
This is just for the flock work alone. The dogs also tackle cattle work, mustering, yard work and loading trucks.
“These dogs could do up to 50 kilometres a day in running and chasing sheep around,” says Thomas.
“It doesn’t matter the weather, they’re outside and it could be 40 degrees or raining, cold and muddy, and they’re still outside doing that job that they love.
“There are no breaks for them, they just get into it, and I think they would be sad if they didn’t work the sheep every day.
“They love their job, and that’s what they are bred for.”
Kelpies are naturally inclined to participate in tasks such as these, farming though, is taught and learnt through years. It’s a lesson Thomas learnt early on after transitioning from his chippy trade of 13 years.
“I used to be a builder and carpenter and changed it all, and I absolutely love it,” he says.
“I got a full-time job on a farm and got into trialling three years ago.”
Thomas’s hard work has clearly paid off with two of his dogs taking out a win in the National Championships.
Four-year-old Mac was Thomas’s first puppy he has ever bought and trained up. The kelpie has certainly done him proud, taking out the championships. Another of Thomas’s kelpies, Pip, took out the Novice Award.
The Australian Yard Dog Championships occur across four days, and Thomas certainly had a big four days himself with five of his furry competitors chomping at the bit to show what they’ve got.
Kelpies were the most popular breed who attended, he says, however, there were also several border collies also competing.
Although Thomas – a novice himself with only four years of agriculture work under his belt – didn’t have the years of experience behind him that several other competitors had, Mac and Pip’s training sessions paid off.
“I trained Mac for the past two and a half years to get him to where he is,” says Thomas.
“I’ve got a bit of a trial set up at home and do the little one percenters in the trials to help me, because work is really different than trialling.”
Like farmers, work dogs also reach a point where they deserve a solid retirement. For Thomas, he says there certainly comes a time when they deserve to have a good rest.
“You can always tell when a dog’s had enough, and that’s normally 10 to 11,” he says.
“Their mind is still going, but their body just won’t let them do the things they do.
“When I retire my dogs, they can do whatever they want. They can lay around the yard and enjoy their retirement.
“I haven’t got that far to be at that stage with my dogs, but they’ll enjoy their time off when they’re done.”
Kelpies, he says, hit their prime at age five or six.
“[Mac] has got plenty of good years left in him, and he’s a bloody handy work dog and an even better trial dog,” he says.
Because of Mac’s stellar performance (and subsequent win), he will be proceeding straight to the Australian championships. Should he perform badly in his heat, he will be given another chance at the Top 30.
“We’ll go and give it a good crack this year,” says Thomas.
All of his competitors were treated with a big feed after their trials with lots of meat, although Mac got the seat of pride (front, passenger seat) on the ride home as an extra treat for a job well done.
“You’ve got to take care of them like the tools they are,” he says.
“Without them, I’d be stuck at work.
“You’ve got to look after your dogs, because if you don’t, they won’t want to work with you.”
Overall, Thomas says he is incredibly proud to see his late nights and early starts in the training yard paying off. Luck, he says, was also on his side as a rookie picking out a puppy.
“To get such a good dog for my first time, I got pretty lucky with him,” he says.
“I’ve got a good young team coming up, so hopefully we’ll be travelling for a while and get some more successes.”
Thomas’s partner, Chloe has also begun participating in the trials, turning their championships into a family event.
– Elizabeth Kovacs
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