By KATRINA BRANDON
OFFICIALLY calling the Boolarra Recreation Reserve home, the Berryden Working Sheepdog Trials celebrated another round of talent.
A few years ago, the South Gippsland Working Dog Group, which helps run the trials, lost one of its founding members, Jean Moir, who was also the owner of the farm in Berrys Creek where they had practised and trialled.
Seeing that the group needed a new venue, they took shelter at the reserve, where this year, it became official that they could “set up shop”.
As part of the Victorian Working Sheep Dog Association, the South Gippsland Working Dog Group continues to hold trials, helping to upskill and socialise their four-legged best friends.
The South Gippsland Working Dog Group is a non-profit community group dedicated to fostering the safe, efficient, and humane handling of livestock by educating stockmen, farmers, and dog owners in the effective use of working dogs. The group has been supporting the development of good working dog training and handling for nearly 20 years. It is affiliated with the Victorian and Australian Working Dog Associations and has members from all over the Gippsland region.
From November 14 to 16, the trial held in Boolarra commenced, seeing about 80 participants taking to the track. The trials took place on the ‘secondary’ cricket field at the reserve, where dogs had to twist and turn sheep through a race, into a pen and through fences, all within a 15-minute timeframe.
“The object of the trial is to collect three sheep from up the other end of the ground and bring them down to yourself at the casting pen, then complete the course through the gap, the race and the bridge, and then you pop them into the pen, and you have 15 minutes,” Korumburra’s 70th annual Sheep Dog Trials winners Irene Kelly explained.
“Points are taken off for each misdemeanour, such as going outside the working area of each lane or going around the pen. It’s not easy.”
Ms Kelly showed impressive results with TK Portia at the wet and miserable Korumburra Sheepdog Trials the week before, and looked forward to the trials in Boolarra.
“I started trialling about 15 years ago,” Ms Kelly told the Express.
“My dog Portia is my second good dog, and I had one before that. She’s been going quite well lately.
“Some sheep are just pretty hopeless, but if the dog is quieter, it’s easier for them to settle. But when the sheep are running, it is basically impossible to get them settled.”
The sheep at the trials have never worked with dogs before, so they are unsure of what is going on or what they are supposed to do.
Going into the trials, border collies and kelpies are typically the favoured dogs to work with, as they usually have great talent and instinct for reading livestock, whether it be sheep, cattle or ducks.
People come from far and wide for trials such as the Berryden Sheepdog Trials, with some even hailing from out of the state.
This year, sheep were unpredictable and not so easy to work with, resulting in a good trial with only a select few making it through the course.
