Abattoir and feedlot buyers are supplying sheep to local yard dog competitions to ensure events continue running in the dry times as a surge of city-based and junior competitors boost membership numbers.
Fire and drought forced the cancellation of the Southern Tablelands Championship at Taralga this month and the Nimmitabel trial on February 1 but the NSW Yard Dog Association still has another 50 competitions scheduled to go ahead in 2020.
Despite the seasonal conditions the association's membership base has risen by 25 per cent in the last two years and the number of junior competitors under 17 has also grown.
NSW Yard Dog Association executive secretary Felicity Nolan said abattoirs and their buyers had offered sheep for some trials and there were people in host communities who were sourcing stock to make sure the events went ahead.
"We already had quite a few (trials) pull the pin because of drought...but we do still have over 50 running this year, that is still a fair number," she said.
"Obviously some of them will be pending on hopeful improved conditions, which is what I think every farmer is waiting for."
No longer are yard dog trials just a league for farmers.
Competitors from Sydney, Canberra and urban areas are sending entries to record levels while children as young as four are also trying their hand at the sport.
Sydney-based clubs like the Hawkesbury Sheepdog Trialling Club are growing in popularity offering those away from rural areas an opportunity to meet and practice together.
"Farm workers are spending more time with their dogs and putting that extra time into them," Ms Nolan said.
"The level of the dogs has improved over the last few years and we also have a lot coming in from Sydney, Canberra and people in town.
"People are just getting more involved with working dogs themselves. Most of the dogs in the city live a normal pet life and then they go somewhere and do a bit of training for trials."
Ms Nolan's children, Finley, 7, and Mackenzie, 6, have both taken up the sport.
"They go out of a weekend with their dog and they muck around in the sheep yards," she said.
"They go to a lot of yard dog trials and obviously being kids on a farm, they spend a lot of time in the yards and feeding sheep. One day they just asked, 'Can we do it?'
"We want to draw them in. These kids do spend a lot of time on farms and trial circuits, why not let them have a go and hopefully get better dog handlers on farm?"
One of the trials current stars, Greg Walton, is a preschool teacher from Mulgoa, south of Penrith.
Despite not being from a farming background, Mr Walton was always interested in dogs from the age of 10 or 12 and came across yard dog trialling on television 30 years ago.
But it wasn't until eight years ago that he started and has gone to win multiple state awards and second at the national level.
He purchased his first dogs from Kevin and Kay Howell, Karan Kelpie stud, Eugowra, and Michael Johnston, Milburn Working Kelpie stud, Woodstock, and learnt stockmanship skills.
Mr Walton now has a team of five dogs.
"There is so many city folk that are having a crack at the moment (because) they are in the same category I am, they are just keen to get out and see the country," he said.
"I encourage the general public to have a look. I think they would be surprised by what they see and what the dogs and handlers are capable of."
The first trials of 2020 in NSW will get underway on February 8 at Oberon and Rydal.
Oberon Yard Dog Trial organiser Ian Rutter, who is assisted by Peter Armstrong, said 300 to 400 Merino wethers were usually needed for the competition but if they became desperate there were a large number of crossbred sheep in the district.
He said the competition was getting bigger each year with 76 dogs entered in 2019.
"You can't work stock any more efficiently than having a working dog," he said.
"You buy the dog once, you do the training and you have got it for life. It doesn't have a sick day, no superannuation or workers comp. They are just happy with a bowl of kibbel. You can put them into the roughest of country and they handle it."
Jay Weston organised the Snowy Mountains Yard Dog Trial in December and while it was only the second time it had been held it attracted more than 100 dogs.
Lucy Kinbacher
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
