World record broken for a Border Collie at Rockhampton working dog sale

Lot 64, Cabra Glebe Liz, sold for $40,000, surpassing the current Guinness World Record for a working Border Collie, a dog in the UK named Kim, which sold for $38,893 in 2021.

Liz was presented by Joe Leven of Cabra Glebe Working Dogs from Casino, New South Wales, and was purchased by James and Helen Parker from Monto, Queensland.

The 21-month-old collie was sired by Woodford Jack and from Shannon Brooke Handford's Goldie.

The Parkers were repeat buyers having purchased the Leven's former Australian record breaker, Cabra Glebe Glebe Sid, in 2023 for $33,000.

Liz is a litter sister of Cabre Glebe Jenny, who reset the Australian record earlier in the day at $38,000.

Buyer James Parker said Liz was their pick of the sale as she reminded him of Sid.

"He's been everything Joe said he was and everything we hoped for and more," he said.

"He's a brilliant dog, just the way he works and respect he gives to cattle, but he's still got a lot of strength."

Last year the Parkers also bought a full sister to Liz from the Leven family called Silver, who had also proved herself.

"I've been watching my wife work these two for the last 6 to 12 months and they really suit what we want and the way we want to work cattle," Mr Parker said.

He said he would have loved to have purchased Jenny too, but at the end of the day it came down to the fact Liz was more like Sid and Silver.

"Jenny is still a nice dog but she's probably a lot heavier, stronger dog, bit more bite and force, where Sid and Liz and the other bitch just have a little bit more respect and feel for cattle," he said.

"Everyone has their own preference, but Liz was just more the style of dog we were looking for."

Liz will fit into their working dog team at their Wagyu beef commercial operation near Monto where they run up to 750 breeders and breed for the feedlot market.

Mr Parker indicated they'd recently sold four dogs to try and better consolidate their team.

They already had pups on the ground from Sid and eventually planned to breed Liz.

"We're not a puppy farm or anything like they, we're just buying and breeding them for ourselves.

"We definitely will [breed her], we want to keep those genetics, and do a bit of line breeding with Sid and then cross them back out again, find a put out cross dog that we like, that's the next challenge to find something out there that suits what we want to do."

Mr Parker said he didn't expect to pay as much as he did, but he was happy to pay it and see prices say up for vendors across the sale.

"That's a nice accolade for Joe, I'd like to be on the other side of the record but maybe that could be us down the track," he said.

Vendor Mr Leven said Liz and Jenny were bred specifically for work purposes, with a strong pedigree background from both the sire and the dam, now retired from breeding.

"That's one attractive propositions with these two bitches, they are the last of a highly renowned working dog and bitch, and a really nice combination of the two," he said.

"There's no more of them, especially on the market."

Mr Leven said he liked supporting the sale as it was Cabre Glebe's milestone event for the year and a great representation of the industry as a whole.

"It's a great showcase of what working dogs can contribute to the red meat industry."

An incredible price was also paid for a pup, with lot 79 Carrdoon Della, selling for $32,000.

The five month old Border Collie female pup was offered by Gavin Carr of Carrdoon Genetics, Mundubbera.

Agents said the pup had been very impressive dog her first look on sheep and the catalogue described her as one of the picks of her littler, having been a stand-out pop from an early age.

Agents said her sire, Carrdoon Jim II, was a natural in the paddock and easy to train before he passed away in an accident and her dam Carrdoon Netty was an up and coming bitch that looked after her stock.

She was part of the only litter sired by Carrdoon Jim II.

The pup was purchased by Rob Grieve of Westwood.

In total, Ray White sold 133 of 148 dogs offered, with 75 dogs averaging $8,273, and 58 pups averaging $5,327, bringing the overall sale average to $6,988.

The clearance rate reached 88%, with gross sales exceeding $929,000.

Ray White Rural Gracemere owner Gary Wendt said it was a solid sale with a good catalogue of dogs.

"With the tops we had an the quality we had I thought it was a good sale, it could have been a tougher sale with the year the way it's gone with the cattle industry but overall I'm quite happy," he said.

"It's hard to work out what's to be expected with one dog sale a year if I'm honest. There's no other dog sale in this league at the moment just with how big it is."

Mr Wendt said there was international interest this year, however they were just trying to jump through a few hoops to be able to get the dogs to interested parties overseas in the coming years.

The agency had a large number staff members on the ground for the sale, with agents from offices from as far south as Armidale in NSW, as well as agents from Dalby, Blackall, Longreach, Charters Towers and Emerald.