On a sprawling cattle farm in rural Queensland, what could be some of Australia’s most valuable pups have just opened their eyes.
It has been nearly 12 months since working dog Liz started her new life on James and Helen Parker’s 4,500-hectare grazing property at Monto.
The farming family broke an Australian and world record for a border collie bought at auction when they spent $40,000 for Liz, who now musters cattle on their Wagyu station, about 500 kilometres north-west of Brisbane.
The Parker family (left) paid $40,000 for Liz at a central Queensland working dog auction. (Supplied: JEM Photography)
After adjusting to her working life and joining siblings Sid and Silver on the job, Liz is now adapting to a new role — being a mum.
“Liz fit the bill of what we were looking for in a working dog first and in a breeding bitch as well,” Mr Parker said.
“She’s just had nine pups … they’re two-weeks-old now and they’ve got their eyes open and are getting around.”
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Mr Parker said Liz is a doting mother to her six male and three female pups but is already eager to get back to mustering.
“She’s got great maternal instincts and the pups are growing really quickly … she looks after them great,”
he said.
“It’s always a bit nervous when you have a dog that you love and paid that sort of money for and haven’t got anything out of them yet.
“So it’s a bit of a relief now that we’ve got some pups on the ground and hopefully looking forward to going to work too.”
Mr Parker says Liz is worth every penny for the work she will do on his farm in her lifetime. (Supplied: JEM Photography)
Bred to rate cattle
The Parkers bred Liz with her half-brother Sid, who the family bought from the same breeder (for the lesser, but still hefty, sum of $33,000).
Archie (left) and Macey Parker proudly hold two of Liz’s pups. (Supplied: Helen Parker)
This common practice is known as line breeding and involves mating dogs within the same family bloodline.
“It has its good points and bad points … but hopefully you get more good than you get bad and we kind of feel that there’s not that many bad traits, if any, in those two dogs,” Mr Parker said.
The Parker’s children, Macey, five, and Archie, two, have already named two of the pups Arrow and Guinness.
“I’ve never seen a litter of nine pups so similar … you can barely tell them apart,”
Mr Parker said.
“They’re very even so hopefully that comes out in the way they are but they’re just pups and they’re a long, long way from putting cattle in the yard and going mustering so don’t get too excited too soon.”
Liz has special traits when it comes to being a working dog. (Supplied: JEM Photography)
Learning the ropes
Frank Finger is an expert dog handler and the season one winner of ABC TV’s Muster Dogs.
The Clermont grazier, who stole hearts during the show with his first muster dog Annie, said herding dog pups are the future of the industry.
“They’re extremely important because we don’t have to be everywhere when we’re mustering,”
Mr Finger said.
The working dog whisperer from central Queensland said learning the mustering ropes starts early for pups.
“You’ve got to wait for the instinct to come out and the little pups to work out,” Mr Finger said.
“If you breed for early starters, you’ll get them started at eight to nine weeks, but it’s only for a couple of minutes a day, just little short sessions.”
As well as Annie, Frank Finger’s other Muster Dogs Lucifer and Lucky are still part of the family. (Supplied: Stock Chick Photography)
Mr Parker said it would not be long before the nine pups follow in the footsteps of their famous mum.
“We’ll put them on sheep at about 12 weeks old … give them a look and see how they start,” he said.
“Then around eight or 10 months old we’ll start working on a quiet mob [of cattle] and just work it up from there.”
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