Noonbarra Kelpie Stud. Kelpie adults and Kelpie puppies for sale

NOONBARRA WORKING KELPIES

We are one of Australia's best known Working Kelpie Studs. Kelpies are in our blood. The Bilson family have bred and trained Kelpies over three generations and for more than 80 years. We have sold versatile hard working sheep and cattle dogs all over Australia and right across the world.

We are a parent Kelpie Stud with our own distinct bloodline. We have sold foundation and breeding stock to many other Kelpie Studs in Australia and overseas. Our Kelpies are bred to be quiet natured, friendly all-round versatile dogs that have a very strong inherited ability to head and hold stock and to work them to the handler. Our dogs are based on old fashioned breeding coming down from the great Kalari Kelpies and going back even further to famous Kelpies such as Red Hope, Quinns Coil, King & Mc Leod's Biddy. We carry more Kalari Basil and Kalari Joker genes than any other Stud. Our Noonbarra Kelpies trace directly back over 130 years.

When you buy a Noonbarra Kelpie, you get more than just a dog. We are committed to helping you in every way to get the most suitable dog for your requirements. We are well known for our service and advice. We want every owner to have the perfect dog. After all, it is in our best interests to have our customers happy and telling other people. Our customers have always been our best advertisement!

We are very proud of the line of quality Kelpies we have developed over the years. We have always strongly believed in breeding our Stud Kelpies along specially selected genetic lines that give us superior working ability and intelligence. Our Noonbarra Kelpies are compatible with each other and that means they have a much higher degree of stability and uniformity in the progeny produced.

We have a lot of experience with Kelpies and are regarded as experts in breeding and training this breed. Stephen Bilson was a director of the Working Kelpie Council for over six years, was part of the WKC Historical Committee, and is currently a director of the International Working Kelpie Club. Mary and Stephen have written dozens of articles for Australian and overseas magazines on Kelpies. Mary is currently the secretary of the Working Kelpie Club and is co-writing a book on training Kelpies. Together, we have commercially put out a number of videos on Kelpies and are currently working on a new book and video. Our Kelpies have been featured in books and magazines and on TV.

Our Stud Kelpies have proved themselves across Australia over many years. Owning a good Working Kelpie of quality can make a big difference to enjoying your stockwork. The work can be done faster and calmer with less stress on the animals as well as the person handling them. Many farmers have commented that after buying a good Working Kelpie it was the first time they really enjoyed moving their stock. You can rely on these high performance animals to get your job done.

Noonbarra Lizzie prevents a sheep from escaping.

Temperament, intelligence and natural working ability in our dogs are our main priorities. Everything else comes well behind in importance. These clever dogs with incredible stamina and endurance are the dogs that helped Australia become one of the world's greatest wool producing nations.

Noonbarra Kelpies are bred for Work!

That is the first and foremost goal to our breeding program. All other attributes take second place. Working Ability comprises many things - it is not, as some people think, either a dog works or he doesn't. There are many different traits that make up the working ability and there are many different levels of competence in each of these traits. To make an analogy, it is like saying I can run so therefore I am the same as an Olympic track star. There is a good deal of difference in our level of competence.

At Noonbarra, we have the experience and knowledge behind us to understand what we need when it comes to working traits. This is not the case with all breeders and many breeders with just a couple of years experience don't have a true benchmark that they can assess their breeding against. That's why we often hear enthusiastic new breeders expecting to breed perfect dogs within a year or two. The older, more experienced breeders know better. It is nice to have a goal in mind but more important if a breeder has actually achieved that goal.

Some of the things we look for in our Kelpies that we breed is a lot of keenness to work, a dog that will continue to work even when tired and not give up when the going gets tough. This is important as we use that keenness in our training and we train so that working the livestock is always a reward for the dog. All the same, as much as we need keenness, we also need a dog that is biddable (obedient) and will come away from the stock when commanded. That's a dog that has a nice balance of things.

Another important trait we want, is a dog that can come right in close to stock but keep his head under pressure. A dog that doesn't get frustrated or lose his cool and become aggressive on stock. The whole idea of having a top class working dog is to work the stock more effectively and that includes moving them with the least amount of stress.

The Noonbarra Kelpies are well known to give sheep and cattle the room to move without crowding them. Too many dogs being bred today don't let up and keep forcing the stock until they break away. That is not good stockwork. Sheep in particular like to have enough room to walk away from a dog. a dog that pushes in too close will just make the sheep stand and fight and that's not what we want.

We don't like rough, loose-eyed dogs or dogs that are aggressive on stock or wildly excitable. We like to see a bit of nice style when the going is steady and we like to see a good wide break-out when going around the stock. We like dogs that have a lot of 'real' strength and can walk up calmly and confidently and not back down.

Our dogs here at Noonbarra work around 2300 Merino Sheep and about 200 First Cross sheep as well as 100 Cattle over 1500 acres plus another 300 nearby. We also do stockwork on a number of other properties in the district on various sheep breeds, cattle and goats.

WORKING NOONBARRA KELPIES IN THE YARDS

Work in the stockyards is becoming more and more important these days and Noonbarra Kelpies have been excelling in this area as well. Noonbarra Luke was a multi-western NSW Yard Champion and Noonbarra Butch was Australian National Champion and also state Champion (a feat that has only ever been done by a few dogs in history), there was also Noonbarra Kate, Noonbarra Smart, Noonbarra Gabe, Noonbarra Tina, Noonbarra Judy and many others that did well at Yard trial competitions around the country.

In the early 1980's we wanted to improve the yard ability of our dogs but we didn't want to bring in too much blood of the yard dogs of the time, who for the most part were very aggressive, barking and biting dogs without much style. So instead we remained on the old bloodlines that produced good paddock dogs that were thinkers and had a lot of style about their work and we bred slowly over the years to select certain dogs with highly developed yard skills without losing their outside paddock ability.

Our dogs are extremely comfortable on the backs of sheep and this is an inherited trait. Backing can be taught to a lot of dogs but most don't ever feel really comfortable doing it and don't do it effectively. Some are even afraid and can become fear biters. Our dogs are happy to jump across wide gaps and understand that the safest place is on the backs. When they move across the backs they know where they are going and what they need to achieve.

Maybe even more important than backing skills in yard work is the dog coming back through the sheep. A lot of other dogs won't do this at all and of those that do, many confront the sheep, bite or don't work efficiently. If the sheep get over stressed or don't move forward as they should, then the dog is not doing the work as good as it can be. Many people come to see us and some have been second or third generation on the land and have never seen dogs like ours work efficiently in the stockyards. Many don't even know what can be achieved. One good dog and one handler can drench thousands of sheep a day in the yards with no help from anyone else at all. That is a big saving on extra labour and also less stressful for the sheep handler.

NOONBARRA DUSTY III can even back freshly shorn sheep with ease

OTHER TRAITS CONNECTED TO WORKING ABILITY

There are many other important things when selecting for a breeding program besides the obvious working ability. A few years back we started a concentrated process to improve the temperament and personality of Kelpies. Now as well as that we have also started to breed Kelpies that are calmer and easy to handle.

All these things are important in a working dog. A stockman (or women) has to spend many hours each day working together with their dog and it is just not fun if that becomes too hard. A dog that is friendly and loyal and not too excitable makes everything easier for everyone.

We also think that intelligence is very important and we prefer to breed Kelpies that are not just intelligent but also are able to problem solve. We don't just want dogs that obey commands, we want dogs that can learn and understand the work we are doing and be as helpful as a second person (often more helpful). Some stockmen can send their Kelpies into huge paddocks of thousands of acres and leave the dog to find the stock and start gathering them while the stockman can do other things.

Another trait that is really essential is stamina. A good working dog needs stamina to be able to keep going. The stamina is also tied in to the build of the dog as well. The dog should be like an athlete and able to move quickly for long periods without expending too much energy.

We have sold Noonbarra Kelpie for just about every type of situation imaginable. They are working wild cattle in outback western areas and dairy cattle in coastal areas and all types of sheep in all conditions from the small hobby farm of a few acres to big sheep stations comprising many thousands of acres. They have been worked on many varieties of goats and duck, geese, pigs, and more. They have been bought by professional drovers, stockman and women, farmers, sheepdog trial competitors, truck drivers and people from all walks of life. They have even been sold for search and rescue work in the mountains of Switzerland. Families have bought them as companions and for obedience and agility work.

KELPIES AND CATTLE WORK

The Noonbarra Kelpies have been well known for their cattle work since the early 1980's. Rockybar Smart (1979) was an outstanding dog on cattle and we did a lot of contract cattle work with him. We worked all types of Cattle, from dairy breeds to mixed beef breeds to wild cattle on run-down properties that had not been mustered for years. Smart spent two years with a cattle contractor in Queensland and was one of best cattle workers and sires in the country.

Many of his offspring were also exceptional cattle workers including Noonbarra Tina who also did contract mustering of cattle for us on a number of different properties in scrub land, heavy timber, rocky hills and flat open country.

Noonbarra Gabe was well known for his ability on cattle as well as goats and sheep. Noonbarra Butch (by Noonbarra Gabe) was a very good cattle worker before he was even 12 months of age. He was filmed working cattle for a Toyota Ute T.V. advertisement when he was just a year old. There's currently Noonbarra Dusty, Flash, Megan, Sarah, Dan, Max, Jillaroo and many others that are experienced with Cattle as well as sheep.

We sell all over Australia and around the world. Our Kelpies are well known in Europe, Asia, Canada and the United States.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ON NOONBARRA KELPIES