A two-year-old working dog that got in close with cattle and "had presence" sold for a price at Ag-Grow yesterday that some thought was a bargain.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Billeric Troy was bought for $5500 by Keegan Green, Springsure, and was one of seven dogs in the Ag-Grow Working Dog Sale organised by Will Hogan, GDL.
Dave and Wendy Moxon of Billeric Working Dogs, Bundaberg, sold Billeric Troy, which was described as biting from the back and front and an "easy dog to have around".
He was sired by Bob n Co Rocky, out of Billeric Gemma.
Mr Moxon, who has been breeding working dogs for his own use for the past 18 years, said Troy was a "pretty handy" dog and the sale price of $5500 was good money.
He said he rarely sold his dogs and reckoned Troy was on par with other good working dogs he had bred and owned over the years.
Mr Green, who has a trade steer operation running about 2000 steers, said he used working dogs and had four before his two purchases at the sale.
![Top selling working dog, Billeric Troy, with buyer Keegan Green, GDL's Will Hogan and vendor Dave Moxon at Ag-Grow. Picture: Judith Maizey Top selling working dog, Billeric Troy, with buyer Keegan Green, GDL's Will Hogan and vendor Dave Moxon at Ag-Grow. Picture: Judith Maizey](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/217645017/82975f5e-9384-41e9-ae11-dcf046f8b2ed.JPG/r367_170_3646_3028_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
He also bought Will and Danni-ann Hogan's dog, Potluck Blaze, for $3000.
Mr Green said he hopefully got a bargain with Billeric Troy, but he would have to wait and see.
He said what attracted him to buy the dog was that "he was in close on the cattle, he could bite a head, he could turn them back, he could move them".
"There was presence and that was more what I was looking for, a bit of presence, but not biting all day," he said.
Mr Hogan said there were quite a few dog sales around at the moment which probably explained why there were not a lot of buyers around.
"There was not a big number of dogs (at the Ag-Grow sale) which was probably a bit limiting, but we just tried to supply good-going, work dogs for central Queensland, which is in the heart of cattle country.
"I think there was value buying...with some of those dogs, but as we know it's getting a little bit dry...and the cattle market is on a little bit of a slide at the moment, and interest rates are up, so everyone's just had to tighten their belts a little bit.
"We still got some reasonable results and I'm sure the purchasers would be happy with what they got."
As to the other sales, a station bred dog, Dodge, put up by Antony Mulder was passed in: McGhee's Tuff from Phil Gruber fetched $3000; Double S Roy put up by Tim and Skye Stewart was passed in at $2500; Pointo's Jack sold by Bob McGhee got $1500; while a second dog, Potluck Rosie, offered by Mr Hogan, that was in pup, managed $3500.
Mr Hogan said a major factor in the popularity of working dogs was because it was hard to get farm workers these days.
"People can see the value that good working dogs can add to a business especially when it's hard to get labour," he said.