Wannon farmer Ben Jeffery with his Kelpie, Skyblue Jack. Photo / Hamilton Spectator
Wannon farmer Ben Jeffery with his Kelpie, Skyblue Jack. Photo / Hamilton Spectator
The Kiwis may have kept their stranglehold on the rugby silverware this weekend but it was Aussie dogs all the way in the first Transtasman Cobber Challenge.
Victorian Kelpie Skyblue Jack took out first place in the unique competition to find the hardest working dog across Australia and New Zealand.
Skyblue Jack's owner Ben Jeffery, Leading Hand at 3200-hectare farm in Victoria's Western District, could not be prouder of the 2021 Cobber Challenge winner.
"I'm in awe of my dog," Jeffery said.
Six-year-old Skyblue Jack mustered sheep for drenching; checked up on lambing ewes and showed his owner ones that needed help.
He also shifted sheep and cattle on to paddocks with more feed.
With Jeffery's boss unable to get back to Mepungah Pastoral because of border closures, Jeffery, Skyblue Jack and his kennel mates had to step up to get all the stock work done.
Those circumstances gave Skyblue Jack a leg up in the competition and saw him clock a Cobber Challenge record of 1012.6 kilometres over the three-week period.
Jack and Jeffery were out every day to record 87 hours worked and an average speed of 11.59km/h.
That's an average of just over 4 hours and 48km a day.
"Jack's happiest when he's working – I even had to hold him back on a few days to make sure he still had plenty in the tank.
"He is thriving. It's like my dear friend and stockman mentor used to say, 'Take an old dog for a hard road'."
Skyblue Jack trained hard for this year's Cobber Challenge, after a fight with another dog left him just months before the competition.
Once healed, Jeffery gradually rebuilt Skyblue Jack's stamina by taking him on nightly runs.
"I love my dogs; I couldn't do my job without them. And I knew with Jack, that I cracked a great bloodline so it's been awesome to put him to the test and capture just how hard he works," Jeffery said.
Skyblue Jack was among 12 working dogs from across Australia and New Zealand competing in the 2021 Cobber Challenge.
Victorian Kelpie, Skyblue Jack, did plenty of work with sheep and cattle over the three-week Cobber Challenge to win the title of Cobber Champion. Photo / Hamilton Spectator
The three-week competition saw dogs from each state wear GPS collars to track their distance, average speed and working duration on farm.
Now in its sixth year, the Cobber Challenge organisers were thrilled to invite Kiwi farmers and their dogs to compete for the first time.
Cam Clayton and his Heading Dog, Pine, are the top ranked New Zealand team.
Clayton was amazed by the distances Pine travelled during winter months, a quiet period on the sheep and cattle station near Ashburton in New Zealand's South Island.
"I believe Pine would be right up there in the top, giving them a good run in the summer," Clayton said.
Fellow Kiwi competitor Peter Aitken from Otago agreed that it was eye-opening to see how far his dog Spark travelled.
Kellie Savage, competition organiser and Cobber Marketing Manager, said the Cobber Challenge acknowledged the invaluable contribution working dogs made on Australian and New Zealand farms every day.
"Our farmers always tell us that a good dog is worth at least a few workers. They don't just provide a safer, more efficient work environment, but there is an incredible mateship between farmers and their dogs."
