Karmala
HERITAGE KELPIES
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The stud is situated about 40 km south of Toowoomba near the historic village of Nobby, famous for Rudd’s Pub; here Australian writer Arthur Hoey Davis, better known as ‘Steele Rudd’, wrote some of his well known Dad and Dave stories. The old house where he lived is just down the road from Karmala.
Established at Lake Bolac in the Victorian Western District, the move to the Downs was made in 2001 when Jan ‘retired’ from farming. This move necessitated an adjustment in breeding emphasis to suit the Queensland market’s demand for dogs that can work cattle as well as sheep.
2020
All the Karmala sires I am using have tested clear for CA. Top row, Brock, Landy, Wills.
All bitches have also tested clear of CA or are bred from clear parents.
There’s a lengthy CA discussion in the May 2020 post.
Foundation dogs were chosen from lines of clever mustering dogs and sires are generally chosen from dogs performing well in testing conditions. This is very important, as there is insufficient work on a small property to fully assess dogs.
October 2024
Crops are extremely at the mercy of planting times this year, The early sown ones really suffered from the very hot week at the end of August and are almost ready for harvest, but others, especially on the heavier ground(top), are looking well after recent rain.
I’m also wondering if the weather has affected the way the bitches are cycling…or rather, not! A couple have started and stopped, Sun(pic below) hasn’t come on heat yet and is about 18 months old. Ah well, I’ve been saying for years that my life is at the whim of hormonal bitches. When I made this remark to my lovely neighbour who is a midwife she replied, “Guess what Jan, so is mine!”
Meanwhile the last litter of pups by Keswick Coin from Sass are leaving for their new homes. Michael chose Edie(Edith Piaf) as his service fee, Trevor Page(Anntree Kelpie Stud) has Jolie and little Ami will stay here.
The boys have been slower to sell, as usual, but are also gradually going. Yannick, Hugo and Lucas have left and I’m just sorting the enquiries for Henri and Jules…this is the litter born on Bastille Day in Paris Olympics year, hence the French names.
The two Sid x Mina keepers Kyle and Emmy, decided to climb out of every pup run I tried to keep them in so are now disgusted to be in kennels! They’re lovely pups and I’m really looking forward to seeing them work.
This is Kyle(Chalmers) in a stand off with Siggy over a dead bone! He also managed to move a big bit of 4″x4″ I had covering a missing board and escaped…
This is the gorgeous Emma McKeon, better known as Eminem. Other siblings below.
Ariarne, top, has gone to work sheep at Injune, and Kaylee to Julia Creek to work cattle where she’s know as the Diva! Many thanks to the lovely family who gave them both a lift north.
Not a great deal more good news for September. I lost Livvy in August to a small brown snake that got into the run through a hole dug under the snake mesh by antechinus(native mice) which I didn’t discover until later, of course( and only found out because I took some photos of a kestrel who was eating one!). There were four bitches in the run so lucky to only lose one.
My kind neighbour dug a good deep grave down on our boundary, but sadly the smell brought in wild dogs and there was another massacre of sheep. There’s a pack over Greenmount way but no-one seems interested in doing anything about them. Seven sheep are OK, the ram had a mutilated hind leg but his hamstring was OK. He’s fine. Another ewe badly bitten across both hams is recovering but nervy as… and a young wether that was also attacked last year is badly damaged, hind legs plus a hole into his chest cavity over his withers which is very slow to cover over. The three are eating huge amounts of lucerne chaff! I’ve been spraying them with colloidal silver, cod liver oil and manuka honey after shots of LA antibiotic. Four were killed, plus the ram lamb.
Amazing how nature heals, the ram is almost mended. I would have liked to trim off some skin but he wasn’t keen!
I’ve been keeping the dogs out of the big run until I sort the holes but saw them on the hunt around a trough in the other run last week. I’d filled it that morning so the brown was a bit dopey, thank goodness. Managed to locate some more black bird mesh so will get busy.
I reluctantly sold Karma(Barney x Naka), I think she’s probably Naka’s best pup to date but isn’t as settled in her head as we like for brood bitches. Chevy has done a great job with her and her work is getting there…
Poor Howie has been traumatised by the frogmouths screaming at the three local butcher birds who were getting too interested in their nest…about time the eggs hatched…? I scared them off with a few shots and not sure what frightened him most, but he’s been doing strange things like trying to climb through a square of ringlock! When I released him he went off up the road and stopped the school bus by sitting midroad, then he bit through hayband I had tying a gate shut and let the sheep out. They seem to have learned a lesson at last and didn’t go far. Here he is with little Ami who is learning his flight zone!
We had 30 mls last week it seemed to vanish in a couple of days, but the plants enjoyed it. This is the display at Sister Kenny Museum in Nobby for the anniversary of the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers.
See you next month!
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