Very sad to report we lost Mustard not long after she went back to work after weaning her pups. She was a great character.
I don’t have many photos of Mustard, she was bred by Kevin Noble in S.A. and came up here as a youngster when his work situation changed. She’s a full sister to Nakara by Wills….error in pedigree, should be BD Sam II. Mustard has a fair bit of eye and was a bit ‘sticky’ but has grown out of it now, and can work a mob nicely. She’s been working cattle up at Mt Larcom with the Zeimers and is still a work in progress but definitely a keeper. I took some film of her shortly after she came up to Qld when I showed her to Arthur Crumblin.
I asked Emma to describe her work: ‘Mustard has a good walk up and is patient enough to hold her position until the stock walk off her. She’s a tough bitch and can take a fair knock and come back like it was nothing. She’s a fairly dominant bitch that can handle a fair bit of pressure from the handler. Reads her stock well and doesn’t hassle the lead.’
January 2025
Those of you who read the December blog might have noticed I was already in ’25! That’s what the Christmas panic does to me. So lovely catch up with friends and rellies, I hope you all had the same, and here we are heading into a new year full of hope and possibilities…and good health, I hope!
Emma and Frank and Rose came down for a few days after Christmas and we tried to sort out some pups and young dogs. One of the highlights was young EmmaMcKeon, a Sid x Mina girl, she’s beautiful! Sid is by Gibson and it’s great to see his line carrying on so well… but we suspect Mina might be a rather special stud bitch and it’s possible she’s highly influential. Our euphoria didn’t last, sadly, a couple of others were a bit harder to start but Em’s endless patience paid off.
Sun managed to whelp on Dec. 29 so just squeezed them into the 2024 puppies, I think approx. 40 for the year. She has six lovely pups to Jack and is proving a perfect first time mum.
Jack got hooked up on barbed wire yesterday while mustering and his future as a sire is doubtful at this stage, so hoping for a nice dog pup to run on from the four in this litter. Clover is also in pup to him, and I collected a small amount of semen last year when I took Gibson for collection. Gibson died not long afterwards. I urge people to get some pups if they think they have an outstanding youngster because you never know how long you’ll have them. NB Fortuitously had a visit from a lovely vet as I was writing this, she came to see the dogs. After a close look at the photo of Jack’s damage she said he should be OK if he keeps peeing!
Due to a change in employment Wayne Lucas has let me buy Snooker back, he’s a lovely leggy young dog by Gibson from Livvy. As both parents have since died I’m delighted to have him. Wayne has been using him on big mobs of sheep and is impressed by his calm, sensible work with few commands. He’s done a fair bit of droving out west and it’s been a great start for him. He’ll be mated to Koonamara Quaint(Speedy) next week. Karmala Glock(Snooker) x Koonamara Quaint(Speedy) This is the pedigree.
Karmala Glock/Snooker (Karmala Gibson x Karmala Livvy)
Midnight surprised us all, pleasantly this time, with three bitch pups by Cruise born on Dec.10! She was retired but had to have the last say, as usual! They’re doing well, a good sized litter for her last one(?!) Tentative names…Moonlight, Starlight, Twilight… perhaps Gloaming would be better!
McKenzie’s litter by Sid are doing well, she tends to put more into herself than into the pups, unlike her sister Mina! The pups have taken a bit longer to really take off, but are well on the way now and were a delight to watch playing with Frank and Rose. The top two photos are of Cruise x Naka pups.
A few years ago I had a nice litter of ten bitch pups, Killili Tap x Koonamara Nitro(xWills). Needless to say they weren’t conceived here as I’ve never had all females born! My favourite pup had a big white chest and I asked the lovely buyer to let me know if she decided to breed her later. In due course a dog pup went to the same buyer, another outcross, Sheps Joaker x Sass; a big blue/tan boy who was eventually mated to Spring and we now have two of the pups named Juice and Justice! Click on “40” for vid of pups. Not a fan of fawn/tans because of the coat quality of most, but if he turns out as nicely as his dad he might get lucky…to a b/t bitch with a very good coat! Thanks to Jess for rearing them so nicely.
I think that’s all the news for now, you’re all caught up!
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