Matthew Johnson breeds the kind of dogs “that would die for you”.
His kelpies are among the best in the country, often fetching big prices at auction, and he’s worked them every day and tested their mettle as a farm manager on properties at Fingal, Westwood, Cressy, and more recently Rupertswood at Hagley.
Such is his reputation with Pandara Kelpies, he is the longest serving brand ambassador for Cobber dog food, and not only nominated the winner of this year’s Cobber Challenge Champion Earl and owner Alex Johns from Fingal property Malahide, but he put up a special prize – donating a 10-week-old pup, valued at $1000, to add to the $3000 cash and copious amount of dog food the winner received.
Pictured here with another pup from the litter, Pandara Brock, Matthew recounts the journey Tasmanian kelpies have made to international recognition.
Champ Earl rules
Pandara pups have sold for up to $40,000 once trained and the biggest prize paid for a kelpie in Australia was close to $50,000, so receiving a pup from fellow farmer Matthew Johnson as a prize was the icing on the cake for Cobber Challenge winner Alex Johns and his now famous working dog, Earl.
While the winner could have been from anywhere in Australia or New Zealand, and being based on kilometres travelled, it would be reasonable to expect one of the big interstate properties would produce the winning combination.
However Matthew was thrilled to see the title snared by someone from the Fingal Valley and he’ll be able to catch up with his pup, Joey, from time to time, possibly even at one of his dog schools.
Plus he’ll have to learn to keep up with Earl.
Bred by Mr Johns out of two of his best dogs, Earl is a perfect example of how important working dogs are in many livestock operations.
Mr Johns said Earl is a true all-rounder and tries his hardest whether he is working sheep or cattle.
During the Cobber Challenge Earl and the other competing dogs from across Australasia were fitted with GPS tracking collars each day to record how fast and how far they travelled.
Throughout the 21-day competition, Earl travelled an amazing 1343 kilometres.
However, it was Earl’s speed which helped him end up at the top of the leader board.
Earl had an average speed of 14.1 kilometres an hour, making him the fastest ever Cobber Challenge competitor.
Mr Johns said it was surprising to look at the end results.
“I was more surprised with his speed,” he said.
“The amount of kilometres probably wasn’t as surprising because we do a lot of work with the dogs, but the speed is what surprised me. I knew he was quick, but I didn’t realise he was that fast and he kept it up for so long.”
Mr Johns said working on a large property like Malahide, which has about 48,000 sheep and about 4500 cattle, means there was always plenty of stock work to be done.
While he may not show it, Earl is partially blind after an accident last year when he ran into a piece of wire which damaged one of his eyes.
Matthew also nominated the first ever Cobber Challenge winner seven years ago, Brad McDonald, who at the time was working on the same farm as Alex.
“When I won the Cobber Challenge in 2017 with my dog Flo, Alex was working alongside us so to see him and Earl bring it home this year, it’s a really special moment,” said Mr McDonald.
“Alex has done a great job with Earl and it’s a credit to him. Earl is a great working dog and he got some great numbers this year.”
“These kelpies are dogs that know how to do the miles, they’re the type of dogs who will die for you and go all day – and they love it too,” Matthew said.
The pup he chose as the prize he said will be no exception having come from one of the best sires in Australia.
“He came out of a litter of 10 and I kept two for myself,” Matthew said.
“I know he was going to use the Challenge prizemoney to buy a new pup, so it’s nice to know the family can now use that money for something else.”
Matthew has been demonstrating his working dogs at agriculture shows and will feature at Westbury this weekend, followed by Circular Head, Breem Creek and Bushy Park.