Aidan Curtis
CASTERTON’S Australian Kelpie Muster will once again bring people and working dogs to the region from all over Australia.
The Muster, set for the June long weekend, will bring back family favourites like the Kelpie Festival on the Saturday with dog trials and the auction held on the Sunday.
Casterton Kelpie Association president Karen Stephens said last year’s Muster was a “fabulous” event following Covid and she hopes to see people flocking into the town again this year.
“We just want as many people as possible to come to our community, enjoy the activities and get involved in everything we have on offer,” Ms Stephens said.
“We have plenty of trade stalls, plenty of food up and down the street on the Saturday.
“Then, of course, the Sunday is our serious business where we get into the Working Dog Auction with trials starting at 9:30am and the auction at 3pm.”
Ms Stephens said there were some issues in sourcing a convener for the auction, but that problem has now been solved.
“Like any community organisation that has volunteers, volunteers come and go and people move into town and move off again,” she said.
“It’s probably a daunting task for some people, but we put the word out to get somebody to come in and be the convener, and we had one of our local stock agents who said he was happy to do that.
“And we picked up a number of other volunteers along the way, so that’s good as well.”
She said the one question on everybody’s lips was wondering what would be the highest price dog to come out of this year’s auction.
“It’s the 27th Australian premier Working Dog Auction this year, so plenty of water has gone under the bridge there and we’ve sold over $3.6 million worth of working dogs in that time,” she said.
“So $36,200 is the highest price dog we’ve sold back in 2021, which is quite an incredible amount to get for a working dog.
“We sold 58 dogs last year at auction, and we sold four over $20,000 – the highest price dog last year was $27,000.”
Other events to keep an eye on at the Muster include the Kelpie High Jump, the Kelpie Dash and the Poets Breakfast.
The Australian Kelpie Muster will kick off on Saturday, June 10.
