Aidan Curtis
THE Australian Kelpie Muster in Casterton over the June long weekend finished strongly, with its working dog auction raising over $300,000 on Sunday afternoon.
Over the course of the weekend, the Muster turned over $316,000 worth of working dogs.
The auction saw dogs sold for an average price of $7,540, but top dog honours went to a male kelpie bred by Penshurst resident Ash Caruana with a price tag of $25,000.
Casterton Kelpie Association president Karen Stephens described the auction as tough overall, but said there were still some good prices considering the state of the market at the moment.
“Cattle prices are down and sheep prices are down, we didn’t expect there to be huge money around the place,” she said.
“It’s still a decent price and a number of our dogs sold across that sort of category, but he was certainly the highest.
“We sold a pup, our puppies are under 16 weeks, for $11,000.”
Ms Stephens said the crowd was one of the biggest that had ever been at the auction, which was very pleasing to see.
“It was just phenomenal,” she said.
“I haven’t got the gate takings yet, but it was just ridiculous.
“It was a massive weekend and it was such a thrill to see so many people.”
According to Ms Stephens, there was “nothing much to complain about” when all was said and done.
“We had people camping everywhere, everybody was full, all of the community facilities that had campers staying there all said they were absolutely chockers,” she said.
“They couldn’t fit anybody else in, so we’ll have to find some more ground somewhere for more campers next year.
“We’ve been flooded with positive feedback and there wasn’t a glitch all weekend and we raised $2500 for the Dolly Foundation, which will go towards mental health.”
