The annual Jerilderie working dog auction held on Saturday 26th February, which was interfaced with AuctionsPlus, had a total of 59 dogs catalogued. Breaking the Australian record for the highest average across a working dog sale, the Jerilderie auction registered an average of $10,580 - an increase of over $500/dog from 2021. The current robust shape of the sheep and cattle markets, combined with the shortage of labour and renewed “publicity” in trained working dogs, helped ignited competition. Pre-auction demonstrations began early Saturday morning, followed by the sale, which was met with a swathe of bidding from both AuctionsPlus bidders and at the physical sale.
The top price returned from the auction was lot 36, “Harry”, who attracted some fierce bidding activity from both online and on the ground, eventually selling to a buyer onsite at Jerilderie for $25,750. A three-year-old black and tan male from Jerilderie NSW, Harry was described as “a loyal enthusiastic dog with a good friendly nature and a strong work ethic. A very experienced all round sheep dog, who excels in the paddock and yards”.
Online competition was extremely strong across the sale, with 25 lots selling to online buyers, including the second highest price of $22,000 for lot 46 Drovers Dream “Trixie”- a nine-month-old Kelpie bitch. The sale of Trixie broke another Australian record at the auction, being the highest price recorded for a kelpie aged under 12 months.
A total of 1,209 AuctionsPlus users entered the dog auction, with 584 of those being registered bidders. 71 users located across six different states placed a total of 355 bids on 50 different lots in the sale. Successful online purchasers hailed from NSW, Queensland, SA, Tasmania and Victoria. A buyer located in Nebo Queensland, purchased a dog which will make the 1,850km trip from Jerilderie.