Tarwonga Yard and Utility. April 5th, 6th, 7th.    

The first Utility trial of the year was held at Sunnyside in Tarwonga. Sunnyside is about one and a half hours from Perth on the Albany Highway and is run by the Atherton family. Trials have been held there for many years.

The weather was uncomfortably warm on Friday, but some cloud cover in the afternoon eased things a little. Saturday saw almost full cloud cover, and it became quite chilly Saturday evening, causing people to dig out jackets and jumpers. A large campfire was built for the communal BBQ, to help ward of the chills. Most people were praying for rain to save the dying pasture but it didnt happen unfortunately. It has been a dry year in the area, and rain two weeks ago caused a germination which was dying fast. On Sunday the clouds cleared and it became fairly warm for the running of the finals.

The sheep in the novice were quite good to work outside and fairly challenging  in the yard. If hasseled too much though they did fire up. Interestingly, when leaving the letouts the sheep made a beeline for the fence and it was quite difficult to persuade them to leave and come back into the middle of the ground, so most dogs just let them drift down the fence to the circle.

On the sunday for the finals they became a little more difficult to work in the paddock, splitting and running if pushed too hard. Dogs that kept their distance handled them better, but if they decided to split it was quite difficult to get them  back together.

There were 34 entries in the novice Utility and 44 in the novice yard.

In the open there were 43 dogs in the Utility and 54 in the yard.

Enc. judged by Dave Lacey.

1st. Tanya DeBijl.  Tilly Grey. (Kelpie)

Novice Utility, judged by Nan Lloyd.

1st. Dave Lacey. Akoonah Del. 85+92=178. (BC)

2nd. Hayden Harries. Ramulam Woofy. 83+84=167. (BC)

3rd. Marianne Rogers. Bellview Obie. 73+67= 140. (BC)

4th. Neil Eastough. Grassvalley Jet. 73+61=134. (BC)

5th. Dave Lacey. Akoonah Chopper. 68+54=112. (BC)

Novice Yard,  judged by Nan LLoyd.

1st. Nigel Armstrong. Yarralonga Splinter. 44+48=92. (Kelpie)

2nd. Dave Lacey. Akoonah Del. 47+39. (BC)

3rd. Hayden Harries. Ramulam Woofy. 44+38=82. (BC)

4th. Richard Mcguire. Mac’s JJ (BC).

=5th. Karen Buller. Just Jed. 42 (Kelpie)

=5th. Jenny Whitelock. Jandoree Kinta. 42(BC)

=5th. Neil Eastough. Grassvalley Jet. 42 (BC)

Open Utility, judged by Gordon Curtis.

1st. Rod Forsyth. Binnaburra Milo. 85+90=175. (Kelpie)

2nd. Ken Atherton. Olboa Merle. 81+88=169 (BC).

3rd. Gordon Curtis. Binnaburra Johnny. 81.5+83=154.5. (Kelpie) Judged by Ken Atherton and Nigel Armstrong.

4th. Andrew Gorton. Boylee Ella. 79+84=163. (BC)

5th. Ken Atherton. Ramulam Gus. 70+83=153. (BC)

=6th. Rod Forsyth. Binnaburra Basil. 76+75=151. (Kelpie).

=6th. Rick Jantz. Jandoree DotCom. 83+68=151. (BC)

8th. Richard Mcguire. Pendalup Tess. 70+75=145. (BC)

9th. Gordon Curtis. Binnaburra Jess. 70.5+67=137.5. (Kelpie) Judged by Ken Atherton and Nigel Armstrong.

10th. Karyn Buller. Badgingarra Barney. 77+60=137. (Kelpie)

11th. Tony Boyle. Boyle Mustard. 71+61=132. (BC)

12th. Hayden Harries. Olboa Ben. 69+62=131. (BC)

Open Yard. Judged by Gordon Curtis.

1st. Ken Atherton. Ramulam Gus.46+46=92. (BC)

2nd. Andrew Gorton. Boylee Ella. 44+45=89. (BC)

=3rd. Richard Mcguire. Pendalup Tess. 45+42=87 (BC)

=3rd. Hayden Harries. Olboa Ben. 44+43=87. (BC)

5th. Gordon Curtis. Binnaburra Jess. 43.5+43=86.5. (Kelpie) Judged by Ken Atherton and Nigel Armstrong.

6th. Gordon Curtis. Binnaburra Tuff. 41.5+44=85.5. (Kelpie) Judged by Ken Atherton and Nigel Armstrong.

7th. RIchard Mcguire. Torbay Tom. 44+41=85. (BC)

8th. Rick Jantz. Jandoree DotCom. 44+40=84. (BC)

9th. Hayden Harries. Macs Magic. 43+40=83. (BC)

10th. Gordon Curtis. Binnaburra Sasha. 43.5+35=78.5. (Kelpie) Judged by Ken Atherton and Nigel Armstrong.

11th. Marriane Rogers. Bellview Obie. 42+34=76.

12th. Nan LLoyd. Kumbark Caleb. 43+16=59. (Kelpie)

Marianne Rogers Ramulam Tara.

Excited spectators. Back. Wendy Gorton, Doreen Hansen, Tony Boyle, Rick Jantz. Front. Karyn Buller, Neil Eastough.

Andrew Gorton and Boylee Ella.

Rod Forsyth and Binnaburra Milo. 

Gordon Curtis's Binnaburra Tuff.

Hayden Harries 's Ramulam Woofy.

Rick Jantz's Jandoree DotCom.

Men at work, Nigel Armstrong and Hayden Harries, doing some running repairs.

Neil Eastough's Grassvalley Tinky.

Encourage competitor John McNab (right) and Boss at their first trial, with Richard Mcguire assisting and Dave Lacey (left) Judging.

Ken Atherton keeping the dust down, With the fire hose.

Thanks Karyn Buller who commandeered my camera and took the following shots.

Hayden Harries Macs Magic.

Nan Lloyd's Kumbark Caleb.

Gordon Curtis's Binnaburra Jess.

Photos and article by Nan LLoyd