In the heart of Queensland’s beef industry, the team at Nutrien Ag Solutions Taroom have looked to the humble working dog to help producers tackle workforce shortages.  

Hosting the inaugural Dawson Valley Working Dog Sale earlier this month, Nutrien Livestock Agent Lachlan Darr said the event aimed to link local dog breeders with cattle producers struggling to find workers for mustering.  

“There’s definitely a shortage of workers around here or not enough numbers for mustering, so the idea of the working dog sale is trying to address that,” Darr said. 

“There are a lot of producers trading steers up this way and for a lot of the fellas that are mustering all the time, they’d be lost without their dogs. If it’s only a producer and a worker and you’ve got a big mob of cattle, you just can’t be everywhere at the same time. 

“Instead of having to bust yourself all day and trying to find two or three extra people, having a good dog can take a lot of pressure off."

With workforce shortages impacting agriculture across the country, working dogs have long been seen as an indispensable part of a livestock operation. 

“It’s very hard now to find someone who might give one or two days a week for those big mustering jobs,” said Darr. 

“What we can see from our livestock clients’ point of view, is that a working dog is a cheaper option to have an extra bit of help in the paddock when things are going wrong.  

“And they become an important companion too, when a producer leaves the house to go mustering or work in the yards all day, they take their dog and they're with them from sun up to sun down.   

“A dog, when you need them, they’re there.” 

The event was an overall success with a 100 per cent clearance rate, two Border Collies topping the sale at $9,200 each, a sale average of $3,800 per dog and a gross sale amount of $45,700. 

Darr said the event showed there is a clear market for working dogs in the region and he was particularly happy with the number of dogs that stayed local to the area. 

“It was a great result and our two top selling dogs both stayed local which was great to see,” he said. 

"Obviously it was only our first sale, and we only had 12 dogs this year, but I’d say from the feedback we could turn this into a pretty big event. 

“We’re hoping to run it at the same time next year, and we’ve had a lot of people tell us that they’re keen to join in 2025. 

“We held the sale on a Saturday, so it was also a good day out for local families and producers to come down and see some of the working dogs in action.”