KELPIE BREEDERS

This section has important information on the main Noonbarra Kelpies used by our Stud's Kelpie breeder program in recent times. Not all these Kelpies are currently being bred of course. Although we have always only run a small Stud, we have been going a very long time and our Noonbarra Kelpies have made a big reputation for themselves far beyond the number of dogs we breed each year.  We are Kelpie breeders who have strived year after year to produce the best possible Kelpies.

We usually only breed a small number of pups each year. That way each pup can have complete individual care. It ensures each pup gets maximum socialising, training and assessment. But we are also breeding enough Kelpie pups to be able to assess the bloodlines and keep rigid checks on our matings and the progress of our breeding program.

Click on any Kelpie name to find out more about them. It might take a little while to fully load this page as there are a lot of photos.

INTRODUCTION

WE are well known Kelpie breeders both here in Australia as well as overseas.  We are one of only a handful of parent Studs in Australia and our bloodlines are used as foundation dogs and in the breeding programs of many other Studs. Our Noonbarra Kelpies have also excelled in Yard, Utility and Arena Sheepdog Trials. They have even won some of Australia's top awards including National and State titles.

Our bloodlines were mainly developed from the great Kalari Basil (1959) and Kalari Joker (1958) and we have bred back to these two famous Working Kelpies very strongly and through their offspring such as the legendary Kelpies, Rockybar Buff, Liscannor Pace, and Chondo Doll. Today our Stud carries more Kalari Basil blood than any other Kelpies in the world.

As Kelpie breeders we have always had natural working ability as our main goal. One of our most important sires was Noonbarra Tim (1986). He was sired by the great Liscannor Pace and was also a great grandson of Liscannor Pace on his other side. He sired some of our best working dogs for many years. We then closely linebred him and produced two outstanding Kelpies in Noonbarra Prince and Noonbarra Gabe. Gabe (now deceased), proved himself to be an excellent sire for our Stud as well as a top worker and companion. We then linebred to him and produced some of the best Kelpies we have ever had. These days all our Stud Kelpies trace back to Noonbarra Tim & Noonbarra Gabe and of course further to Rockybar Buff and Kalari Basil..

In 1997, we lost our best sire ever in Noonbarra Gabe. His influence is still very important in our breeding program today. Noonbarra Gabe was the result of years of learning about bloodlines. His sire, Noonbarra Tim was one of our most influential sires and his sister, Noonbarra Tracey was also a wonderful Kelpie. She went to the Corvette Kelpie Stud. Noonbarra Tim had a great nature and loved everyone and thought everyone loved him. Like his dam Gayleen, he was always a very happy, outgoing dog.

We then mated Noonbarra Tim to Le Cliff Gabee. She was owned by Kerry & Shirley Drew who are now kelpie breeders in their right with their Alinta Stud. Gabee was a very special dog. She had amazing raw natural working ability and she was closely linebred to old Rockybar Buff and the Kalari Basil and Kalari Joker bloodlines. From this mating we only got two puppies, Noonbarra Gabe and Noonbarra Prince.

Gabe was Stephen's main companion dog and he had that same wonderful temperament that was very easy to love. He won and placed in a number of Sheepdog Trials including winning the handlers trial at the Australian National Utility Kelpie Championships in Tasmania 1991(Noonbarra Tina was 2nd), Yard Dog Championships, 2 sheep trials and numerous placings in other trials.

We stopped trialling him in early 1992, after Mary became sick and we scaled down our Stud activities. He was then still only 3 years old. We did however put him in a local sheepdog trial at Manildra in 1994 which he won with 94 points (without any training for two years). It is a disappointment that many people didn't see him as he matured into one of our best dogs ever. Noonbarra Gabe produced a lot of very good dogs for us including, Noonbarra Judy, Noonbarra Butch, Noonbarra Boris, Noonbarra Bonny, Noonbarra Boss II, Noonbarra Penny II, Noonbarra Gabby II, and many others. Noonbarra Judy went on to produce Noonbarra Dusty III and Noonbarra Flash, two of our best workers and sires.

Noonbarra Boss II was the sire of Noonbarra Valerie and Noonbarra Wendy. Noonbarra Prince was in later life, used over Noonbarra Judy & Noonbarra Valerie and produced some of our best pups ever. Prince was a full litter brother to Gabe, put over a daughter of Gabe (Noonbarra Judy) and Grand - Daughter of Gabe (Noonbarra Valerie). This is beautiful line breeding and the pups from both litters were very consistent and every single one a good natural worker. These pups carried over thirty infusions of the famous Kalari Basil genes.

NOONBARRA DUSTY III (Noonbarra Prince X Noonbarra Judy)

Red & Tan. Born 1998

Noonbarra Dusty is one of our main sires. He is also Stephen's companion dog. He really shows us everything we want in a dog. He has good yard skills with and good steadiness in the paddock, as well as the keenness to work all day. One of his good traits is that he will mouth a sheep if provoked or needed but doesn't use his teeth. In the paddock he will work medium-wide and come in when necessary. He will work very wide if commanded. His covering & footwork in blocking sheep is already highly developed and he has the walk-up strength needed to move stubborn or aggressive sheep.

Perhaps his best trait is his thinking power. He works things out for himself. He learns from his mistakes and has the potential to be an outstanding Stud Kelpie. His nature is biddable and loyal - he makes a great companion. He bonds closely and is very much a one person dog.

We have had him on the road droving, working in the shearing shed and on big mobs and just a few. He is in many ways very much like his uncle (on one side) and grandfather (on the other) Noonbarra Gabe. Noonbarra Gabe sired many of our best Kelpies for a number of years and was a top worker himself. He even did well in Yard, Utility and Arena sheepdog Trials.

Noonbarra Dusty has been our best sire in recent years and has a number of progeny in our Stud including Noonbarra Sarah, Noonbarra Penny, Noonbarra Becky and more. He also now has some grand kids as well. He already has sons and daughters overseas in the USA, Germany, New Zealand and Belgium.

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NOONBARRA SARAH (Noonbarra Dusty X Noonbarra Wendy)

Red & Tan Female

Born: 1999

Noonbarra Sarah is one of our best  females, both as a worker and breeder. Her last litter to Futura Ned bred us some superb workers and one of them, Noonbarra Jessie has been kept in our Stud. She has also been mated to the well known Sheepdog trial winner, Capree Cobb and produced impressive puppies including Noonbarra Lizzie, the dam of Noonbarra Jackaroo.

Her last two litters have been to Noonbarra Roy III and we feel this was her best litters so far and we have kept Noonbarra Kellie from this mating.

Noonbarra Sarah is important for a number of reasons. She is one of the few Kelpies these days that has good distance on stock, which means the stock don't panic or run madly all over the place. But the reason she is so special is that most dogs with good distance tend to be weak but Sarah is not. She can also be in very close and show all the strength in the world to move any stock. She is a very cool headed, steady worker and because of her ability to quiet down wild livestock and keep calm, she is a huge asset to our Stud. She is faithful and quiet and easy going and likes to be close to us.

If you want a great versatile working dog then you can't do much better than a litter from Noonbarra Sarah.

SARAH'S PEDIGREE

Dark Brown and Tan

Born: 12th April 1998. Stud Registration Number: 36893 Tattoo: NO 3B

Noonbarra Flash is a full brother to Noonbarra Dusty III but is a slightly different type of worker to Dusty.

As a sire, he has produced some excellent pups. Flash is very versatile and shows outstanding ability in the yards and in the paddock. His colour is a very dark brown (not black) with tan markings. Backs the sheep very well and loves it. He will speak on command and has a good deep bark.

Noonbarra Flash breaks out very well on stock in paddock with good distance and will let sheep settle instead of bustling all the time like some dogs. Once he has the sheep to you he will wait. One of our best dogs on mob work. His last litter to Noonbarra Wendy was one of the best litters we have had and that mating was repeated.

The best feature of Noonbarra Flash in our opinion is his great nature. He is a calm, gentle natured dog that is a delight to have around as a companion dog. Good in the house and loves a pat. Flash can be seen on our latest video. Noonbarra Flash has recently been mated to Noonbarra Gabby with excellent results.

Noonbarra Flash is available to outside bitches for service. Price of service by Noonbarra Flash is - $500.

NOONBARRA MAX (Noonbarra Dusty X Noonbarra Lucy)

Red & Tan.

Noonbarra Max is one of our smaller males in the Noonbarra Stud and has a terrific conformation to be able to run all day. In our breeding program he often helps to bring the size down in some of the females that are a bit too big, so that we get nice medium sized puppies.

He is an outstanding young male and has already sired some marvellous young Kelpies. Max is very important to our stud because he is beautifully linebred to bring in the best traits of the Noonbarra lines. He is by our best sire, Noonbarra Dusty III  (Noonbarra Prince and Noonbarra Judy) and as well, also brings in some old Noonbarra Gabe and Noonbarra Shane blood on the other side so he really is a combination of all the best of Noonbarra breeding.

He is a very easy dog to handle with an outgoing, friendly temperament and very well behaved and obedient. He travels well and has often accompanied us on trips and been an inside house dog. These things may not at first seem important in a working dog, but we feel they are essential if a stockman wants their dog to work at the highest level.

He has a great temperament that is similar to Noonbarra Tim, his great grandfather. To us, this is extremely important. He is outgoing and friendly with strangers, other dogs and children.

Noonbarra Kit at Noonbarra Stud with Stephen Bilson and Noonbarra Max helping to hold the sheep

Red & Tan.  Born: April 1998

Noonbarra Megan is one of the most natural workers we have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She has remarkable working ability. She has been seen by other breeders and has really opened their eyes as to what a high level of inherited ability can be bred into a dog with no training at all.

She is a very stylish worker with plenty of eye and steady walk up. Unlike some stylish Kelpies she has lots of power to go with it and can shift any stock with ease. She is also extremely agile and one of the most intelligent Kelpies we have ever bred.

Megan is a full litter sister to Noonbarra Dusty III. She is always a happy go lucky sort of dog and has a personality that is very easy to like. She has some of the best eye and style of all our current dogs when working on a few sheep but can change when working a mob or in the stockyards where she is very business-like and fast with excellent strength.

In the paddock she is good on mobs and has a good amount of force. She has been on cattle once and was quite comfortable and keen working them as well. She will probably also be trained to work three sheep in Arena Sheepdog trials at a later date.

Noonbarra Pace - One of Megan's pups.

Megan has produced some of our best pups ever. Good natured, good looking and above all extremely good workers.

In the yards she shows no fear and even if the sheep jump on her she sees it all as a game and just has fun. She is extremely agile and can jump very well and flies through the air over sheep in the race sometimes. Dusty is still our top Yard worker at this time but he has had much more experience than Megan. We think Megan is even better than Dusty in a natural sense.

This is a young Noonbarra Ruthless (In America).

Noonbarra Roy III x Noonbarra Megan

She tries hard to please and is very obedient. She loves people and is always happy. She can work very steady on sheep and with good walk-in strength. She also has a very nice break-out on sheep. This is something a lot of Kelpies seem to be losing these days.

When she has a few days work she is very precise and can do almost anything. She is a very agile Kelpie and in the yard race she can get knocked around by stock and still come up smiling - to her it is all a great game. In the paddock, she is a different dog with lots of eye and classic style about her and is very obedient. She has a beautiful, elegant movement that is very much like the old time Kelpies. She can be  extremely fast when required. She just loves to work.

She has had superb pups to both Noonbarra Dan IV and Noonbarra Roy III. We intend to repeat the mating to Roy in 2005.

For exceptional stock working ability or for high level Dog Sports, a litter from Megan should always be strongly considered.

Noonbarra Daisy II (Noonbarra Roy III X Noonbarra Megan (2003)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION & PHOTOS OF NOONBARRA MEGAN

Noonbarra Cassie is a delightful young female and one of our much-loved Kelpies. She has a nice friendly, kind nature and is easy to control and train. She is often kept in as a house dog and is very well behaved and very calm. She likes to have a pat and then lie down at our feet. She is an obedient dog and very smart.

Her work is steady and strong and she is always keen. She is a good mother, one of our best and has looked after her pups to Noonbarra Dusty III very well and they were all in great condition, fat and healthy. We were very pleased with this litter and got back fantastic reports from our customers. We plan to repeat it sometime in the future and keep a puppy for our Stud.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION & PHOTOS OF NOONBARRA CASSIE

 Jessie is a very special Kelpie for us. She is one of the calmest and nicest Kelpies we own and her pups are highly sought after.  She is a  gentle, quiet dog who is friendly to strangers and loves to get a pat and a cuddle but not over-excited and doesn't jump all over people. She is very easy to handle and train.

Her dam (Noonbarra Sarah) as many know, is one of the best female workers we have ever bred in our stud. Jessie has some of the good genes from Sarah but she also has some characteristics from her sire Ned too. Ned is a Victorian Kelpie that has won a number of sheepdog trials and is a very friendly outgoing type of dog.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON NOONBARRA JESSIE

NOONBARRA MEG II  Noonbarra Flash X Noonbarra Penny

Red & Tan Female

Meg is one of our best natured young bitches. She is the result of careful linebreeding to many of our best dogs. She is bold and outgoing but not too excitable. She is currently the only Kelpie we have in the Stud who is by our talented sire, Noonbarra Flash.

She is a nice combination of both parents. We especially like her temperament and friendly attitude. She is a very easy dog to handle and train.

Her last two litters have produced some terrific pups including Noonbarra Bindi III. Her pups are usually very friendly and quite outgoing. Mated to Noonbarra Jackaroo produced pups with very nice eye & style and a lot of the old classic traits that are hard to find these days. Good pups with kids.

NOONBARRA JACKAROO   Noonbarra Max X Noonbarra Lizzie

Red & Tan Male.

Jackaroo is a great young sire who is the kind of dog we have been aiming to breed for many years. He is a great combination of Noonbarra Max, a little of Noonbarra Dusty and Sarah and quite a bit of old Noonbarra Gabe coming in.

He is an absolute joy to own. A dog who is faithful, easy to train, friendly, wants to please and very intelligent. He travels well, adapts to new situations easily, is very calm and steady and acts like a dog many years his senior. He is one of our main companion dogs these days and is a terrific dog to travel with. We take him just about everywhere with us.

Jackaroo is an exceptional dog in many ways. He is very versatile and adaptable. He worked on a photo shoot for a dog food advertisement with the TV personality Dr. Harry. He was just seven months of age, in Sydney, with lights and people etc. and was a champion. The crew could not get over how well behaved he was and they all wanted to know what the secret was.

He can handle just about any job and was a good working dog as a little puppy and from about six months of age he could do nearly all the work in the stockyards by himself. He is a superb backing dog and a real thinker but not just in the yards but also in the open on mobs of sheep or just a few.

His breeding goes back to many of the great Kelpies in Australia. His grandsire is a top Trial dog and his Great Grandsire is a Australian National Open winner. His breeding brings in a number of past Australian National Open Field winners and Yard Trial Champion winners as well.

Noonbarra Jackaroo

We have been extremely pleased with the pups by Noonbarra Jackaroo. He has been mated twice to Noonbarra Meg II, once to Noonbarra Becky III and once to Noonbarra Sue. We will be doing many more matings with him over 2007.

Noonbarra Jackaroo at home

NOONBARRA KELLIE   Noonbarra Roy III X Noonbarra Sarah

Black & Tan Female

Kellie is another of our younger breeding females. If you like the black & tans, then se is a beautiful example.

We are very impressed with her natural working ability. She has all the old style Kelpie traits that are often lost today. Excellent footwork and anticipation, lovely distance and concentration as well as eye, style and steady walk-up. Like her mum, she is steady on sheep but has all the strength in the world.

She is very confident and bold, quite outgoing in her manner and friendly to everyone. She is very easy to handle and teach and the type of dog who likes to be close and get a pat.

Her work is marvellous! She has brought in the best traits of both her parents and right from a little pup would break right out wide on sheep and be very quick to cover any breakaways. She has that old time ability to hold sheep well. She has style and walk up and strength but works in a steady, calm manner. We could not be happier with her ability and her progress.

Noonbarra Kellie as a young pup on sheep

NOONBARRA NICKY   Noonbarra Max X Noonbarra Lizzie

Red & Tan Female

Nicky is a full sister to Noonbarra Jackaroo. She is a happy, friendly type of dog who loves to be with us. Her work is excellent and she has the holding ability, distance and balance we like to see out in the paddock, especially when working just a few sheep that can easily split up or breakaway.

In the yards she also shows very good ability but these days that is expected of all our Noonbarra Kelpies and considering her parents, grandparents and great grandparents it is not surprising. Her bloodlines carry the genes of some of Australia's greatest yard and paddock dogs including many Australian National Field Trial winners and National and State Open Yard winners.

Noonbarra Nicky has been mated to Noonbarra Mick II and produced two litters of outstanding puppies. She was also mated to Mick's own dad, Noonbarra Roy III and had a wonderful litter to him also. Her pups have gone all over Australia including Western Australia as well as to America.

Noonbarra Nicky

NOONBARRA MICK II   Noonbarra Roy III X Noonbarra Sarah

Red & Tan Male

Mick is one of our youngest Stud sires. We kept Mick mainly because of his excellent temperament. He was a very happy pup and so easy to train and very obedient. He learnt things very quickly. He is a lot like his sire, Noonbarra Roy III and he has now replaced Roy as one of our main sires.

He has been mated to Noonbarra Nicky on two occasions and produced two great litters.

He is one of our gentlest Kelpies and very calm. He is very faithful and likes to be right by your side.

On sheep, he is very focused and can move big mobs easily. He also shows exceptional ability in the yards on tough sheep.

NOONBARRA CHLOE II     Noonbarra Max X Noonbarra Amy

Red & Tan Female        Born: 27th May 2005

Chloe is one of our upcoming young females in the Stud.

She is very much like her dam, Noonbarra Amy. Chloe has turned into a lovely, very calm, quiet girl and extremely smart. She shows a strong loyal nature and likes to curl up with us.

She is easy to train and likes to please. Very well behaved as a companion dog and when travelling. Chloe shows good distance and strong natural instinct on sheep.

NOONBARRA BINDI III     Noonbarra Jackaroo X Noonbarra Meg II

Red & Tan Female        Born: 30th April 2006

This young female has some great Kelpies in her background. Noonbarra Flash, Noonbarra Tim, Noonbarra Max, Capree Cobb, Liscannor Pace and Noonbarra Judy are all strongly represented.

Bindi has very nice movement and has a well proportioned structure. She is a bit taller than her dam and she is very agile and in a similar type to our great old girl, Noonbarra Megan. Bindi often reminds us of the old type of kelpie with the longer body and the light tan on the face that is close to the masked Kelpies of the past.

Bindi is a very friendly, outgoing type of Kelpie and settles down well inside and when out. She is obedient and easy going. Gets on very well with other dogs.

Bindi shows strong natural ability on sheep with quite a bit of style and walk up. She can get distance or come in close, whichever is needed.

NOONBARRA JENNY II     Noonbarra Max X Noonbarra Sarah

Red & tan Female    Born: 7th May 2006

Jenny is our youngest female. She has all the wonderful working qualities of her two parents and shows some absolutely exceptional work on sheep.

She is a fine, small build and very fast on her feet. Beautiful dark coat and face and cat-like feet. She is extremely smart even by our standards. Concentrates well when working and a happy dog.

We expect great things from her in the future.

OTHER NOONBARRA STUD KELPIES

Not all our Stud Kelpies have been listed here just some that have made a bit of a name for themselves over the years. Many others have won or placed in sheepdog trials.

However many of our good dogs never saw a trial ground but their owners thought very highly of their ability. Noonbarra Boris at Mudgee comes to mind, as does Noonbarra Dan who went to John Parrington. There was Noonbarra Kelly, one of our best forcing bitches, and Noonbarra Bonny who the owner later said "is simply a great bitch" and "a one in a lifetime dog". Then there was Noonbarra Jake who went to Lake Cargellico in 1985, Noonbarra Ram, Noonbarra Tracey, Noonbarra Debby, Noonbarra Toby and dozens of others.