The Noonbarra Stud is one of Australia's leading breeders of Australian Working Kelpies. All our dogs go back to the wonderful dogs that were first developed in the middle of the 1800's in the centre of the State of New South Wales, not far from where our present Stud is located. We are very proud to say that our Noonbarra Kelpie pedigree papers can be traced in a direct line for more than a century, right back to those very first great Kelpies!

Noonbarra Kelpies are sold all over the World and we get many accolades and glowing reports back from our customers. (See 'Customer Comments'  on this web site) Our Noonbarra bloodline has been carefully selected in our breeding program for many decades. We are very passionate about breeding and we are striving to improve each and every year.

Many people think a 'Kelpie is a Kelpie' and they should all be the same, but that's definitely not the case. There are many breeders of Kelpies in Australia (and overseas). Some are very good, some are terrible and most somewhere in between. Experience counts for a lot as does customer testimonials. Customers should do some research and be aware of the differences between breeders as well as the various traits in each established line. According to studies done both here in Australia as well as in America, the average dog breeder only stays in business 3 - 5 years. We have been breeding and training for three generations of the Bilson family and are one of the longest established registered Kelpie Studs in Australia.

If you want a top quality dog then we suggest you go to an experienced professional breeder and try to avoid any breeding that is all over the place with no real selection process for important qualities. Try to steer clear of any breeders that cut corners to save money such as not vaccinating, worming or socialising or feeding poor quality food, not giving after sales advice etc. Watch for disease. Check the breeding etc.

As amazing as it sounds, some Kelpie breeders don't even use their own dogs for breeding and when you look at the pedigree, you will see that their own Stud name is barely (if at all) listed! If their own breeding is not good enough for them, (and they have to buy from other Studs) then why should it be good enough for you?

We are a very successful breeding Stud because we have managed to breed consistent high class dogs over a long period of time with 100% all workers and good natured friendly, intelligent dogs. We have maintained a degree of style in our dogs as well as nice stock distance and reinforced other traits such as controlled walk-in strength without aggression and biting. We have bred our Kelpies so that they will allow stock to settle and not continually upset them while still showing a strong presence and the power to move even the most stubborn and difficult stock. Our Noonbarra Kelpies are extremely keen and don't give up and unlike some breeding seen today, they are not overexcited and are bred to be naturally very calm.

They have friendly personalities and are more biddable (easy-to-handle) than many other Kelpie lines. We love our dogs and they are all good mates, this makes them a joy to work with. This is one of the main points in our selection process. We will not buy in or use outside dogs that do not have a terrific temperament. Noonbarra Kelpies are very intelligent and we have also reinforced their problem solving ability and this has been documented many times by our customers.

All these wonderful attributes did not happen by accident. We spent a huge amount of money and time over many years improving our bloodline until we got them to the level they are today. We are very proud of what we have achieved. We now have some of the best Working Kelpies in the world and we often supply Stud breeding stock for other breeders, both in Australia as well as overseas.

AFTER SALES SERVICE AND SUPPORT

We try to help each customer as much as possible once they have bought their Noonbarra Kelpie. We have produced an excellent manual to general training for all Kelpies and we are working on a similar DVD. We also run individual and group training sessions at the Noonbarra Stud. We also address any questions our customers have via email or telephone. Below is a email from one of our customers.

May 2006

THANK YOU FOR YOUR WONDERFUL SERVICE

Dear Mary and Stephen,
Just a short note to say thank you for your excellent service.

We have now owned our Kelpie, Mani for nearly two years. Beside the
fact that she has the loveliest temperament and is bursting with good
health- a credit to you and your stud - we have found that whenever we have
any queries or concerns,  you always assist with great advice and/or
just plain encouragement.

I have and will continue recommending your stud to others who want a
fantastic companion dog, and breeders that really care about their
dog's wellbeing even after they go to their new homes.

Kind regards, Vicky Muscat

Our Noonbarra line of Kelpies are bred to be calm, easy -to-handle and obedient. They have a very high degree of intelligence and a very faithful nature as well as being friendly with people and are particularly good with children. This makes our dogs easier to work with and also accounts for the growing number we have sold as outstanding companion dogs to city and suburban homes around the world.

Noonbarra Kelpies are now working in Sheepdog Trials, Obedience trials, Agility training, Trick training, Frisbee Competitions, TV work, Search and Rescue, Flyball and more. We have even been approached to supply a hearing therapy Noonbarra Kelpie for deaf people.

We have piles of letters from customers that bought Noonbarra Kelpies as companions. Some of these are listed on this web site and we are very proud of how our Kelpies excel in a family situation. Some families have even bought a second Noonbarra Kelpie or recommended our dogs to their friends or relatives.

Some of our Kennels at Noonbarra Stud.

The roof is insulated and the kennels are warm in Winter and cool in summer. Every dog has time with other dogs in one of our exercise yards and every dog gets a turn at being a inside house dog.

We have bred Local, State and National Australian Champions as well as winners of Yard, Utility and Arena Sheepdog Trials. Our Noonbarra Kelpies are stylish and versatile. That combined with their close relationship to their owner helps them in a trial competition.

They have a very good reputation for working cattle and some have gone to large cattle Studs. Because our dogs are strong and don't have a lot of aggression they are ideal for working Cattle without spooking them. Noonbarra Dusty, Megan, Valerie, Butch, Ram, Smart, Gabe, Tina, Flash etc. have all been very good Cattle workers.

When you buy a Noonbarra Kelpie, you get more than just a dog. We are committed to helping you in every way to get the most suitable dog for your requirements. We are well known for our service and advice. We want every owner to have the perfect dog. After all, it is in our best interests to have our customers happy and telling other people. Our customers have always been our best advertisement!

Once we have your deposit and know what dog you want, we send you out our puppy folder which has pages of colour photos of the parents and grandparents of your pup, Pedigree forms, Vaccination certificates, Kelpie  information, Training tips, information about books, and general advice for getting the best from your Noonbarra Kelpie and information on personal one-on-one training with us. This is all presented in a folder so you have everything together. Many of our customers say this puppy kit has been invaluable to them. We see it as a great opportunity to help the customer understand their puppy that much better.

We also offer a lot of after sales service and from time to time send out new tips or training lessons to help you on puppy training program. We are currently putting together a video on 'Kelpie Basics' for our customers. This shows all the basic work with puppies and includes crate training, toilet training, feeding, teaching a pup to walk on a lead, Sit and down command, Stay command, Forced Down control techniques, come command, preventing chewing, food stealing and climbing on sofas. ..and more. This video will be ideal for the companion owner as well as the working person that hasn't had a lot of experience with pups before.

Each Noonbarra Stud Kelpie puppy is wormed every two weeks, vaccinated for Parvovirus, Distemper and Hepatitis, Coronavirus, Leptospirosis, checked by a Vet and has a special Stud tattoo in the ear for identification. The pedigree of Noonbarra Kelpies goes back in a direct line more then a Century. Our puppies are fully registered with the Working Kelpie Council of Australia Inc. and presented in their purebred Kelpie Stud Books.

We are in the Central West of NSW. Australia. Around 5 hours drive from Sydney. We are a 45 minute drive from the rural city of Orange. This area is well known for producing top quality sheepdogs and is not far from where the original Kelpies of the mid 1800's were first developed. Most of our customers make an enjoyable trip and often stop off in the Blue Mountains or stay in Orange and enjoy the restaurants and famous wineries of the district.

A number of our customers have taken a trip back in time and stayed at the beautiful restored Imperial Guest House in the centre of Manildra. Coming from the South, many stay at the town of Parkes and see the museum and the huge telescopic radio dish that was used to beam back the first images of Armstrong's walk on the moon to the world. It was featured in the Australian hit comedy 'The Dish'.

Of course many people prefer to do a quick trip up and back in the same day.

We are very proud of the line of quality Kelpies we have developed over the years. We have always strongly believed in breeding our Stud Kelpies along specially selected genetic lines that give us superior working ability and intelligence. Our Noonbarra Kelpies are compatible with each other and that means they have a much higher degree of stability and uniformity in the progeny produced.

The Bilson family has had generations of experience on properties and in training and breeding sheepdogs as far back as the 1920's with George Bilson and later Max Bilson. Stephen was bought up with the Kelpies from a child and has been strongly involved in the breeding side for more than 20 years.

Stephen Bilson was a director of the Working Kelpie Council for over six years, was part of the WKC Historical Committee, and is currently a director of the International Working Kelpie Club. Mary and Stephen have written dozens of articles for Australian and overseas magazines on Kelpies as well as three books on Kelpies. They have commercially put out a number of videos on Kelpies and are currently working on a new book and video. They have demonstrated their Kelpies throughout Australia and have been asked to do a exhibition at Gunnedah for Ag-Quip this year. They have also been asked to go to Europe next year to run a training School for Kelpies.

Many new Kelpie owners are under the impression that a Kelpie either works or doesn't. Black or white! That however is certainly not the case and there are around 30,000 genes that make up a dog and almost endless combinations. It is this difference that keeps the professional breeders like us in business. For example, some dogs will be excellent at certain tasks such as barking, casting, droving or forcing big mobs, others are reasonable at most things and a small percentage is excellent at nearly every task. Apart from the natural ability the dog has other traits such as thinking power, personality, temperament, biddability, behaviour, speed, obedience, agility and working conformation.

BUYER BEWARE! When buying from any breeder, take the time to see the dogs personally if possible, ask about other customers that have purchased them and see if you can get references or contact some past customers. Will you get advice and help from the breeder? What about after sales service? Does the breeder have any notes or books to help you? Ask if any video is available. Are the dogs registered? Are they vaccinated against disease. Have they been wormed? Have they been socialised? Are the breeding and kennel conditions clean and disease free? Is the breeder a regular breeder registered by an Association? Are the Kennels secure to ensure the breeding on the pedigree is correct? Don't be in a hurry. Take your time to get the right dog that is the most suitable for you! Go to a professional breeder that does the right thing. Never buy a puppy that looks sick! Don't buy the first Kelpie or the cheapest. Look around and make an informed decision. After all, the pup is going to with you a long time.

We have a few pages on this site that lists some of the comments and reports our customers have written about our Noonbarra Kelpies. We are extremely proud of it and feel it is one of the most important pages on this web site. You can click on the link below or view it later. If you want to continue reading, there is another link at the bottom of the page.

Over the years we have bred our Stud Kelpies to consolidate our best breeding line. Our Noonbarra line of Kelpies has produced consistent top workers over the years. We have even had many other Kelpie Studs founded on Noonbarra bloodlines and many established Studs have used our breeding lines including breeders overseas.

Because the Noonbarra Stud Kelpies have been linebred by us and others for a number of generations the type and style of our Kelpies is quite consistent and is regarded as our own Noonbarra strain. However if you go back even further to the 1950's you will find most of the breeding goes back to the Kalari Kelpies, in particular, the great Kalari Basil and Kalari Joker. If you take the breeding back further you will find multiple infusions of the famous Red Hope, Don O'Currawang, Scanlon's Flash and one of the greatest kelpies of all time in the 1800's, Quinn's Coil. We can trace our Noonbarra pedigrees in an direct line all the way back to the late 1860's and the original 'Gleeson's Kelpie'. This is well before other sheepdog breeds such as the Border Collie were even formed.

PRICES

These days well bred Stud Kelpies can bring high prices. $3000 - $5000 for good Kelpies is not uncommon and a few exceptional Kelpies have had offers up to $20,000. Although we only breed a small number of Kelpies each year, they are often in high demand. We try to keep our prices reasonable and within reach of the average person without having to cut corners or compromise on the quality of the dogs we sell. Our Stud Kelpie puppies still sell from $850. (More details on prices in the SALES section)

Noonbarra Stud Kelpies are bred to have an inherited natural ability to block sheep and gather them to the handler. They need no training to be able to do this. They have the temperament to be trained easily and the intelligence to learn. We feel this is very important as some dogs have trouble learning. We also aim at producing very calm dogs that work their stock steadily and with patience.

Our Stud Kelpies have proved themselves across Australia over many years. Owning a good Working Kelpie of quality can make a big difference to enjoying your stockwork. The work can be done faster and calmer with less stress on the animals as well as the person handling them. Many farmers have commented that after buying a good Working Kelpie it was the first time they really enjoyed moving their stock. You can rely on these high performance animals to get your job done.

 Noonbarra Stud Kelpies are carefully bred to do hard work in tough conditions and are working on a number of huge properties covering many thousands of acres in Australia's outback. We have worked these dogs by themselves on mobs of around 2000 sheep. Just one person and one dog. Although that type of work with one dog is not recommended, it can be done, at least for short periods.. We have worked much larger mobs with two or three Noonbarra Kelpies.

Temperament, intelligence and natural working ability in our dogs are our main priorities. Everything else comes well behind in importance. These clever dogs with incredible stamina and endurance are the dogs that helped Australia become one of the world's greatest wool producing nations.

We believe one of the areas overlooked by many breeders is the socialising of the pup. To do it right takes a lot of effort and time, but we have seen what a huge difference it can make in the adult dog.

We are very serious and professional about our breeding. As already stated, our Kelpies are very carefully bred from some of the best old bloodlines in this country. We do not believe in doing outcross after outcross to other strains of Kelpies and feel that the breeders that follow that principle do not get the traits they are looking for and do not get any real stability or conformity to their lines. Obviously outcrosses to other top Kelpies may be desired from time to time but we think they should be kept to a minimum.

Temperament is extremely important in Noonbarra Kelpies. We feel that a handler needs to be able to communicate easily with their dog. We like our dogs to be friendly and biddable but still retain their toughness, their independent thinking and initiative. We don't like our dogs to be too excitable. We want customers to like their dog. It sounds very basic but it is one of the areas often overlooked by some of today's breeders. See our section on customers comments.

Over the years our Kelpies have won Arena sheepdog Trials, Yard Trials, Utility Trials, Obedience Trials as well as working in TV commercials, Movies and given numerous exhibitions. We have done contract stockwork with them and taken them on droving jobs, done shed work and mountain work. They have gone to many different homes. Family pets, farm workers, for trialists, for droving, saleyards, for stockmen, truck work, sheep studs, companions, and everything in between.

Please note that our Noonbarra Working Kelpies are NOT show dogs and we have absolutely nothing to do with the breed now known as The Show Kelpie. (Also sometimes called The Bench Kelpie). This is now seen as a separate breed that broke away from the original Working Kelpie bloodlines way back in the 1920's and 1930's and formed their own distinctive type of dog especially suited for dog showing. Many dog generations have passed since then. These dogs look different, behave different, have different abilities, different bone structure and have an entirely different official registering body and associated organisations. They are  now mainly a smaller, heavy-set solid chocolate coloured dog that are bred especially for the Show ring.

People often ask us the difference between the two breeds but that is not an easy question. It is no different to asking what is the difference between a Dalmatian and a Boxer. It is really a matter of personal choice. Both are very nice dogs - but different!

Breeders have banded together and made it so the 'Australian Working Kelpie' breed cannot be shown in the ring or registered with the show society. They are registered by the Working Kelpie Council Of Australia Inc.  This situation is the same in other countries as well, such as the USA and Sweden. Breeders do not want the ability of this wonderful breed diminished by Show clubs breeding predominantly only for looks, colours and the whims of the Show ring.

The more we talk to people involved in the Shows (all breeds, not just Kelpies) the more we are convinced that dog breeds do not benefit from being bred for show and in fact many breeds lose their good temperament, stamina and even their health. The Australian Working Kelpie is a real Aussie legend in rural Australia and is already becoming famous overseas as a remarkable breed as working dogs as well as fantastic companion dogs. We want the qualities of this breed to remain at the present high level.

Show Kelpies cannot be registered as purebred Kelpies with the Working Kelpie Council. It is all a bit confusing to people not familiar with the breed. To help try and avoid confusion the original breed is now known as the Australian Working Kelpie, whether they are in a working situation or not!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS & PAYMENT ETC.

Noonbarra Stud DVD This video is our first for a number of years. Over one & a half hours of Kelpies working at all aspects of sheepwork including Droving, Mustering, Sheepdog Trials and Yard work. There are also special sections on Kelpies as companion dogs and pets and a section on Kelpie puppies. It shows our dogs interacting with children and strangers and being indoor dogs. Professionally finished with Titles, commentary and music. Includes cover case and colour insert. For more detailed info see our video page. Click here.  $15.00  - POST FREE WORLDWIDE

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