Twelve teams of working dogs from across Australia and New Zealand are competing in the 2022 Cobber Challenge Relay – who will take out the top spot?
Starting on Monday and for the next three weeks, the teams will wear GPS collars to track how far, fast, and hard they work. Team sizes range from two to four dogs, with the new relay format designed to show off the team effort that goes into farm work – between farmers and multiple dogs.
High country shepherd Taylor Bird is the only Kiwi in a field of nine Australians to compete in the finals held in Queensland, Australia.
The 19-year-old’s Team Hakatere Station is made up of four dogs – two huntaways and two heading dogs.
“At Hakatere Station  (Mid Canterbury) we run 12,000 ewes, 800 cattle, and an angus bull stud up in the mountains near Mt Somers.
“I’ve been working here for a year with five staff,” Bird said.
“At my last job, I started the team. These are my four running dogs. I have another four young dogs that are doing a bit of work. All my dogs come to work with me every day; they’re basically with me 24/7.”
His dogs are called Moss, Tom, Kate, and Bruno.
No matter where you run Moss, you have full confidence that he’ll bring the stock to you, Bird said.
“Tom has always had a passion for work. There is nothing else he wants to be doing; he’ll fall over before he stops working.
“Kate is a yard dog plus she does some paddock work. The heavy hitter on the team, she has a lot of punch and can move anything.
“Bruno can go anywhere and do anything. He’s a real natural who was easy to train. He’s my main mustering dog, and the one that gets me out of sticky situations most of the time.”
The relay is about recognising the contribution of working dog teams on Aussie and New Zealand farms. As farmers usually work with a team of dogs, the competition wanted to showcase their incredible teamwork, Kellie Savage, Cobber’s marketing manager said.
Now in its seventh year, the 2022 Cobber Challenge Relay kicked off on Monday, August 22 and runs until Sunday September 11. Eleven teams are from Australia and one from New Zealand.
Each day of the competition, data is uploaded to the Cobber Challenge website so fans can follow the performance of their favourite team.

• By Pat Deavoll