After a gruelling 14-day competition, which saw seven of Australia’s top-class working dogs
go head-to-head, the 2024 Cobber Challenge Champion has been officially crowned.
Taking out the coveted title of Australia’s hardest-working dog for 2024 is six-year-old Kelpie,
Bear, and his owner, Tom Perkins, from Dirranbandi in Queensland.
Bear and Tom are the first-ever Cobber Challenge winners representing the great state of
Queensland. The pair put in the hard yards, covering a total distance of 570 kilometres over
the two-week period, equating to an average distance of 40.75 kilometres per day.
Bear was quick on his feet in the paddock too, notching up an average working speed of 13.4
km/h throughout the contest.
Bear’s agility and speed saw him beat out his closest competitor by an incredible 40,000
points, to take the undisputed title of Australia’s hardest-working dog.
Tasmanian competitor, six-year-old kelpie, Nell, and her farmer, Brad McDonald, came in
second place, covering a total distance of 360 kilometres, with an average working speed of
14.8km/h.
In third place was four-year-old kelpie, Rip, and his farmer, Ben Coster, from Yass in New
South Wales, who covered 375 kilometres over two weeks, with an average speed of
12.9km/h.
The final rankings for the 2024 Cobber Challenge: Masters Edition are:
- Tom Perkins and Bear, from Dirranbandi, Queensland
- Brad McDonald and Nell, from Campbell Town, Tasmania
- Ben Coster and Rip, from Yass, NSW
- Daniel Pumpa and Ripper, from Bournewood, NSW
- Aoidh and Sue, from Alexandra, Victoria
- Travis Scott and Beau, from Gippsland, Victoria
- James Carr and Cruiser, from Yalyalup, Western Australia
The impressive results posted by this year’s Cobber Challenge cohort, demonstrate the
importance of working dogs to the $90 billion Australian agriculture industry.
Tom Perkins says he’s thrilled to take out the win and see all of Bear’s hard work pay off.
“I knew we had a fair chance of winning, we’d had a busy few weeks out here,” said Tom.
“We had to do an extra round of worming, so Bear was running hard, rounding up flocks nearly
every day, but to get the win, and be the first-ever winner for Queensland, that is a huge
honour.”
As the winners of the challenge, Tom and Bear receive the inaugural Cobber Challenge
Masters Trophy, a $1,000 cash prize and bags of Cobber Working Dog feed and, luckily for
Bear, a quieter few weeks on the farm.
Take a well earned break Bear
