Borris in the running for national competition

He’s Borris with a double ‘r’, so we know he’s not named after dubious characters like the dumb mutt in Lady and the Tramp, the snivelling bad guy from Rocky and Bullwinkle or a Russian politician, and we know the two-and-a-half-year-old black and tan kelpie, can cover some ground.

Bred by Doug Burbury at Oatlands, he was sold but later returned, living in a shearing shed before luckily ending up in the capable hands of son-in-law Lachie Groves who took over as farm manager at Chiswisk, at Ross, four years ago.

The 28-year-old from Campbell Town was a shearer and later a Nutrien sales rep before turning his hand to farm management.

Ironically he and partner Esta moved into the manager’s quarters, which was the same house that Lachie lived in for about seven years as a young child when his father worked on the same property.

With 28,000 ewes grazing across 1800 hectares, Borris has become key to managing the large flock of composites, standing out in a team of seven working dogs.

Out of curiosity, Lachie applied to include Borris in the Cobber Challenge - a nationwide competition to find Australia’s hardest working dog.

He was selected to represent Tasmania and set up with a GPS collar which will measure his movements from July 7 to September 28 and then the statistics from the best 21 days will be tallied.

Lachie said Borris was bred out of a couple of Doug’s best dogs and is a real character.

“He was pretty airy fairy when I first got him,” Lachie admitted.

“But I’ve never known a dog so willing to please once he knows who the boss is.

“I just didn’t realise how much ground he covers – that first day with a tracker just blew me away when it said he’d run 42km - and that wasn’t even a big day.

“He loves it, he just does everything in his power to try and please me, he surprises me every day and I rely on him to get the job done.”

Working together for up to 12 hours a day, Lachie and Borris have developed a special bond that no longer requires commands.

“I don’t know how but he must just read my body language and he knows what I want from that,” Lachie said.

“Every evening I upload the details of how far, how fast and how long he worked into the Cobber Challenge platform.

“It’s not about winning the prizes, I just really want to know and appreciate how good he is.”

The winner, to be announced in late October, will claim bragging rights, $3000 cash, the legendary Cobber Challenge trophy and a year’s supply of Cobber Working Dog feed.