Issue 21, December 2022 | Article by Australian Working Stock Dog Magazine | Photos Provided by Nathan Brown
From the small country town of Woolbrook NSW, 22yr old Nathan Brown is a fifth-generation farmer. Throughout Nathan’s childhood he always had working dogs around him. His dad, Phil Brown, gave Nathan his first introduction working dogs as well as the trial world, and they still now compete alongside each other. Nathan claims his passion for dogs and the agricultural life comes from his family and the lifestyle he had growing up. He knew from a very young age that it was what he wanted to do with his life.
After completing year 12 at Walcha Secondary School, Nathan trained and sold working dogs, both Kelpies, Collies, and crossbreds. Nathan now works on a property at Emu Creek and also for Bendys Partnership. With both properties thoroughly supporting Nathan with his dogs by allowing him to train his dogs on fresh cattle and sheep, to this Nathan is very appreciative.
Nathan has found many people have been willing to help him with his dogs, but in particular he has found both his dad and Jennifer Burral to be the most influential in the early stages of getting him hooked on training and trialing dogs. When it comes to trialing, Dick Chapman has provided Nathan with a lot of knowledge and help. Nathan finds Dick to be “phenomenal with his dogs and that he can do anything with them”.
Throughout the years Nathan has had many dogs, but his most memorable would be his first trial dog, Naden, a black crossbred dog and Shady Acres Shiloh who unfortunately passed away recently. Nathan now has a very promising young dog whom he is very fond of, Buckol Meagan, and is very excited for her future.
Some of Meagan’s recent achievements, along with some of Nathans favourite achievements were at the 2022 Bonalbo Cattle Dog trial, where Meagan won the Futurity, Maiden and Novice, and came second in the Open all in the same day. Along with this, Nathan recently competed at the Australian Championship Working Cattle Dog trial were Meagan made every eligible final at only 16 months old.
Nathan's future ambitions with his dogs is to see how far he can go with them, he wants his dogs to be able to do the whole lot – sheep trial, utility, and cattle trial. His favourite thing about dogs is seeing just how much you can teach them and how eager they are to learn. When it comes to choosing a dog, Nathan prefers crossbreds as he finds they seem to provide him with a quality all-round dog that can complete all tasks.
Nathan's advice to anyone wanting to start out in the agricultural industry or who wants to start trialing working dogs is to find someone who you admire. Watch how they do things, listen to what they tell you and practice what they preach.