A new programme offering an insight into how sheepdogs from Wales have become big business in recent years will soon air on BBC Wales.
Sheepdogs are big business today, with prices at online auctions reaching new heights, including a record-breaking sale of over £27,000 for one sheepdog in 2021.
Narrated by Elan Valley hill farmer Erinna Rogers, the BBC show will give an insight into what it takes to breed and train the exceptional bloodlines of sheepdogs from Wales that can sell for the same amount as a family car.
Erinna’s family have relied on sheepdogs for generations. Now with her mother as tenant on the farm, Erinna and her four-legged friend Glen help herd the sheep on the mountains for marking and pairing up.
“You can’t do it without them”, Erinna says of the sheepdogs. “And that’s what makes them so valuable to us.”
The programme will be broadcast on Monday 22 August as part of the Our Lives series, titled The World’s Most Expensive Sheepdogs.
It will also introduce two masters in the field of training. With online auctions now transforming the way sheepdogs are marketed, Kevin Evans, from Powys, ensures his dogs are presented in the best way possible to stand out to buyers, by taking high-quality photos of them working.
In 2021, Talybont’s Dewi Jenkins re-wrote the record books when his sheepdog Kim sold for £27,100.
In the show, Dewi prepares for an online auction in Dolgellau, with bids coming in from all over the world including North America, South Korea and Germany.
One of his dogs, Kelly, is the sister of the record-breaking Kim. Can she live up to that high standard?
Both Kevin and Dewi must then set their sights on their first live field sale since before the pandemic.
Taking place in Bala, the pressure is on with hundreds of spectators, new fields to work on and a new flock of sheep to herd.
The demand for sheepdogs from Wales is worldwide. And with farmers looking for good working sheepdogs as well as others looking for competition dogs, they’re willing to pay big money for the right skillset.
The World’s Most Expensive Sheepdogs will be broadcast on Monday 22 August on BBC Wales.
