G'day..
We are Jamie and Mani Sturrock. We live near Dulacca, on the Western Darling Downs of Queensland, Australia.
We manage a commercial beef cattle breeding and backgrounding operation, running up to 2,000 head of cattle across several grazing properties. We also run our own family business, Craiglea Rural.
We breed working Border Collies and performance horses under the Craiglea prefix.
We conduct regular Working Dog Training Schools from March to November each year.
More recently, we have launched WORKING DOG TRAINING ONLINE.
We have two young sons, Jack and Toby, who are very involved in our business, raising pups and riding their horses.
We are very proud of our family, our business and our animals, and get a lot of satisfaction out of sharing quality genetics, training methods and stockmanship with others.
About Jamie Sturrock..
Jamie is a career stockman, and uses his dogs to earn a living every day..
Jamie has experience managing beef cattle breeding, backgrounding, trading and feedlotting enterprises, for both family owned and corporate operations. While the majority of his career has been in the beef industry, he also has solid experience in meat sheep and goats. Jamie uses the very same dogs at work and trials, on everything from large mobs of cows and calves right down to baby lambs.
Jamie has lived and breathed working dogs since he was a teenager..
We own just about every DVD, book and magazine ever made on the subject, and I have literally travelled across the globe in search for more knowledge on working livestock with dogs. I continually adapt and improve my program, and keep an open mind to new ideas and methods.
Jamie has worked with more dogs (and people) than most twice his age..
I have worked with a lot of dogs. I have been lucky enough to train some great ones, but more importantly, I have also persevered with plenty of ordinary ones. I have even stuffed up a few! There is no substitute for experience when developing a training method. I am always looking to improve myself and my dogs, and I have tried a lot of different methods on a lot of different dogs. Through plenty of trial and error over the years, I have developed a firm understanding of what makes a good dog, and the training methods required to reach its full potential.
Jamie has attended working dog, horsemanship and stock handling schools and clinics, held by well known handlers from all over the world..
- Greg Prince (Australia)
- Neil McDonald (Australia)
- Aled Owen (Wales)
- James McGee (Ireland)
- Faansie Basson (South Africa)
- Kevin Davies (Wales)
- David Rees (Wales)
- Jim Lindsay (Australia) - Low Stress Stock Handling
- Ian Francis (Australia) – Horsemanship
- Clinton Anderson (USA) – Horsemanship
- Steve Brady (Australia) – Horsemanship
These schools and clinics, whether learning dog handling, horsemanship or livestock handling, have not only helped with my training methods and philosophy, but how to teach people as well.
In 2011, I travelled to the UK, to spectate at the International Supreme Sheep Dog Trial in Scotland, and the World Sheep Dog Trial in England. While over there I was fortunate enough to visit the homes of many world class dog triallers, such as Jim Cropper from England, and Kevin Evans from Wales.
Some of Jamie’s achievements with his dogs include:
- 2 x Australian Open Working Cattle Dog of the Year
2015 & 2011 - Swan Spud - 2015 QLD Open Working Cattle Dog of the Year - Swan Spud
- 2022 Australian Open Cattle Dog Champion - Craiglea Seth
- 2023 Australian Cow Dog Challenge Champion - Craiglea Abby
- 2 x QLD Open Cattle Dog Champion
2023 & 2021 - Craiglea Lego - 2 x NSW Open Cattle Dog Champion
2017 - Swan Spud
2016 - Craiglea Tex - 5 x QLD State of Origin team member
2023 & 2022 - Craiglea Seth
2015, 2012 & 2011 - Swan Spud - 2023 QLD Derby Champion - Craiglea Abby
- 2019 Australian Novice Cattle Dog Champion - Craiglea Seth
- 2020 QLD Maiden Cattle Dog Champion - Craiglea Ruby
- Countless wins and places in Open cattle dog trials
- Multiple places in sheep dog trials
Almost all of these awards have been won by Jamie's home bred Craiglea dogs, with the only exception being our foundation sire, Swan Spud.
Jamie is also a Championship cattle dog judge, and served three years as President of the Australian Working Cattle Dog Trial Association.
