Karana Ned an Aussie champion for Eugowra's Kevin and Kay Howell

Owners and breeders Kevin and Kay Howell crossed the Nullabor with eight dogs on board to compete in two national sheep dog trials.

These trials are held only once a year and in a different state each year, within a week of each other so that competitors can attend both.

This year competitors made their way to Mobrup, Western Australia, for the Australian Yard Dog Association Championships - run on a polo ground 35km out of town.

"We were very proud of our dog Karana Ned who was successful in winning the Novice class scoring 90 out of 100 in his first run and 88 in the final," Kevin said. "He won it by 12 points against 78 other dogs."

That qualified Ned to compete in the Improver class where he qualified for the final and finished fourth to secure a place in the Open final where he finished sixth against 104 other dogs - an outstanding effort for the five-year-old kelpie.

The promising young kelpie still has years of competition ahead of him, with the Howell's past dogs winning national titles aged 11 and State titles older.

Karana Roy IV - Ned's sire - also had a good competition, qualifying for the top 30 to go into the Australian Yard Dog Championship and just half a point short of making the top 10 final.

Every competitor had 18 fresh sheep for their trial, and with 240 runs across the five-day competition this on its own was a massive task for the organisers.

The sheep for the next day's competition were available on a property across the road ready to be walked across the road and penned ready for each day's competition.

The trial consisted of each dog working 18 sheep around a set of yards set up specifically for the competition.

The dog had to control the sheep and put them into and through a drenching race and into and through a drafting race and up onto a truck and off again and then put away.

Each 18 sheep were only used once, ensuring they were not stressed in any way.

The Howells then moved on to the National Kelpie Championship trial, with a title to defend from Karana Roy IV's win in Mansfield last year.

The National Kelpie Championships, which combine paddock and yard work in the one trial, were held some 300km away on a property near Kellerberrin.

"What the dog needs to do for the paddock work is do an outrun of around 200 metres and pick up three sheep that have been released from a set of yards at the other end of the paddock," Kevin explained.

"He then has to work those sheep back to the handler in as straight a line as possible, there is a judge who stands behind the handler back at a distance and he judges the movement of the sheep and for maximum points the dog needs to keep the sheep within an imaginary corridor of 10 metres and any deviation is judged on how far the sheep are off course and points taken off accordingly."

Each dog and handler starts with 100 point and can only lose points - not gain any.

Once the sheep have been brought down and delivered to the handler into a circle marked on the ground they then need to take the sheep across to a set of yards and place the three sheep in a small pen on the edge of the yards.

"The handler and dog need to then enter the yards and pick up a different lot of sheep and work them through the yards similar to a yard trial," Kevin said.

Once that is completed and those sheep have been returned to their back pen then the dog and handler moves out of the yard and releases the three sheep that were placed in the small pen on the edge of the yard.

They then need to work those sheep along a marked out course and through two obstacles outside in the open and to finish they need to work those sheep into a free-standing pen three metres square.

"The handler is not allowed to help the dog in any way by moving and blocking sheep," Kevin said.

"He can only give the dog directions by speaking to him or whistling to him and the dog has to keep guard at the entrance of the pen while the handler closes the gate.

"Once that is done the trial is over and the dog and handler then take those sheep and put them away not to be used again in the trial."

All of that needed to be done in 16 minutes, with a penalty applied for any task not completed.

"Most of our dogs worked well but Roy was the only one to get into the seven-dog final in equal second place," Kevin said.

Unfortunately the defending champion struck sheep keen to run in his final and finished equal sixth.

Kevin and Kay thank all of the Eugowra residents who sent messages of good wishes for the competition.

"We felt that we had our great little community backing us all the way," he said.

They'd also encourage anyone who has never travelled across the Nullabor to do so.

The Howells made the trip west towing a caravan, accompanied by son Grant and his wife Denise in their ute and van.

The family took their time, travelling about 500km a day with regular breaks, taking in the beautiful scenery along the way.

This was the Howells' sixth time across and the scenery is different every time.

"This time there had been heavy rain on the Nullabor about one month before we went and the vegetation was a brilliant green," Kevin said.

"The vegetation changes as the soil type changes there is one area of treeless plain about 100 km across where there is not a tree in sight and there are other areas where there are hundreds of different small shrubs and succulent type plants on the ground and other areas where the trees are bigger with small shrubs all amongst them.

"I call it a giant botanical garden, you need to get out and walk amongst the vegetation to really appreciate it.

"We spent one night camped on the cliff edge on the Bight which was a great experience."