A farm manager from Northumberland, England will officiate over the 2013 Meeker Classic Sheepdog Championship Trials. Bevis Jordan will travel to Meeker, Sept. 4 – 8th to judge 125 top border Collies and their handlers as they face off against tough Meeker sheep. Jordan will judge each dog as it makes one preliminary run on an international course during the first three days of the trial. The top 30 dogs will advance to the semi-finals on Saturday, Sept. 7th. From there the top 12 face off for the finals on the fifth day, Sept 8th for a $20,000 purse.
Jordan brings to Meeker a lifetime of experience of breeding and training his line of border collies for farm work and competitive trialling. Learning much about dogs and trialling from the many great trial handlers in this very competitive area, Bevis’ success with dogs has been the result of implementing his training methods , dedication and hard work on the farm and competing at trials. He’s qualified to run in the English National for several years. Jordan has bred, trained and sold pups and young dogs that have gone on to compete at the National level. He has exported dogs to USA, Canada and Europe.
As a director of the International Sheepdog Society and a member of the judges panel Bevis has judged in England, Scotland and Europe and regularly for over 10 years in several states in the USA, at both sheep and cattle trials. As chairman of the Northumberland Sheepdog trials league Bevis helps organise over 25 open trials and 10 nursery trials each season. With the knowledge and experience he’s gained over the years he enjoys helping new handlers and now holds regular training clinics, coaching beginners to train and handle dogs at a competitive level.
Born in the south of England, Bevis’ father and grandfather were both shepherds. He and his wife Debbie relocated to the county of Northumberland in the North of England where he has worked as a farm Manager for Mains Rigg Farm for 18 years. The couple has two grown children, a son that went to work in New York at a top fashion house seven years ago after getting his degree at university and a daughter that works on the farm since she left college. With terrain ranging from 700 to 1700 feet above sea level, the 4200 acre farm runs 1400 Swaledale breeding ewes, lambing out in April/May and 125 Limousin/Saler cross cows that calve in February and March.
As Jordan visits Meeker this coming September, he’ll see sheep worked in a different environment than he’s used to, but the basics are still the same. Entries open for the 27th annual Meeker Classic on March 1st. The draw follows on April 15th and then before long, we’ll see the welcome sight of trailers and vehicles loaded with Border Collies pulling into the streets of Meeker!