Jan Lowing has an old school approach to working dogs, and it’s proving a winning formula.
Story Bruce McMahon Photos David Kelly
At Karmala, about 40 kilometres south of Toowoomba, Jan Lowing breeds working dogs that are sold across Australia and the world, from Austria to the Americas. Coy about her age (“just say I was born while Dad was away at the war, the second world war”), trim and fit Jan has bred champion sheep and dogs since she was on the family farm in western Victoria’s Lake Bolac district. It is perhaps a talent inherited from her grandfather, who had a Merino stud and was a stud-stock manager, breeding stud Herefords, sheep and thoroughbreds. As a young girl Jan was always taken with sheep, bloodlines and genetics.
“I think it [stud breeding] flipped a generation and landed on me,” Jan says. “I was always mad on horses, but father wasn’t very keen on that idea. Being a good Scotsman, he thought that was a terrible idea and that you should put your energies into something that gave you a bit better return.”
This story excerpt is from Issue #117
Outback Magazine: February/March 2018
