Queen of the ranch
The world's most famous sheepdog lives in Oklahoma
S h e t r a d e d h e r d i n g s h e e p i n t h e h i l l s o f Northumberland, the northernmost county in England that borders Scotland, for rounding up cattle on the plains of central Oklahoma.
Meet Megan, the world's most famous border collie.
She became f a mous when Tuttl e r a ncher Brian Stamps paid $24,500 for her in February at the Skipton Auction Mart in North Yorkshire, England, where British shepherds have a reputation for breeding some of the best sheepdogs in the world.
At the time, it was the highest price ever paid for a sheepdog at the prestigious auction and believed to be a world record.
Stamps didn't realize he had paid so much money f o r t h e 2 ½ - y e a r - o l d border collie. The bidding was in guineas, and Stamps was confused by the exchange rate, plus it was difficult for him over the telephone to understand the agent placing the bids.
I t wa s 2 : 3 0 a . m. i n Oklahoma when the auction started and almost 6 a.m. before Megan was up for bid.
“I just told him to buy the dog,” Stamps said.
Stamps won t he bidding, but thought he had paid about $ 6,000 l ess than what he had for the border collie. He learned a few hours later he had paid a record price.
“A b o u t f o u r o r f i v e hours l ater, the phones s t a r t e d r i n g i n g f r o m p e o p l e i n t h e U n i t e d Kingdom wanting to do an interview with me talking about the world record, highest- price sheepdog ever sold,” Stamps said. “I was pretty shocked, but I was fully committed at that point.”
An English dog herds Japanese cattle in Oklahoma
It wasn't the first record price Stamps had ever paid for an animal at auction. Last year at a nati onal cattle sale i n Adelaide, Stamps set an all-breeds beef cattle record there b y p a y i n g $ 2 8 0 , 0 0 0 Australian dollars for a full-blood Wagyu heifer.
S t a mps a n d h i s t wo brothers made their fortune in oil and gas in the p a s t d e c a d e , a l l o wi n g him to buy four ranches i n Grady County where h e i s b r e e d i n g p r i z e d Wagyu cattle. Operating a s Gr a s s l a n d s Wagyu, Stamps is one of a handful of ranchers in Oklahoma b r e e d i n g t h e J a p a n e s e beef.
Stamps had one border collie working his highpriced cattle and wanted a n o t h e r . H e j o i n e d Facebook groups in search of a dog and discovered Megan, whose bloodlines on both sides are stacked with champions.
Megan, whose pe di - gree is one of the best in t he world, i s a nursery champion herself. Stamps thinks she could mop up in field trials in the United States, but he didn't buy her to collect ribbons. He wanted another working cattle dog.
“If you are running 300 head of cattle, a dog i s very important,” Stamps said. “It is a vital part of your ranch for everyday working. If you are going t o be out here pushing cattle through a pen or weighing them, or getting them up to doctor, you got to have a dog to work with you.”
Ranchers might di s - a g r e e o n w h a t b r e e d makes the best cattle dog, but Stamps' vote i s f or border collies.
“F o r h e r d i n g d o g s , t h e y a r e t h e s mar t e s t dogs,” said Stamps, who l e a r n e d t o t r a i n l i v e - stock dogs years ago after taking a class at Redlands Community College in El Reno from Bob Hooker, an iconic trainer of border collies. Hooker was director of the equine program at the college from 1987 to 2014.
The hills of Oklahoma instead of the fells of Northumberland
M e g a n a r r i v e d i n Oklahoma i n March. I t took a couple of weeks for her to adjust to her new home.
“She was really shy the f i r st couple of weeks,” Stamps said. “There was a real learning curve, I think because of the accent for t he most part. She had been so accustomed t o her handler and her daily habits, it took me and her a little bit to connect and get over the hurdle.”
One day, Stamps was having a di f f i cul t t i me with Megan responding to his voice and whistle commands so he reached out to her former owner, shepherdess Emma Gray in England.
Gray made a video of her commands and sent it to Stamps through Facebook messenger. Stamps played the recording for Megan and she immediately went to work.
“We've been i nsepar a b l e s i n c e , ” S t a mp s said. “She is super smart. I think she knows more than I do sometimes.”
O n W e d n e s d a y a t S t a m p s ' r a n c h n e a r Blanchard, Megan's j ob was to herd the cattle into the pen for weighing and help a Kansas buyer load five steers. She j umped out of the truck and lite r a l l y h i t t h e g r o u n d running. Stamps said she is the happiest when she is working.
“She knows when she hits the gravel road ( to t he r a nch) i t ' s t i me t o go to work and you can r e a l l y s e e her c ome t o life,” Stamps said. “Her mannerisms completely change.”
S m a l l a n d s p e e d y , Megan was constantly on the move, pushing cattle t hat weigh a t housand pounds more than her to the places Stamps needed them to be.
For almost four months, Megan had teamed with S t a mps ' o t h e r b o r d e r c o l l i e , Ca s e y , t o h e r d c a t t l e . But t hen Casey was killed, trampled by a mama cow in what Stamps called a freak accident. Stamps said in the days afterward he could t el l Megan missed her partner.
“It did affect her some, you could see, because she was so used to them two coming together,” he said. “They were really getting good working as a team.”
Now, Megan i s e v e n more valuable, as she is the only working cattle dog on the ranch.
Megan is so popular she needs her own Instagram
Megan was bought to be a working dog, but in the past eight months she became more than j ust a ranch hand. She is now part of the family.
When she is not pushing cattle on the ranches, Megan lives at home with Stamps, his wife, Mandi, their 7-year-old son, Grady, and the other dogs, a yellow Labrador named Rider and a German Shepherd named Thor.
“The first thing off the bus (Grady) asks to go play with the dogs,” Stamps said.
Megan loves to ride in the boat and often goes fishing with Stamps, especially on the Lower Illinois River where he owns a home and chases striped bass in the summer.
Stamps said everyone in the family has grown to love Megan, which is another reason he will never sell her.
It turned out Stamps did not pay a world record price for a sheepdog. It was later discovered that a border collie in the United States had been sold for $30,000 two years ago.
Still, the interest in Megan has been phenomenal.
Stamps has r ecei ved offers all over the world, but predominately England, from people who want to buy Megan or buy pups from her.
“I have had so many people that have called and expressed interest in a puppy,” Stamps said. “I couldn't keep up with it anymore.”
Megan will be bred soon to another border collie with a championship pedigree owned by a man in West Virginia. Stamps might sell a few pups from the litter, but will keep some of Megan's babies to train and become working dogs for his cattle ranches.
Megan already has proved to be worth the price of two part-time ranch hands, Stamps said.
But even as smart as Megan is, there are just s o me j o b s o n a c a t t l e ranch that a dog can't do. Grasslands Wagyu ranch manager Randy Childers is thankful for that.
“I f he f i nds one t hat knows how to weld, I am in trouble,” Childers said.