Thursday's Country Life - Trucking Cattle

It recently occurred to me that it's been quite a while since there was a 'Country Life' post here...Seems the cows are a bit upset about that... How embarrassing would it be to have that much slobber on your chops when you have a complaint to make?

This old girl is positively peeved....Perhaps her calf has sucked the life out of her - these old girls are all looking a bit bony, thanks to their calves and their lives as 'breeders'. (The fact that I took these pics at the end of winter when the feed was pretty light on will have contributed to that, too)

Do you see that funny looking construction behind the old grey girl? That's a double decker loading ramp. When cattle are trucked, we sometimes use double deck trailers to carry them where they are headed. In this case, to our other block, for greener pastures.

The truck and trailer here are our own, and only one deck high - so it looks as though the top ramp leads out into the fresh air - when there is a double deck truck, that ramp delivers the cattle right onto the top storey of the truck. I wonder if cattle consider that prime real estate, or is having a view not as big of a deal to Bovines? I don't speak fluent cow, so I'll possibly never know.

Can you see the bloke climbing the side of the truck in the background? That's my main man..."Pa" to his daughters - in - law... checking his girls to make sure they're loading properly and are all safe and comfy, ready for their journey - much like the stewardess striding up and down the plane aisle, making sure everyone has their seat belt fastened and trays in the upright position...except his hair and make-up aren't quite as carefully attended to, and I'm pretty sure he'd struggle to climb the side of that truck crate in high heels too...it's hard - I had to do it once, and I'll give you the tip - it's better to take your heels off first! I won't even elaborate on the details of how my good clothes looked (if I had on high heels, you can be sure I was in good clothes...catching a ride in the truck to the big smoke) suffice to say -  it ended badly. For me, anyway, the cow causing me to be required to climb the side of the crate got up off the floor and things were all good for her!

I love pretty much everything about my life...except cattle truck crates dripping with fresh cow poo!!

All In A Day's Work...

Our Middle Prince is very attached to his dogs. This one's name is Demon. His middle name is Derek. We may have the only dogs in the district who have been given second names...But that's not really the point. The point is, Demon Derek went mustering with his Dad yesterday...

He joined some other dogs, and men on horseback to get the job done. Then he smelt a pig. Not your cute, pink, farmyard variety pig, but a big, stinky, ugly, mean, feral pig.

With tusks.

Big, sharp tusks.

I don't have a photo of this pig for you - there's a number of reasons for that. Firstly, I wasn't on the scene at the precise moment of combat. Secondly, you really don't want to see how everyone looked when the encounter was over. Trust me on this.

I arrived after receiving an agitated phone call from the middle prince (by the way...what did rugged, outback mustering men do before mobile phones???) "Come down here quick, a pig just ripped my arm open"...well, if I'm truly frank, there was some slightly more colourful language in there, but this is a family blog, so we'll leave that to your imaginations.

It transpired that Demon Derek - the naughty little fellow - decided he'd rather have a fight with the pig than muster the weaners, and possibly bit off more than he could chew...not difficult since he really has no teeth to speak of. My poor kid flew in to save his dog; his dog let go of the pig; the pig swung around and with his mean, ugly, disease infested tusk ripped open my precious baby's arm!

Eleven stitches, a tetanus booster and a course of antibiotics later, Demon Derek's Dad was home from the medical centre. He threw down a couple of painkillers - and went back to work. As you do.

"Dad, I'm real sorry...I promise I won't go chasing pigs when I'm supposed to be mustering weaners ever again"

Yeah. Right...

**The photos for today's post were taken by the Middle Prince's Princess..thanks my sweet girl!**

Thursday's Country Life - Happiness Is...

Here's "Pa" (He isn't actually any one's Pa...but our son's beautiful ladies call him Pa, and it's kind of sticking.) I married him a long time ago. In fact, we're still married. Which I guess is why I answered the call to leave my studio and take a 4 wheeler motorbike miles from home for the purposes of one of the boys doing a quick lap to check for any stray cattle. While we waited, he sat under the tree, with his cows penned up in the square, and had a 'deep and meaningful' with Spud, while Dozer stayed close by. I know...who names these poor dogs? Not me! it's possible that "Pa" is as happy right here in this photo as he ever is anywhere. Faithful hound? Check. Trusty Steed? Check. Cows? Check. Wife close at hand? Check. Son's working alongside? Check. Yep. Happy as a clam. There's not much else this precious soul needs in the world (except perhaps an old western movie and ice cream).

Spud is probably pretty happy too...Can't say what he went chasing to collect that cobweb and bit of fluffy nonsense on his nose, but he's just had a big old ear scratch and yarn with the boss, so all is right in his world.

The 'girls' are pretty happy too - more lush green feed than they've seen for years, and they're about to have an adventure! In a minute, they'll leave their paddock and have a walk through a couple more to get to the yards for a swim...well, maybe jumping into a plunge dip designed to kill the ticks isn't quite the poolside adventure they dream of, but it's a change of scenery. And I'm certain that being tick free makes them very happy! I know I'm always really excited to be tick free...In fact, when you're having a bad day, things seem much better when you stop and say to yourself  "I'm so thankful I don't have ticks".

Try it sometime soon!

Helicopters Aren't Just For Joy Flights!

Some days the boys face a mustering job that is quite big, or perhaps involves some poorly educated cattle. So in addition to having the horses saddled up and on the job, we have the luxury of adding a mustering helicopter to the mix. This groovy yellow bubble drops down in to our backyard (which, admittedly, is larger than your standard suburban backyard) and picks up the lucky jackaroo (that's 'cowboy' for my friends in the USA) whose job it is to accompany the pilot, show him where to go, and keep an eye out for cattle.

Now because this is a highly sought after job around here, the only photo I have of chopper mustering is one I took when we went up to check out the floodwater a little while ago, but the vision from the air of cattle moving away from the chopper is much the same, just without all that water! The helicopter is very effective in pushing a lot of cattle together pretty quickly, making the task for the men on horseback much easier. What this means in real terms, is that they're back at the house sooner looking for 'smoko'. Is there anyone out there who still uses that expression for morning tea? I'm certain the boys would tell you that isn't the reason they ring Jack and get the 'bird in the air', but it's definitely the biggest impact of the job from my point of view (seeing as how I am the producer and provider of cups of tea, scones, cakes, biscuits etc. etc. etc...I'm just so happy to have discovered the recipe for the orphanage sized chocolate cake that thay all love. It even lasts longer than two days!)

If you're fascinated by all this, and would like to discover more about helicopter mustering, I can recommend Fiona Lake's website. She travels the northern parts of Australia, photo-documenting work on the big stations (Ours, at 27,000 acres is quite small by comparasion!). Her website has fantastic photos and plenty of interesting information, including some sound explanations of the various terms used in different countries to describe the properties where cattle are raised, and the people who work on them!

Thursday's Country Life

Today sees the beginning of what I hope will become a regular post - Thursday's Country Life. I owe the inspiration of this title to our local rural publication The Queensland Country Life, which is circulated (you guessed it!) on a Thursday.
The handsome fellow above is Louie...hard working Kelpie, whose job description includes keeping wayward weaners in the mob, hurrying up stragglers (of the bovine variety) and racing around to the front of a mob of cattle to 'block them up' (in other words, stop them from racing off like crazy things and teaching them some manners!) Isn't he gorgeous?

Louie has many colleagues...Tina,Dozer, Red, Spud, KO - so called because she got in much too close one day and scored a solid kick in the head, and was knocked out! Poor baby...but, she came to, and went looking for the demon creature who had clobbered her, and hasn't stopped since! (She's the little black one that the boys reckon looks like a piglet!)
The cattle dogs are important members of the workforce around here, especially so when we begin weaning: the calves that have grown big enough to be weaned off their Mamas get yarded up together in a small yard overnight, and they are let out into a bigger yard each day to learn all about the wonders of hay and feed supplements. Their movement in and out of the yards is achieved by a man or two on horseback, and a handful of dogs. In the course of repeating this movement morning and evening for a few weeks, the young cattle are 'educated', so when it's time to muster them from a big paddock later, they will have some manners and behave in a manner becoming to bovines. Also, in a manner conducive to the safety and well being of the horsemen working them.
Weaning will begin here very soon - oh joy! The dust drifts in on the cool breeze from the cattle yards, and settles on every horizontal surface in the vicinity! I have taken to asking people not to write the date when they sign their names in the dust on the furniture!
Another thing that will happen here soon is Farm Day. On the 29th or 30th May, we will be visited by a family from the city, who have registered their interest in visiting a farm on the Farm Day website. It's exciting to have the opportunity to share our love for our land and our lifestyle with a family from the 'big smoke'! Watch this space for a full report on our Farm Day fun in a few weeks!

Here's how today started...


I don't go out mustering very often - in fact, I wasn't really mustering today. I was driving the Toyota along behind this mob, to give a ride to any babies who were having trouble keeping up...as it turned out, only one.

Cattle in the yards...time for a cuppa! ("Mum's got that bloody camera again...Take that thing away!")
The girls enjoy having their photos taken much more! Actually, I think they were only checking to see I hadn't stolen their babies...Oops! This little one crawled under the rail to find her mum...isn't that a sad sight? But she crawled right back again and continued hollering for the one soul in her world who could make everything right - and fill her tummy, of course!

The main reason for these photos is because I really wanted to share a different story - one you'll thank me for NOT photographing! On my return to our digs, I was met by the chewed off head of a wallaby - right at my back door. It was a bit reminiscent of Skippy meets The Godfather! And smell!!! Phew! There are currently 2 small dogs being questioned and DNA tested.....

I rolled right along to next job on the list - cleaning 'the quarters' for a young Swedish fellow who's coming to spend a few weeks in our employ...Upon opening the toilet door - I couldn't believe it...I couldn't breathe, either...A very big, very dead snake. And I thought the wallaby head smelled bad....One of the boys asked what kind of snake it was - I didn't hang around to do the DNA testing on that one...dead and big were more than enough information for me!

Not sure what makes me want to share all that with you...or what cosmic message the big guy upstairs is trying to send...what could it all mean? Maybe to appreciate that my olfactory senses are in really good nick? Perhaps a veiled reminder of the fragility of life (veiled in awful smell...)? Not sure I have any idea. What I do know is that life in the bush is wonderful - most of the time...and when it isn't, it isn't in the most convincing ways!