Well readers we're about half way
through our outback cattle station experience. During our time here
we've been fortunate to take part in two musters or roundups as you
call them in the states. Most cattle stations do this by bike or
chopper but at Hillside the preferred method is on horse back. On the
second of our two musters we called in a chopper because we had a
road train coming in that day to pick up the cattle and Alan wanted
it done fast but the first muster was done on horse back with help
from one 4-wheeler and the Toyota.
 |
| A map of Hillside that Ellen and I had to jury rig to get on the computer. I think I might be a little off on my paddock naming too but the geography is more or less correct. |
For a muster at Hillside the whole
family gets involved. Everybody gets on horseback except Pete who
usually rides the 4-wheeler and Joan who was driving the Toyota that
particular day.Put all that together with the dogs and you have a
pretty large company working for the day. All the kids came along
since the first muster we did was more of a relaxed affair. We also
had some neighbors over to join in the fun and they brought their
kids as well. Brooke and Alan saw fit to give Ellen a horse for the
event but they said they didn't have one for me. You might think I
would have been put out by this but I'm actually not incredibly in
for horseback riding and was perfectly happy to observe from the
Toyota and 4-wheeler when I could pry Pete off it. For this reason, I
was hoping to get Ellen to write this blog but she deferred to me
saying she would add content as she saw fit. Our dear Ellen is
nothing if not shy :)
 |
| Ellen and Oakey |
So on a Sunday morning we all set out
into the paddock for the muster. I must admit that I was very
apprehensive about the whole affair. I haven't ever seen Ellen ride a
horse and I know nothing of her skill so, as her husband, I was
naturally concerned for her safety. You may laugh at this but since
she won't worry about herself I consider it my job to do so. I was
told to keep a good distance from the horses by Brooke. I got the
distinct feeling that this was more about preserving that ambiance
than about spooking the horses but what ever the reason I was happy
to oblige. As we got under way we found some stray cows in the
Hillside paddock so we moved them into the Cameron Creek paddock to
join them up with the rest of the herd. Moving these cows turned out
to be the beginning of the action for the day. One of them decided
that she had had enough of us and ran mad. Alan had to chase her down
on his horse which was no small feat. Generally he seemed to be
trying to get her to gallop toward the gate by keeping on the outside
of her. The trick was that she didn't want to go through the gate so
Alan had to run her until she got tired of these antics and walked
through. We ran them all down to the gate to the Corella Bore paddock
then turned West to get the main herd.
We found the herd by going up to the
troughs on the western side of the Cameron Creek paddock. That was
when the real work began. The riders rounded up all the cattle and
started pushing them to the East toward the Corella Bore paddock.
Brooke was in front leading the herd while Ellen and the kids kept
them together on the sides. Pete, Joan, and myself brought up the
rear with the dogs doing most of the work. I had never thought about
it before but the whole process is done very slowly. The musterers
can't go faster than walking pace for the cattle. This makes horses
rather ideal for the job. A horse and cow walk at around the same
pace, furthermore, a horse doesn't have a clutch begging for constant
attention. Sitting in the Toyota I reflected that it seemed natural
that mustering would be done with horses. I would reflect on this
more later but for now let's get back to the action, it's about to
get interesting.
 |
| Following the Herd |
As we pushed the cattle East along the
road we came to Cameron Creek. I know my poorly drawn map doesn't
have Cameron Creek meeting up with the road but it does so bear with
me. Once we hit the creek the cows decided to do things their way and
took off. One of them went barreling up the creek and Alan, who was
riding out to keep such beasts from escaping, took off after it. They
were going flat out when they hit a soft spot in the creek and bit
the dust. Alan is more or less indestructible and none of us were the
wiser until that evening when he said he'd been thrown.
In any case, we got the heard back
under control and pushed them through the gate into Corella Bore.
Since everyone had exerted themselves quite a bit we decided that we
should stop for lunch. This was an interesting affair. We pulled up
under a tree and got out a collapsable table. There were biscuits
(cookies), sandwiches, fruit, hot tea and coffee, chips, and
vegemite. It was like a full meal out in the bush. This was about the
half way point but Pete, Joan, and I were sent down into the Corella
Bore paddock to look for any cattle that were down there. We found
some and drove them up the fence to the corner of the Black Rocks
paddock. There, we met up with the rest of the herd and, all
together, we pushed them through the paddock to the house and into
the yard for counting and weighing.
Like I said, I was in the Toyota for
all this so the view I got was dusty and not too interesting for the
reader. Two weeks later we mustered them again and I was upgraded to
dirt bike status. This was to prove much more interesting.
ELLEN INTERRUPTION!!!
Ellen here to provide a little insight
into what it was like to be on horseback for the muster. The main
reasons for the horses here is mustering so they have a pretty good
idea about what they are supposed to do which is nice as long as they
behave. But of course, they didn't always behave especially the
longer we were out there. I was on a horse named Oakey who was known
to kick at other horses and to be a bit unruly at times. He never
kicked but he did get unruly. When following behind the cattle he
really wanted to walk up into the herd instead of hanging out behind,
and there were a few times that he did not want to get moving again
after stopping. He would almost always do this when Brooke and Allan
were around. There was also a moment when he decided he wanted to go
for a roll in the dirt which required a really quick dismount from
me. I had to give him a kick and a bit of a yell along with the other
riders around me for being a bit of an ass. Overall it made for a
really nice day of riding around the station.
</Ellen>
The horseback riders went to get the
herd on the day that the truck was coming to pick up the ones we had
slated for sale. After the first muster we put them in back in the
Corella Bore paddock to await transport. On this particular occasion
we had a helicopter at our disposal and the pilot, whose name was
also Dan leading to a lot of confusion over the radio, told Pete and
I that some cows were still hanging out near the troughs in the
Cameron Creek paddock. We zipped up there to drive them down to the
rest of the herd. There were two cows and a calf when we got there.
One of them was a crazy old grey cow that decided that instead of
doing what we wanted her to she would, instead, run for the scrub.
The chopper pilot told us that they had laid down in there and that
he couldn't get them out. We rode the bikes into the scrub and chased
them down.
I'm not sure how familiar every one
here is with riding a dirt bike through heavy scrub but I can attest
that it is a difficult and painful task. If you're not being hit in
the face by a turpentine bush then your getting caught on a log or a
gidgee tree. We slogged on though, and eventually the grey cow
decided that she'd had enough and broke into the clear. We spent the
rest of the trip tailing our small herd down to the rendezvous at the
gate between the Black Rocks paddock and Corella Bore. This was
easier said than done given that that stupid old grey cow made a bolt
every time she thought she was in range of a patch of scrub and much
of our time was spent chasing her down. Eventually we got her where
we wanted her so we stopped under a tree. When the rest of the heard
caught up we all pushed them back to the house.
The rest of that day was spent sorting
cattle that Allan wanted to sell from those that he wanted to put
back in the bush. It was an arduous process given that we had to
weigh them all again and it seemed that a rather surly demeanor had
settled over the herd. Allan was in the pen with them trying to drive
them up to the weight station. Often times they'd run mad and attack
him which usually ended up with my boss cursing loudly while quickly
climbing a fence.
Eventually we got them all weighed and
it was just a question of pushing the ones we wanted to sell on the
waiting road train. Again this was easier said than done. The cows
were all pretty hot and tired and had no inclination of getting on
the truck. To make matters worse, the driver seemed to be a bit of a
numb scull and forgot to keep count of how many cows had made it on
the truck. I have to give Allan his due, he kept his cool after being
attacked by cows all day and we got the truck loaded with relative
ease.
That evening Ellen and I sat down and
had a beer. As we laid down to watch some T.V. I think I must have
fallen asleep before my head even hit the pillow. It was a good day.
Keep on cattle truckin friends!
 |
| Sleepy Bruce is Sleepy |
No comments:
Post a Comment