Rounding Up the Cattle

Rounding Up the Cattle

The phone rings, it’s Shane:

Shane: The steers (castrated male cattle) are fence crawling out of this paddock out here and getting onto the highway.  I’m going to get your Dad’s truck and take them down to Slogan to put on agistment.  Can you please get the steers from home and put them in the yards, I’ll be there soon to load them and take them too.

Me:  Ummmmmmm okay, I will try but I don’t like my chances.

Shane:  Nah, you’ll be right mate, just stick it to them.

Okay, I can do this,  Surprisingly I prefer a two wheeled motorbike to four wheeled one or a “qaud”.  But with kids it’s easier to carry them on a four wheeler.  I’m not very confident with cattle, and the cheeky little buggers know this and like to go hide in eroded creeks or scrub where I can’t get to them.  But anyway, I will try.

So Clancy (5) and I don on the work clothes, fill the bike (such a big job, we’re getting a whole 8 head of cattle in!) and make sure we are covered in sunscreen because it’s so hot!  Off we go!

Off we go up to the cattle yards to set the gates right so that the cattle run in (hopefully).

Gates all set, off we go

Of course the cattle are in the furtherest corner in the paddocks from the yards, but after a few false starts I get them out of the corner and on the way to the yards, with help from Ajay the Kelpie and Buddy the WonderLab

And lo and behold, it was one of the easiest “mustering” sessions I’ve ever done.  They went in the yards no worries.  High fives between Clancy and I.

Work over, time to go home and it’s Clancy’s turn to “drive”.  Very humbling to put your safety in the pudgy hands of a five year old and a 400 horse power motorbike.