SUNDAY (DAY 5)
Today we were up an hour early (5.30 wake-up) so that we could do a final bit of sorting out of cows as well as pregnancy testing, checking ear tags and their teeth. Today I worked the head bail, where you run a cow down a shoot and trap it in a ‘box’. From there Luke pregnancy tested the cow, and then I had to entice it out the front and then quickly catch its head in a vice type thing. I then checked for ear tags, which they have to have before they can be sold (to help trace where cattle came from) and then checked their teeth. It’s not always easy to get them to open wide when you have them stuck in a box struggling to get out, and man do those cows has sticky slobber!! My jeans looked like they had been run over by hundreds of slugs by the end of it! The purpose of checking teeth is to help with aging the cattle. I also learnt that I may have missed a calling as an ear piercer.
Once we got this lot up and onto the truck we drove out to Winton where the cattle were being held and sorted again – before sending some off for sale. Winton is just a casual 250 kilometres away from the station, on what seemed to be one long straight road surrounded by yellow scrub and red dust …. And I thought the M25 was boring to drive along. Apparently Winton has a bit of a reputation for bar fights; not too different from Winton at home really!
We finally rolled in just after 9pm – so was a pretty looooong day.
MONDAY (DAY 6)
Today we spent the morning doing a water run around the various paddocks. I am doing my best to try and remember their names and where all the dams, toughs and feed buckets are, but don’t think I have it all figured out just yet. Hardest thing is that at times some of the roads are only tracks and it’s not always obvious which way to go. I will have to study the maps some more, and I think that once I drive the route myself I will start to remember it all… but I will make sure I take an apple and some water with me, just in case!
After lunch I learnt how to change a motorbike tyre – not sure I have mastered it however, there are so many different things to remember! Myself and Nena were then given one to fix by ourselves, we did sooo well, but looks like a bit of the inner tube must have been punctured again during the final stage of putting it all back together because 30 mins after we fixed it, the bloody thing was flat again!! Booo, oh well practice makes perfect and all!
So far new skills learnt (but not yet mastered) in 6 days;
For now I will leave you with some photos of Heidi, the beautiful house calf who decided to try licking me to death tonight … I guess I can skip this evenings shower now!!
(grr these photos are a pain to load ... sorry if it doesn't work right now, I will try again tomorrow)
Today we were up an hour early (5.30 wake-up) so that we could do a final bit of sorting out of cows as well as pregnancy testing, checking ear tags and their teeth. Today I worked the head bail, where you run a cow down a shoot and trap it in a ‘box’. From there Luke pregnancy tested the cow, and then I had to entice it out the front and then quickly catch its head in a vice type thing. I then checked for ear tags, which they have to have before they can be sold (to help trace where cattle came from) and then checked their teeth. It’s not always easy to get them to open wide when you have them stuck in a box struggling to get out, and man do those cows has sticky slobber!! My jeans looked like they had been run over by hundreds of slugs by the end of it! The purpose of checking teeth is to help with aging the cattle. I also learnt that I may have missed a calling as an ear piercer.
Once we got this lot up and onto the truck we drove out to Winton where the cattle were being held and sorted again – before sending some off for sale. Winton is just a casual 250 kilometres away from the station, on what seemed to be one long straight road surrounded by yellow scrub and red dust …. And I thought the M25 was boring to drive along. Apparently Winton has a bit of a reputation for bar fights; not too different from Winton at home really!
We finally rolled in just after 9pm – so was a pretty looooong day.
MONDAY (DAY 6)
Today we spent the morning doing a water run around the various paddocks. I am doing my best to try and remember their names and where all the dams, toughs and feed buckets are, but don’t think I have it all figured out just yet. Hardest thing is that at times some of the roads are only tracks and it’s not always obvious which way to go. I will have to study the maps some more, and I think that once I drive the route myself I will start to remember it all… but I will make sure I take an apple and some water with me, just in case!
After lunch I learnt how to change a motorbike tyre – not sure I have mastered it however, there are so many different things to remember! Myself and Nena were then given one to fix by ourselves, we did sooo well, but looks like a bit of the inner tube must have been punctured again during the final stage of putting it all back together because 30 mins after we fixed it, the bloody thing was flat again!! Booo, oh well practice makes perfect and all!
So far new skills learnt (but not yet mastered) in 6 days;
- Mustering cattle on a quad bike and horseback
- Moving cattle between yards on foot
- Identifying a good looking cow
- Tagging cattle
- Checking cattle teeth
- Pregnancy testing cows
- Changing car tyres
- Fixing inner tubes (car and motorbikes)
- Driving a lorry
- Driving a 4x4 truck
- Fixing wire fences
- and many many more!
For now I will leave you with some photos of Heidi, the beautiful house calf who decided to try licking me to death tonight … I guess I can skip this evenings shower now!!
(grr these photos are a pain to load ... sorry if it doesn't work right now, I will try again tomorrow)
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