CALF_News_December_2019_January_2020

46 CALF News • December 2019 | January 2020 • www.calfnews.net  Tell us why you read CALF News ! Go to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/calfnews R ecollections BY BETTY JO GIGOT PUBLISHER . ALL OF US HAVE UNFORGET- TABLE EVENTS IN OUR LIVES … those moments that bring back fond memories and good stories. One of mine is my first visit to a station in Australia’s Outback. One of the first things you learn about rural Australia is that kangaroos are kind of like cats; once you’ve seen a few, you hardly notice them anymore unless they choose to hop out in front of your vehicle, which they often do. Most vehicles there have “roo bars” wrapped around the front end to ward off serious damage to the vehicle’s exterior and avoid broken windshields. The highways are two lanes with huge rocks on the shoul- ders and no speed limits. Need- less to say, rocks fly and so does glass. The station was north of Alice Springs, up the Stuart Highway that runs through the MacDonnell Ranges. Ranges in the Outback are massive outcroppings of red rock, remi- niscent of Monument Valley in the southwestern United States. Short shrubs dot the country- side as do anthills built out of the red dirt. Many of those hills are several feet high. After settling in at the station house, a tour was in order and, around the first curve, was a large bull writhing in the middle of the road. He was a “micky bull” – a bull that hadn’t ever been gathered – and he was dying of botu- lism contracted by eating bones from an infected animal. As cattle are gathered out there, they are vaccinated for botu- lism. His end was not nice. Early the next morning, we were on our way to the muster. My station manager proudly wore his tall-crowned, big-brimmed akubra (hat) that had obviously been to many musters and probably a few horse and lizard races. Bumping down the road, he shared his philosophy on management. in the shade when they could. Using the noise of the helicopter to flush the animals out, the cattle automatically moved to the nearest path and headed for the corrals. It wasn’t their first rodeo. Topping a rocky knoll at breakneck speed, we spooked a pair of Euros – a type of kangaroo that has hair instead of fur. Every once in a while, kangaroos would jump up and hop furiously across the barren terrain. After the cattle were flushed out by the helicopter, they were herded by horse- back toward the pens. Strays were gathered by vehicle and sorting began for market ready, culls and disposition. One old lady cow with crazy eyes showed her displeasure by attacking the vehicle. She obviously needed to go down the road. After the cattle were mus- tered and penned, Billy tea, coffee, sandwiches and rock melon (cantaloupe) were spread on the tailgate for a midday meal. Another day in the life. Obviously, life on the stations is isolated – the closest neighbor could be 30 miles away – and there are challenges every day. The lifestyle also has its allure, a kind of romance that cannot be denied. It has been almost 30 years since I went on a muster, and I still can feel the heat, smell the dust and thrill from the excitement of a life few will ever encounter. I would do it again. NEXT TIME: MORE AUSTRALIA.  “It all boils down to dollars and cents,” he said.“That is the only thing that makes sense. You have to breed for the market. It has to fit. There is a good future for the business if we breed what the market wants. If you have ‘good doers,’ everyone wants to buy them.” About then, red dirt boiled up in front of us and a mob of cattle appeared through the dust. We had arrived. Within minutes, a tiny, two-seat heli- copter landed and I was whisked away. Dancing across the landscape, sometimes barely above the treetops, I soon learned it takes a trained eye to spot cattle. There weren’t many trees, but the cattle stayed