Yards and boys
I’ve been a little quiet here of late…
It’s time for first needles for our calves – we immunise them against all kinds of nasty things twice while they are young – now and again in 5 weeks time. We also brand then, which makes our post-Christmas ‘holiday’ time extremely busy.
I did manage to squeeze in a couple of VERY quick pics as the action unfolded.
This is a mob of cows being brought in by Lachy (our 19-year-old jackaroo). This shot appealed to me because of the calves’ ears. I know: simple things amuse simple minds!
Have you ever seen a tree with a canopy like this?
It’s ONE tree, planted around 60 years ago by my Dad. It has provided shade to thousands of cattle and workers over the decades. And it is now ripping out the rails and posts closest to its gigantic trunk. A little rebuilding will soon be required.
Below it is the drafting yard (where we draft off the calves) and crush where we ‘read’ all cows’ electronic tags before dipping them.
It’s also where the calves get their needle before they are reunited with Mum.
They don’t even say thanks before they tuck into a milkbar snack… little possums!
When I am not ‘manning’ the computer equipment along the crush, pushing cows up the race or counting them out into their mob, I am watching the menfolk move the cows from yard to yard. They process them as quickly as possible so they can all get home to their paddocks. The cows that is. The blokes end up back at Granite Glen usually. Looking for cold drinks!
The dude on the horse is Cal, Lachy’s 17-year-old brother. He was sporting one of the wildest hairstyles I have ever observed on a young bush bloke.
He’s a bull rider too, and spent the weekend away getting turfed by bulls. And getting a haircut. I think he looks MUCH better, but according to his Facebook wall, most of his mates are in deep mourning for The Mullet! Too funny.
And this bloke…
I posted this photo on my BB of Oz Facebook page late one night after working in the yards and woke to discover a LOT of likers. Tee hee. Well, I always KNEW it was a decent view. Now I know I’m not dreaming. My husband is nonplussed by the attention (even his sister and MY sister ‘liked’ the photo!). He’s not much of an attention seeker. One of the things I quite like about him, really!
I thought I’d push my luck and show you how good this view also looks in sepia (courtesy PW’s Soft and Faded action).
And yes, I have branded this photo. This butt is mine!
😉
BB
8 Comments
Nancy in Iowa
I don’t blame you, BB – I would brand that butt in a minute!
Love the calf ears!
Thea
Ha! Too funny!!
GREAT photos!
I can smell the dust and feel the flies. 🙂
Thea´s last blog post ..Photo A Day Challenge – December
Colin (HB)
Hi
Great photos of the work being done.
Thank your lucky stars that young Cal doesn’t have that spikey hair, that would look funny mustering cattle – ha ha!
Did you get any of the rain of yesterday?
Came down in buckets at 11.00am yesterday for about 90 minutes and not that horrible swirly stuff. Then drizzled on and off, sending the temps. plummeting.
Looks presently after a clear cloudless early morning that stage 2 will occur – dark clouds all over the sky.
Certainly hope that you are getting plenty of it up there on the Granite Belt.
Cheers
Colin
debby
Oh, my. Remember that little talk we had about self control? Sistah? You haven’t got a lick of it. 🙂
Anyways, I love your pictures, and I’m trying to imagine a tree trunk that could support a canopy of that size. P’raps you could try to snap a picture of that, with a kidlet or two thrown in for comparison purposes. What sort of tree is it? In any case, the calves’ ears were adorable, and I could nearly taste the dust.
debby´s last blog post ..The Weekend
Leenie
Love those floppy calf ears! And cowboy buns.
Leenie´s last blog post ..A CONFESSION AND SKETCHES
Lynda M O
Ears and Rears of Granite Glen. brought to you by the inimitable Amanda “Bush Babe” ____ ?~! by golly I am at a loss as to how to finish this off….
Thanks for the pictures, BB, your space is so very different from what I see out my windows. The beauty of the interwebs… my first experience of the web was a New Zealand Glass Museum site whose name is forever gone and whose images are forever ingrained. It was beauty incarnate and it wedded me to the idea of the Internet and its potential.
Each time I visit your wonderful blog I am again reminded of that museum experience and all that the blogging world has brought to me and millions around the world what we would never would have seen without it.
constance
I am impressed with your photography, and always enjoy your posts, especially the ones about working cattle. Raised on a ranch on this side of the Equator, it’s interesting that the lingo is equally descriptive on both sides. For instance, In this one you refer to a “crush.” We called the same gizmo a “squeeze.”
Love these little comparisons, even though the dust and grit of branding day is otherwise all to similar. Before the squeeze, it was rope and drag which was grittier than either the crush or the squeeze.
Keep up the good work — and Merry Christmas!
HCG Online
Superb. My thanks for posting that. I’ll return to this site to see what’s new and recommend my neighbors about you.