The roundup!

Can you believe that it’s already 2019?  My head is spinning with a pretty hectic end to 2018 (hosting Christmas for my husband’s family, using that as an excuse to do some MUCH needed improvements to our old home, then proceeding to get the flu before doing the branding!).

It’s fair to say that I only just managed to drag myself to and from the yards, do my cradle-side chores and keep everyone fed and watered for those two weeks.  Not a lot of photographing took place, unfortunately… but I did manage to drag the Nikon out to snap a few towards the end of the brand – and I am WELL overdue for a blog-post so here we go!

Action generally begins with the boss handing out brief orders and overseeing the action. 

Mark has some pretty handy dogs (who you can just see through the grass in this shot – I think that’s Maggie and Ginger hanging close to him until he gives the command).

The paddock shown here sits by the widest part of the river that runs alongside a lot of our place – it’s really pretty, not that the cows seem to care about the water views.

A couple of Brangus cows making their way towards the yards (you can just see a calf on the far side of the closest cow).

You can’t quite see Dash and his mate who are tailing the mob (to the left) in along the fence line near the water.  Violet is out to the right of the frame, turning the cows into the cooler. Mark doesn’t need to do too much here… just quietly positioning himself with dogs at the ready to make sure all cattle flow into the wire yards.

Here the mustering team (Dash, his mate Ben, Violet and Mark) are heading out into the next paddock (listening either to mustering orders or a bit of a yarn, hard to tell!).

While the team is doing their thing… I get busy snapping some pics of the gumnuts on trees in our yards, currently bursting into tiny delicate off-white flowers.

Just a little bit of bush magic, really…

Heavenly…

And soon enough, the team returns, poking along behind a mob of commercial cows (meaning they aren’t pedigreed and can have  breeding other than straight Brangus).

Definitely yarn-telling going on…

Couldn’t help but snap the multicoloured shirts…

Almost perfectly framed by fenceposts.  (These are the details that make me happy…)

The calves from these paddocks were then trucked to our main yards, where calves were branded.

Most of the branding and ‘cradle work’ – immunisations, ear tagging, branding – was carried out by our kids this year.  It’s quite amazing to be able to stand back a bit and let them take over… at 14 and almost 17 they are incredibly capable.

If you have been following me on my Facebook page*, you will recognise this image of Dash carrying an injured calf on his horse, Cherokee (also taken during branding, from a different section of the property).  The calf needed some treatment and antibiotics from some terrible injuries inflicted by wild dogs, usually dingo-cross canines.  (This pic went a bit viral too – with over 1000 reactions! Go Dash!).

For those wanting an update on this little guy: he had his wound cleaned and treated, had a shot of antibiotics, was given a drink of milk from a bottle – which he wasn’t thrilled about.  We put him with our two resident poddies, Dave and Betty, but he wasn’t thrilled about them either and was clearly distressed.  So (after much debate and deliberation) he was returned to his paddock about 20 hours after being discovered.  His mother didn’t show herself, so he was left by a trough near where he was originally found.  We have returned to check regularly – there is no sign of him (or any sign of a carcass either).  We have everything crossed that his Mama found him and has taken him off to a different watering point. Time will tell.

Wild dogs are a real problem out here, and injuries to calves have been up a bit this year –  it’s a bit heartbreaking to see our babies come in with bites – knowing their Mamas have tried hard to protect them from these predators.  It’s an ongoing challenge as we try to find that right balance between wildlife and our farmed stock. .

Overall though, we were really pleased with this year’s ‘crop’ of calves…

Especially some absolute little corkers, like this young bull calf.  He already has an ‘I am the MAN’ attitude at about three or four weeks of age! Cute as…

I love branding time … we get to meet our babies, see how our Mama cows are doing as the Summer progresses and know that one of the major annual tasks is being ticked off – even if the days are long and pretty damned dusty.

This week we are taking a break – where it isn’t the slightest bit dusty!  A beach break.

More on that next post.

😉