These girls are the cogs in the big machine, the power house of the business OR at least they should be!
For a change of pace I was inducted into the team, more like I need you to help! With Lachlan in charge you can rest assured not too much is left to chance...his preparation and attention to detail still baffles me and I love working with this kind of order (I attempt to display this kind of order in the schoolroom I might add - I can always learn something here I thought). With Lachlan pregnancy testing, Tim on the copper gun and Bundy in the back yards I ran up and down, up and down the race and vaccinated...I rarely display left brain traits but working for a left brainer means rising to the challenge. That said I had to have vaccinations in alphabetical order and count 1, 2 and sometimes 3 with not all breeders receiving the Pesti vaccination. Is this normal behaviour ladies?
The final round of calves were weaned and eventually the cows were turned out.
Our first mob going back to Herbert paddock which adjoins the mangroves right out the back...it is a safe time of year for them to be out there, a lesser chance of rain from now through to November (although looking at the paddocks I would like to be pleasantly surprised).
First mob into their paddock.
Most of the girls in this next mob were ready to be back in their paddock, they made their way up the lane on their own while we were taking the first mob back...we are loving the new laneways and it is making the work so efficient.
A novel thing to be able to get the bikes out on the plain...albeit not at all a comfortable ride!
My instructions:
You wait here I'll only be 10 minutes, maybe 15 if one of them wants to go back to their baby (only natural)...follow my hand signals (crisis - I don't understand the hand signals). Many years ago I watched Lach and Jason speak "man's speak" with hand signals. I watched in awe as they communicated that way and I had no idea what was being said. At this point I was really wishing I had brought the two-ways.
So while I waited and waited...a busied myself with some photography,
as I watched the girls come towards me.
What are the cows thinking?
Human + Bike = Home
She is just sitting there...
So they got a bit closer....
And closer...oh look one of my beloved Brafords, god bless her, not that pretty but she is in calf!
But this no.8 cow is what we are aiming for...a nice line of Brangus cows.
And then there are the ones with the personalities..."Do you think I can open this myself...I'm starving!"
They could see I wasn't moving...
so they walked away to graze the square...
still waiting!
About half an hour into it I had done the Math (always double the time period he tells you)...I thought another 10 mins of waiting was fair...then I might go looking. He returned with about 10 cows, of course they wanted their babies but they have to be weaned, so in the end the mob were all pretty keen to get home...here come the hand signals!
The cows are the workers on the place, we expect them to have a calf each year, we expect them to bring home a good sized weaner (that means she has fed it and looked after it). Some of these girls are about to have their 8th calf.
And this was my view as the last mob entered their fresh paddock, Fort Carlton.
4 wheelers aren't my preferred mode of transport on the plain. They aren't that comfortable, don't see logs or stumps and aren't that great for chasing cows...but today it did the job.
I rarely get to enjoy the wide open spaces, we have a great team that comes to help us with the cattle work. It was great to get on the ground and look at the paddock, the grass, how its been grazed and then discuss what worked, what didn't and more importantly how do we do it better next time. It is physically exhausting but the head space of being out in the paddock gives me the energy to get back in that schoolroom!
