This morning I was woken by the loud, unimpressed bellows of six Brahman calves, demanding breakfast outside my bedroom window. Anyone who has had the pleasure of working with Brahmans knows how deep their voice is, definitely not something easily ignored, although I gave it my best shot.  But it was at this point that my little orphan kangaroo, Recky, decided to get in on the game, extracting herself from her hanging bag to do laps around my room, which included the odd shortcut across my bed and me. And so began my day, a good hour earlier than I would have liked.

First, I should give you a bit of an overview of our business. We produce high percentage Brahman cattle for the livestock export industry, with the station being the ‘breeding block’ of the business and the farm used for ‘finishing’ sale cattle. We also have a Brahman stud at the farm, with which we breed our herd bulls to go out on the run on the station. We are constantly striving to improve the quality of our cattle, with our main focus on temperament, conformation and fertility. We are also involved in a ‘profit sharing scheme’ with a good family friend and excellent farmer who has a property about four hours north of Perth, where the majority of our steers are sent through out the year, but I’ll go into more detail about that a little later. 

At the moment, I am up at our family’s cattle station with my mum, Susan, keeping tabs on things here, with water the top priority.  My dad, Peter, and brother, Murray, are currently down south at our second property, where the majority of our sale cattle are residing, ready to be sold over the next couple of months. Between the four of us, we manage both properties, with everyone getting the chance to do a stint at each one.  During the mustering season which runs from May through to September, Mum, Murray and myself are based at the station, while Dad keeps things ticking over on the farm as well as shifting cattle between the two properties with the roadtrain. Any time it looks like things might be easing up a bit for him, we’re not slow to recruit him back to give us a hand with a muster. Over summer with the temperature nudging 50 degrees plus in the shade at the station, we rotate between both properties, so everyone gets a chance for a break and a little more of a normal social life before the mustering season fires up again next year.

In a couple of days time, I’m heading south to the farm with my six calves, my horse Sully, little Recky Roo and my blue heeler, Leah in tow so I’d better get packing. Thank you for the chance to tell you a little about my life on the land and our involvement and dedication to the livestock export industry.  Until next time…