The survivors come back to Kilcowera.

Hereford calves at Kilcowera Station, Outback Australia.

After 5 months living the good life on a station near Bollon the 100 odd cattle we had on agistment have arrived home.  We put them in the cattle yard at Zenonie and branded the few calves that had been born while the cows were away.  Apart from 4 littlies, they were too small so they and their Mums went into another paddock close by the yard.  

One of those mothers is Suze; she was a poddy calf that Angela and I caught near a trough about 4 years ago.  We must have gotten her mother when we were mustering and maybe put her into another paddock. Sometimes the mothers plant their calves under a bush and go into water and come back to pick them up later.  But Suzes’ Mum didn’t come back so the poor little calf went looking for her and we found her instead.  Suze has had 2 calves now.

                  

We also had to spray the cattle for buffalo fly which they picked up while on holiday.  We don’t have the fly here yet and  would like to keep it that way.  Then it was back to the paddock for them. 

Fantastic to see them walking through feed up to their bellies and looking shiny, healthy and happy.  There were grasshoppers flying up out of the grass everywhere, little quail and their chicks running for cover as we came through the grass and big fat golden orb spiders hanging between the mulga trees in their golden webs.

Now we just have to try and buy some more cattle to bring here and breed our numbers up again.  There are going to be some lean years ahead for smaller landholders like us who don’t have the financial capacity after 9 years of drought to buy in large numbers of cattle.