DROUGHT........

Mustering cows 

We should be used to it by now...or rather we should have worked out how to cope better with it...you would think after all Australia is the driest continent on earth

.We should all have a ' strategy ' ( hate that word ) in place.....or finances arranged and set aside.

You know something put away for a 'rainy day'...or in this case a 'lot of non-rainy days'

I'm sure people away for the rural industries probably shake their heads and wonder why they basically hear nothing about matters away from the big cities .....until there's a drought...and then a wet-behind-the-ears journalist is dispatched from Channel whatever with a camera crew in tow to rush out to the worst affected area's and shove a microphone in the face of a poor over worked desperate and  destitute farmer and ask him ...wait for it...what is he going to do about this DROUGHT!!!!

I saw it last night on the news.....I felt so sorry for the poor fellow trying to answer the stupid questions and not cry. I felt sooo annoyed and frustrated by the reporter's lack of understanding and utter neglect for the position the man was in.

Let me try and explain what we have here.

Drought in western Queensland

We'll use a fictuious farmer and call him Joe Blow...Joe for short.

 Up until 18 months 2 years ago he was chogging along making a living..not a fortune..just a living breeding cattle for the live export trade
...he had been doing this for quite a number of years and he and his bank manager had a mutual understanding. The bank lent him money to run his property and for his family to live until he mustered and wearned his calves from his cows.
Then these grown calves or wearners would be sold and exported.
 He would receive money for the sale of his cattle which would go to the bank to pay off the overdraft .....and things would continue in this way year in year out.

Breeders  going back to the paddock after having their calves wearned

When hard years came about and Joe was faced with a DROUGHT and he had to hand- feed his cattle to keep them alive he would go to the bank for more money and the bank would be happy to give him more because the bank would know that the market for his cattle.... eg the'trade' was there and even though the money per head would be less this year ...at least there was income coming in and hopefully there would be good years to follow to the take up the slack..so to speak.

Now..because the export trade was stopped overnight by some 'do gooder' ...another story.
Joe was suddenly left with no where to sell his cattle.
The complete lack on any income was bad enough....but many other hardships arose from this predicament.

Feeding cotton seed to cattle to keep them alive during a drought

 ....His land which usually ran say 1000 cows that had calves at a rate of 70%.
 You never in that northern Australian country get 100% calving ...in fact 70% is probably stretching things a bit
...so Joe would in normal years get approx 700 calves..which grew up and were sold off.
 But now that he was stuck with these unsaleable (calves ) wearners.
So now he is being forced to run 1700 head of cattle.

Cattle tucking in

This causes what is called 'over stocking' and means the cattle eat all the grass available and when that is done the cattle starve to death.....unless the farmer hand feeds them at great expense.

 Joe feeds them as he loves his cattle...in his own way...they are also his only way of making a living and he then has to go back to his understanding bank manager and ask for more money.
At this point the bank manager starts to become much less understanding.....he Joe has no way of repaying this extra loan to buy feed ..but the bank manager reluctantly lends him the finance. It's within his interest to do so...you see.

 They both know this is the start of the end for Joe.

Coupled with this Joe has 2 children away getting an education at boarding school. This is necessary because of where his property is situated......500klms away from the nearest secondary school. The children were home-schooled by their mother until they needed to go to high school. These kids will now have to come home as Joe can't afford the fees or the travel costs. That's pretty much the end of their education...due to his lack of finances Joe can't afford payed help so the kids become his work force.

(can you imagine the uproar in the city's if a child couldn't finish he's or her education)

Joe has one option available to him and that is to take advantage of southern cattle markets.

 The saleyards can take his cattle ...... As it turns out he is forced to send his young cattle south..if only to get rid of them off his property to relieve the over stocking situation and stop the need to hand feed his cows, and hence gain some control over his finances.

A cattle sale ..buyers in the foreground..auctioneers on walkway.

 The closest saleyard is 1000klms away and the cattle are now not in very good condition to travel. The truck  trip takes 2 days. Half way into the trip the cattle are unloaded and rested and sometimes feed ( this depends on whether the stock agent in that particular town is prepared to get out of bed in the middle of the night or if he'd rather tell the farmer he'd done the job and charge him for the feed....how is he, Joe ever going to know if his cattle were feed or not.

When they eventually arrive they usually spend a few days in the saleyard waiting to be sold.

Cattle sold through the saleyard system are auctioned and  sold on weight ....cents per kilogram of beast weighted over scales.
So farmers try to get their cattle to the yard with the least amount of 'post and rail' or time spent in stock yards and off their normal pasture. Cattle will lose weight rapidly when under stress also.

As you can imagine Joe's cattle sale money didn't even cover the costs of the freight.

Cattle truck 

People have been asking..why is this drought worse than any other...including the 2000's one which in some parts of Australia went on for 8 years.

Because if you are Joe and he represents our northern cattle producers...you have been through all of the above and when you are well a truely on your knees you are hit with a drought and no money to fight it with.

Story continues....

Joe has not received any rain for 18 months. This drought has been coming on for all this time and Joe has for the past 3 or 4 months been hand feeding all his cattle. He is now past the point of no return with the bank and everything that is being spent is borrowed money.

Banks will lend the money to keep the likes of Joe going ...but only until the drought breaks and his property can be put on the market and sold so the bank can recoup it's investment.

When the little shinny journalist turned up at Joe's place the other day and asked him 'What is he going to do about the drought' .............What was Joe to say...pretty much what he said ...he is just trying to keep his stock alive....he is just trying to keep going ...one day at a time....trying to keep food on the table....

He didn't say it was all over because he is a proud man like all men on the land ...they will give up with out a fight.

Some though are over the fight and just can't get out of bed and face dying cattle or dry dams one more day. ...these family's are walking off their places and leaving them to the banks...what's the point they say we don't own them !!


So when a polly in shinny new RM's goes up there to assess the situation and we see him on the ABC news picking his way carefully through poor ol'Joe's cattle yards trying not to stand on anything soft and squishy.... and holds a press conference while trying hard not to swat the flyes.....and tells how he is going to give X amount of relief dollars to 'keep farmers going through the drought' ...

Really as you can see by the above writings...it's like shutting the stable gate after the horse has bolted.

I personally think there is one sure way to correct this everlasting merry-go-round of drought..floods...good time and bad times.

WE NEED A FARMER'S BANK.

 This bank would lend money at a very reduced rate....a rate that is low enough to allow progress and development to go ahead on farms. Also this would allow young.. go ahead... up and coming farmers to borrow money to buy their own farms. This is so important as the average age of farmers in Australia is 60+.

Lets keep young people on the land

So many talented young people from farming family's are forced to go to the city's to work and the times where farms were passed on from one generation to next is long gone ..The older generation
 is forced to either stay on the farm and die there.... or sell to retire.

There just isn't any money.

In answer to my question asked at the start of this rant ...

Why are farmers not prepared for droughts as we all know they are a regular accuracy  in this country.......??

I think I have answered that question


Until next time

REMEMBER... You can view my paintings and drawings check out my website I will ship any where in the world
http://www.theoutbackartist.com.au/     

Contact be by email sandy@theoutbackartist.com.au

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Am I getting old and out of touch?

Am I the only person who is completely SHOCKED by the lastest work by one of ...I think....Australia's leading young artist?

I would love to know what others think of this ' work of art '

S'pose by now your wondering what I'm on about 

Well....wait for it




IT REALLY IS ABOUT SEX AND DEATH , IN THAT ORDER.... ISN'T IT.......Ben's facebook comment regarding this painting.

I just don't understand why this wonderful talented artist has to stoop to this deep depth ....it is I would think done to shock , which is usually left to the untalented and disparate among us.

He is the one standing on the chair.

 ...just had to have a bit of a soap box moment .....hopefully he has this sort of thing out of his system and he will continue to blow me away with his usual masterpieces.

Such as this

I love the way he slaps on the paint and how he leaves the bare white canvas for his light.

That's all for now

I LOVE OLD PHOTO'S AND HISTORY

One sex one year old wethers Isis Downs 1915

Saw this old photo of Isis Downs shearing shed taken sometime around the 1915.
 It is an amazing photo featuring 30,000 sheep waiting to be shorn.
Legend has it that all these sheep were ' 2 tooth's ' or in other words 1 year old and that they were all wethers (male sheep). Just think there were a female equivalent waiting in the wings!

I have had a bit of a search on the wonderfulworldwideweb and come up with some great old photo's of the famous 'Isis Downs Station' at Isisford. It has a wonderful history which goes back to the opening up of western Queensland. In the Isisford/Ilfracombe/Longreach districts it was one of the first stations taken up. Other included' Portland Downs' and 'Wellshot'.

Isis Downs shed  1915

This shed was built around 1910 and was revolutionary in it's day for a number of reasons...

Firstly it was semi-circular not heard of in shearing shed designs before. This was a lot more practical as wool tables were in the center of the shed with shearers working round the outside......roustabouts had less walking and sheep penned up well. There were probably a lot of other reasons but that's all I can think of with out delving into things more....lazy bloger....

Secondly it was run wholly on electricity.......this shearing shed in isolated western Queensland had 'power' before Melbourne......so legend has it anyway.


How is this possible you ask. Electricity was produced from steam. The hand pieces the shearers used were driven by steam also. The shed could utilize 52 shearer's. All the wool pressers were stream driven and there was also a little steam driven train which had carriages to cart the wool from the main shearing shed to what was called the 'dump shed' where wool was 'dumped' into bigger bales to then  be loaded ..by a steam driven loading system on to the first steam driven 'road train' which carted the wool to Blackall wool scour 100 miles away.

Teams of men worked for weeks before shearing to stock pile enough wood to keep the fires burning.

Isis downs at the time this shed was constructed was 234,000 hectares and ran 360,000 sheep. It also employed well over 100 men at shearing time.

A group of Isis Downs jackaroo's  1920

Pictured are some Isis Downs jackaroo's . These Jackaroo's were usually son's of land holders and were doing a sort of apprenticeship in preparation for taking over family grazing property's, or going on to management positions on big company places like Isis Downs.

Isis Downs station hands about to start a days work.  1915

On the other hand also employed were ' station hands'. These men were of a very different class and means to the 'jackaroo'. They were workers and most didn't stand to gain anything other than employment. These men didn't usually have a lot of time or patience with their ' upper-class' work mates and sometimes went out of their way to make the others life a misery.

Sunday afternoon tennis party. Isis Downs 1915

Jackaroo's because of their 'gentlemen son's ' status socialised with the station manager and his family. Station hands never did.

The grand old Isis Downs Homestead

The lovely old Isis Downs homestead. This was taken in 1915. It was one of the few station homesteads that sported a lawn. Most others didn't have the water supply for such a luxury. But Isis had a weir in the near by Thornleigh Creek which made this possible .



This I suppose was the 1900's answer to the 'Pergola'. Looks awful hot to me!!

Isis Downs thatched shelter 1915

Isis Downs as it is today

It is now owned by Consolidated Press Company. All trace of the once mighty sheep station has all but gone....except for the shed ...it has not seen a sheep dragged across it's dusty board for a number of years ..but it is maintained to preserve history so that future generations can see how Australia was once built on the sheep's back.

Until next time

WONDERFUL NEWS

Oh I could dance a little happy dance!!!
I'm soooo happy to hear that Barnaby Joyce is now the new Minister for Agriculture.
This is such a POSITIVE improvement for our industry and all our agri businesses.

Barnaby will go in fighting for us we can rest assured of that.
I really think that things are going to turn round now for the 'Man (and woman) on the Land'.

Aside from Barnaby we have Tony Abbott at the helm and I am also a great fan of his...he is such a ' go getta' and I love the way he seems to at last have some understanding of what has happened to this great country of ours and what is needed to get it back up and running again.

We will really be OPEN FOR BUSINESS now........thank god.

But back to Barnaby......I really can't speak highly enough of him.

His passion for the land and it's people is quite moving.

He is like a blue cattle dog chomping at the heels of any one or thing he feels needs a 'sorting out'

He cuts straight to the point and doesn't beat around the bush...

And I think a lot of Politions are a little bit frightened of him...they just don't quite know what he is going to do or for that matter say next.....

Way to go Barnaby!!!

This is Barnaby the down -to-earth country boy

On a personal note .....Barnaby was along time ago our bank manager. He worked for Suncorp Bank in St George at the time we bought Argyle at Bollon and we dealt with Barnaby. I remember him then as being ...believe it or not... quite shy  and little unsure of himself. He has come along way since then.....

He has found his Passion and hit his straps and all of rural and remote Australians are right there behind him.

At last the future looks bright!!

Until next time.....

A LITTLE BIT OF AUSSIE NESS

Thought while I was on the subject of Droving .......


I want to share with you A.B. Paterson's wonderful poem

CLANCY OF THE OVERFLOW

I had written him a letter which I had ,  for want of better
Knowledge , sent to where I met him down the Lachlan years ago;
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just on spec , addressed as follows, "Clancy of the Overflow"

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar);
'T'was his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it :
"Clancy's gone a droving, and we don't know where he are."

In my wild erratic fancy , visions come to me of Clancy
Gone-a-droving "down the Cooper" where the Western drovers go ;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drovers life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on it's bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlight plain extended,
And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.

I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunshine struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty dirty city,
Through the open window floating, spreads it's foulness over all.

And in the place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle
Of the tramways and the buses making hurry down the street ;
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me, and their faces haunt me
As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,
With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted forms and weedy,
For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste.

And I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,
Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,
While he faced the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal
But I doubt he's suit the office, Clancy, of the Overflow.

How about that....such wonderful words....

This poem was written in 1889.....124 years ago.

And he thought things were hectic then....

I love the line

" for townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste"


But the 2 most beautiful lines are

" He  sees the vision splendid of the sunlight plains extended
And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars"

 This 'Clancy of the Overflow' was a real person , Thomas Gerald Clancy who Banjo (A.B. Paterson)  contacted while he was working as a Lawyer,  regarding an unpaided account.
Thomas was working on a sheep station called 'The Overflow ' 100 klms south west of Nyngan in N.S.W

He received a reply that simply read

" Clancy's gone a droving, and we don't know where he are "

He though it looked like it had been written by a thumb nail dipped in tar.......so this was the inspiration for this great Australian Poem....

It seems that the said ' Clancy ' years later wrote a  poem for Banjo called

                                                             Clancy's Reply

Neath the star-spangled dome
Of my Austral home,
When watching by the camp fire's ruddy glow,
Oft in the flickering blaze
The sun-drenched kindly faces
of the men of Overflow.

Now, though years have passed forever
Since I used, with best endeavour
Clip the fleeces of the jumbucks
Down the Lachlan years ago,
Still in memory linger traces
Of the many cheerful faces,
And the well remembered visage
Of the Bulletins "Banjo".

Tired of life upon the stations,
With their wretched, scanty rations,
I took a sudden notion
That a droving I would go;
Then a roving fancy took me,
And decided me to travel,
And leave the Overflow.

So with maiden ewes from Tubbo,
I passed en route to Dubbo,
And cross the Lig'num country
'where the Barwon waters flow;
Thence onward o'er the Narran,
By scrubby belts of Yarran,
To where the landscape changes
And my path I've often wended
Over drought-scourged plains extended,
where phantom lakes and forests
Forever come and go;
And the stock in hundreds dying,
Along the road are lying,
To count among the 'pleasures'
That townsfolk never know.

Over arid plains extended
My route has often tended,
Droving cattle to the Darling,
Or along the Warrego;
Oft with nightly rest impeded,
when the cattle had stampeded,
Save I sworn that droving pleasures
For the future I'd forego.

So of drinking liquid mire
I eventually did tire,
And gave droving up forever
As a life that was too slow.
Now, gold digging, is a measure,
Affords much greater pleasure
To your obedient servant,
" Clancy of the Overflow "



I read that Clancy and Banjo became life long friends

Until next time

18,000 CATTLE ON THE ROAD SOUTH

Over the past couple of weeks an interesting story is coming to light which has all the ingredients of a true Australian Outback legend in the making.

The right characters are all there. ..you have at centre stage the

 BOSS DROVER.....then you have

A very large amount of ....

CATTLE

Then the great Aussie

PASTORALIST

taking a risk only a mad man would take

And lastly you have

THE DREAM

....which to my mind is the most important ingredient.

The photo above is of the Boss Drover Bill Little who is probably a legend already in the Western parts of this great state of Queensland.
I'm not sure when he took on his first job of walking cattle from A to B. Thinking back it was probably around the mid 1980's

When ever you are driving the highways of the west and come across a drover it is usually Bill.
He is very noticeable by the way he sit in his saddle.

 A big man who is not to be messed with.....just the right ingredient for his ...I was going to say 'job' but I think 'passion' is a better word.

Droving is HARD you are out in the weather day after day night after night in all conditions.

You spend your days in the saddle and your nights in a swag.

There is no such thing as a day off.

You make discussions regarding your stock on an hour to hour basis and you and you alone are responsible for the safe arrival of these animals at their destination.

In this case this mob is worth in excess of $7 million

If you've had an inch of rain or 5 inches  and your horse and the cattle are knee deep in mud......if it is freezing with winds that will cut you in half....

It doesn't matter

The cattle still have to walk their 10klms a day ...this is the law imposed by the shire councils that the stock routes run through.

 A stiff fine is the result of not keeping the mob on the move.

But Bill is a master of his trade and if this outback legionary cattle drive is going to go down in history as the last great mass movement of cattle .....then having this man at the helm is the first ingredient for success.

The cattle have been purchased from the largest cattle company in Australia the Australian Agricultural Company know far and wide simple as the AA Company.

The cattle have come from the great cattle stations of the far north....places like the famed
'Brunette Downs'
It is situated on the Barkley Tableland of the Northern Territory.
It runs 110,000 cattle and is 660 klms north west of Mt Isa.

Then there's 'Anthony's Lagoon '
Another of the A.A. Company's major cattle factories.
It is also on the Barkley and is 440 klms north east of Tennant Creek.

And last but not at all least is

 'Camobie' which is in the far north west of Queensland and 180 klms from Julia Creek.

The cattle will be trucked to shires around the central western parts of Queensland ...like

Winton
Aramac and
Ilfracombe.

Each mob numbering 2000 head will be unloaded into the capable hand of drovers hand picked by the the boss drover.

They will follow each other leaving up to a week between mobs.

.
Bill will take the last mob.

In all 18,000 head of young female cattle will begin their journey south to Hay in New South Wales.

A journey of almost 3000 klms.

Bill has said he thinks it will take 3 months.

He is not concerned about the amount of feed for the cattle as they travel..but water he says will be the biggest thing on his mind as 18,000 head drink a lot and the stock route dams and troughs are not used to catering to this amount of cattle.

But of this he says that the cattle are all young and strong and if they have to go for a few 'dry spells' then this will not hurt them especially with winter in full force.

He says he is looking forward to the challenge and also feels that history is in the making...

Then we have the real risk taker enter South Australian Pastoralist Tom Brinkworth pictured above.

Don't let looks deceive you....

This humble looking 76- year- old  has a net worth of $200 million and controls   1 million hectares of agricultural land spread over 99 properties in his home state of South Australia and recently after purchasing the famous Merino Stud 'Uardry' has extended his interests into New South Wales.

 As yet he doesn't own any land in Queensland.

He also owns 350,000 sheep and 80,000 head of cattle....at last count!!

In an interview which he rarely gives, he is quoted as saying he has always been a fan of another days-gone-by great Australian Pastoralist Sir Sidney Kidman and says there is a lot to learn from this man achievements.

When asked if he considers himself a wealthy man he says he is 'comfortable'.....

" Wealth is related to the smallness of wants" he says.
He also says "I've got an awful determination"

.......... and a dream I'd say.


Well at last reports these 9 different mobs with their 9 different drovers and their men were all on the road and the 'Great Drive' has commenced.

I will try my best to keep you informed as this unfolds

Until next time.

Take a look at my paintings and drawings on my website
http://www.theoutbackartist.com.au

THIS IT JUST ME????

Today I was driving home from town and listening to the radio which is something I don't do that often...listen the the radio that is ...but as I was in the car I was listening . I heard that "the government" were going to do this great thing for the poor drought stricken... market falling...dollar dependant ..going out the back door ' cattle farmers', they were going to open some National Parks for the graziers to run their cattle....

Oh ..they said..how wonderful they said... ' the Government' were reacting positively to the situation ...and they said ..so quickly...they said...lets pat them on the back and sing FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW!!!!
they said

WHAT? ....I said

 How many cattle will this help?

I don't know figures but I believe there are something like 3/4 parks being opened up for the drought stricken north of Australia cattle herd....

I just sigh...and shake my head......

As usual they have it all wrong..

 The average Joe sitting in the city with no conception of the person on the land's really tragic position, probably thinks that this is a great and wonderful solution to this distant problem.

  Now they can go about their business and think that the situation has been taken care of.

Let me tell you what I think....of course I'll except that I could be wrong but this is the way I see it.

These National Parks were originally purchased by the Government to preserve the different types of country that makes up this great and vast land of ours.

But I have an idea it was really to give some 'warm and fuzzy's' to the green's and ensure their votes.

 Once this country became the property of the Government they pretty quickly deteriorated into feral animal havens and became over run with toxic weeds.
In most cases they were shut up and forgotten, so any buildings, fencers, and watering systems that were originally used fell into disrepair.

So my argument is this....how are these cattle going to be watered, separated &  managed?

How are they going to cope with the dingo's, wild pigs and cattle killing weeds

....... it just sounds like this has not been thought through at all.

Oh and while I'm on my soap box how about this little treasure I also heard ..the do gooder's are against these parks being opened.
 They are saying this shouldn't happen as the cattle will destroy the fragile ecosystems .

Are they actually saying that cattle should be left to die or be shoot rather than return this country to it's original use?? Are they saying that the 'ecosystems' are more important than living breathing animals??

 Have we strayed this far from reality?

I have been saying for some time the gap between the city and the bush is just too wide.....

Just as a P.S.

Our property boarders a National Park not a large one....but still a National Park.

 It is disappearing in both lantana and rubber vine.

 Lantana is toxic to cattle and it is can completely take over country if not poisoned and controlled.
 Rubber vine will not kill cattle but will spread as well.
In the 7 years that we have been here not a single govenment employee has been any where near this NP to check or monitor it's condition.

Until next time......