Hodgson River Station (2013-2015)
Location: Hodgson River Station, NT
Website: Cattle Producer
Hello Central station readers,
I’m located in the NT with my husband and 2 children. We operate a small cattle property in the Roper Gulf breeding Droughtmasters. Our main turnoff is to the live cattle export trade, particularly Indonesia but also the countries that take heavier cattle like Egypt and the Philippines.
In the articles I write for ‘Central station’ I am hoping to take you mustering with us from when we start to get things ready and then through the actual mustering and yard work process.
We use 4 wheeler bikes and hire a chopper, our country is very rugged hopefully the cattle well behaved and the weather at the moment is truly beautiful. So please join me as we go mustering, bring the cattle in and sort them out.
Drilling for water
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. I’m trying to focus on ‘change’ this week and have twisted the arm of my father in law (Pop) who has an incredible memory for detail, he used to drill for water in his younger days. Well digging. Is in its very […]
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Horses, Camels, Medical emergencies, and Isolation
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. This week I was trying to look at different aspects of ‘change’ in the northern beef industry. Today I’m using some old photos from my husband’s family to consider some points of how things have changed from the early 1900’s and through that century […]
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Trucks – needed but not always liked!
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. Like most properties we’ve never been able to warrant the expense of paying for new and shiny trucks, because the money could be spent looking after our cattle, so we’ve tended to make do with what we had or bought second hand ones. […]
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Monitoring the condition of the land
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by: Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. In the early 1990’s a Pastoral land care group in Alice Springs, solely as an initiative of the producers developed a system of land monitoring. This is taking a photograph and recordings of a set site after a rain event or at […]
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The unwanted and often despised
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by: Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. Water buffalo. This breed of buffalo is the swamp variety that pretty much invaded through population explosion in North Australia. Largely uncontrolled until the BTEC (Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign) program in the 1980’s. They were imported to provide food to remote […]
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The weird, the wacky, the wonderful
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by: Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. Some of the following are mother nature’s creations in all her timeless wonder and management. The Cicadas. Have you ever been outside and there is a deafening squealing sound that just doesn’t stop and penetrates right through you? It’s these guys, the Cicadas […]
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Get tough or die
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by: Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. Has anyone ever told you to stop and smell the roses?- meaning to slow down and take a good look around. Well I prefer to stop and look at the trees. I love to look at the variety of trees, plants, and animals […]
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Strut your stuff
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by: Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. Brolgas. The Brolgas have a red marking on their head – the older they are the darker it is. A weird gangly bird that remind me of prehistoric pterodactyls. They stand nearly 2m tall with about the same wing span. They make […]
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Roller Coaster Seasons
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by: Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. The changes of the seasons over 12 months in North Australia is really quiet astounding! In this post I have tried to show a snapshot of our major environment changes through a single year. January, in particular February and March are generally our […]
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Wild Wild Rivers
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by: Jo Bloomfield – Owner, Hodgson River Station. I feel a bit odd writing about our over abundance of rain during the wet when I know so many others are currently in drought. Prior to this property my husband and I had operated a property that bordered the Simpson Desert, NT. […]
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Our Living, Our Future, Our Truckers
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by Jo Bloomfield – Manager, Hodgson River Station. We produce animals with the intention that they are used for food by people who do not have the land, resources, time, or desire to produce their own. We supply on occasion to abattoirs in Australia where our animals are slaughtered and […]
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Teenagers of the Cattle world – ‘Weaners’
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by Jo Bloomfield – Manager, Hodgson River Station. The process of removing weaners from the cows is extremely important for the long term health and handling ability of the herd. If the weaners (being calves over four months old) weren’t removed from their mums then the drag they would create […]
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Slides, gates, and dips
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by Jo Bloomfield – Manager, Hodgson River Station. Once we have mustered, we have the cattle in the yard now and we need to sort them out. The cattle only come into the yard once a year. Drafting is simply the term used to sort the herd into various groups. […]
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Mustering and Mexican Standoffs
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by Jo Bloomfield – Manager, Hodgson River Station. Our property is relatively small in size to the average property up north, with most of our activities governed by the weather being mainly the wet and the dry season. What makes mustering difficult is the ruggedness, scrub, and volume of natural […]
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PMT (Pre Mustering Tension)
Host: Hodgson River Station Written by Jo Bloomfield – Manager, Hodgson River Station. PMT is a common infliction that affects all people involved with herding animals across Australia. It can occur in sporadic intense inflictions or slow pressure increases affecting both male and female personnel. It is definitely felt more intensely by those who are […]
