The cattle of Gallipoli
Host: Gallipoli Station
Written by Jamie ‘Irish’ Smith – Station Hand, Gallipoli.
I worked for NAP Co for two years at Coorabulka Station in 2008 and 2009. We ran steers, an absolute dream to work in the yards and to muster. Since then I have worked with cattle in New Zealand, the UK, and did a short stint at Alexandria stock camp before coming to the Alexandria outstation, Gallipoli. But nothing could have prepared me for the stroppiness of some of the old composite cows at Gallipoli.
Recently we had our skills tested when the night before we were due to truck out eight road trains of bulls and ‘crackers’, the yards were flooded thanks to a dodgy ball-cock on the trough. Like all obstacles at Gallipoli the challenge was met with good humour and a laugh to lighten the mood as we rolled up our jeans. At 6.00am on a winters morning, we plunged into the mud to get the job done, within minutes we were covered in stinking mud as the cows came streaming past us and up the race, no one was safe from the mud and the cows were none too impressed about the situation either.
With the rails covered and slippery we had to think light on out feet all the time we were wishing they (the cows) would slow down and drive to conditions. With many close encounters and an exhausted crew from working in the shin deep mud we reached our goal relatively unscathed.
Cattle can certainly keep you on your toes but like anything it’s the people that make the place. I find myself looking forward to getting up every morning to see what the day has in store and what laughs we’ll have along the way.