Dalby final stop for drovers
Cattle head to saleyards after four months on road
AFTER four months on the road, covering 700km, 1600 head of cattle were driven by drovers to the Dalby Saleyards on Tuesday.
The cattle came from Lake Nash station in the Northern Territory, part of Georgina Pastoral Company, before being trucked to Mitchell, Queensland, in November last year.
From there they were taken on the road by Roma drover, Bill Little, and his team.
Angus Rains manages Cardervale Station in Tambo, part of the Georgina group. He managed the expedition.
“They’ve been walked around Queensland since then (November) looking for feed on their way here (Dalby),” Mr Rains said.
“We would have taken them to one of the properties and used them as breeders but the rain didn’t come in time so we made the decision to sell them.
“All our properties were out of feed and we couldn’t find agistment and that’s why we decided to go on the road.”
Mr Little has been droving since the 80s and he said the stock routes were in decent condition.
“The primary stock route is kept in reasonable condition. We’d like to see them kept in good condition because they’re such a good tool in drought times,” Mr Little said.
“We started at Mitchell and we thought it was going to rain so we headed to some Georgina properties in the west.
“But it came into 2019 and it still hadn’t rained so we headed east and that’s how we ended up in Dalby.”
For the eastern stock routes, Mr Little said the mob of cattle could be considered large, but out west they could be droving up to 2000 head.
“We try and go slower where the feed is better,” he said.
“But very seldom do we have two days in the one spot, normally we’re moving every day.
“We did have a motorbike but we did most of it on horseback.”
On top of 1600 heifers, the drovers had 19 horses and their working dogs with them.
“There are four of us in the team,” Mr Little said. “We have a camp truck with quite a good kitchen, shower, toilet.
“We keep it fairly close to the cattle as we move so we can change the dogs over.
“You have to look after your working dogs and feed them well and keep them watered. The better you look after them the better they work for you.
“We try and break it up so each guy gets a bit of a break too and a chance to have a cup of tea.”
Mr Little said droving a large herd of cattle was all about planning.
“You have to plan it and keep your lead short,” he said. “We use two way radios for contact.
“In a lot of the country between Jandoawe and Dalby there’s not a lot of fences.
“So you’re busy keeping the cattle out of the farming country and out of the sorghum crops.”
After what Mr Little considered a short trip, he said the team would head back to Roma and regroup for a few weeks before heading off again.
He said droving was his livelihood but it was also an adventure.
“Especially when you’re going into country you haven’t been before,” he said.
“There’s something new to see and a new challenge every day.”