Heytesbury Cattle Co. - The Bull's Head Bugle

VICTORIA RIVER DOWNS (VRD)
Over the past six weeks VRD has been a hive of activity as we tip the half way mark in the year.

The Bull's Head Muster is always a busy time, and there was a massive team effort to host such a great day and oversee a successful, enjoyable event. This year had a different feel with our Perth crew absent, due to the ever changing challenges created by COVID.

Thanks to the Humbert River & VRD teams + Farcolme Contracting, first round is well and truly complete! We are now taking advantage of the window in-between mustering, with the team using the days off to attend a few local campdrafts, Katherine Show and some are looking forward to heading over to Kununurra for the upcoming campdraft and rodeo.

Sale cattle have been the focal point over the past few weeks, to date 3,333 head of cattle have been turned off to sale, or for agistment. VRD, together with Pigeon Hole and Birrindudu, supplied a fantastic line of steers for the Katherine Show Campdraft, these steers were on route to the agistment property and handled the slight detour into the show well. There are still a few hundred head in the early weaning program that will need to achieve their 120kg weight requirement before they are relocated to their respective paddocks.

Although sale cattle have been front and centre, the joiner heifers have also been preg-tested and walked out to a fresh paddock. The stockcamp will now move onto mustering the '0' heifers for selection.

The new plant of Heytesbury horses have been delivered to VRD this week. After a long drive across the country, the horses have arrived in good health and ready for the start of second round. These horses will be drafted up in due course before being distributed to each station in the coming weeks.

HUMBERT RIVER OUTSTATION (HBR)
Over at Humbert River, Tim and Jonty have been installing new troughs and lines, as well as getting tank pads ready for the new tank arrivals. The team have also been busy setting traps and have had a very productive start to the year, trapping 50+ wild dogs to date.

We've got the whole Humbert River team plus their 2 young boys, Chayse and Jack, to thank for the beautiful condition of cattle that are benefiting from supplement being placed in paddocks. ... See MoreSee Less

Heytesbury Cattle Co. - The Bull's Head Bugle

A great weekend for all those that attended the Territory Cup/Katherine Show.

Congratulations to the following HCCo. employees:
* Shane Allan (Victoria River Downs) - Winner of the Maiden Draft, riding Little Miss Tawriffic.
* Julie Richter (Victoria River Downs) - highest scoring female rider in the Maiden Draft.
* Tylah Bonisch (Victoria River Downs) - 4th place in the Maiden Draft, riding Chicko.
* Rusty Richter (Victoria River Downs) - 3rd place in the Novice.
* Hannah Goode (Mt Sanford) - placed 6th/7th in the Encouragement Draft, riding Woodoaks Manifold.

Well done to all those that competed. ... See MoreSee Less

Heytesbury Cattle Co. - The Bull's Head Bugle

MT SANFORD STATION (MSF)
Mt Sanford has been a hive of activity over the last few months.

First round has been in full swing with all breeders mustered, drafted, tallied, vaccinated and bangtailed, with dries also preg-tested. Calves were branded, tallied and mothered back up, and weaners weaned, weighed, educated, vaccinated, branded, bangtailed and tallied. The lighter weaners are put on a grain mix and hay until they reach 120kg, then are walked out to their paddocks.

On top of this, we have also weighed and drafted several lines of sale cattle, of which some have already been trucked out (bulls, ox, feeder steers, cows), and others are ready to go.

We completed our first round of Wild Dog baiting which saw everyone pitch in to cut up baits, lay them out on racks and then distribute them by air and road once injected. We have been using an App called 'Feralscan' to record Wild Dog sightings, damage and control in order to track baiting effectiveness and calf loss.

There's always plenty to do while still getting through the cattle work, such as fencing repairs, yard repairs, fighting fires, grading roads/fencelines, pumping waters, fixing pipes/troughs, cooking meals, ordering and collecting freight, feeding poddies, watering lawns, entering cattle data, office work, shoeing horses, doctoring ill animals, feeding up weaners, fixing tyres, just to name a few.

Its a team effort, with everyone pitching in to keep the station running smoothly to get the work done - this year the crew have gone above and beyond, thank you!

A few training courses were run in the past few months, being a mechanic course at Pigeon Hole, EMK training for our medical kits, an onsite preg-test school and staff were able to attend the inaugural Bull's Head Muster at VRD last week.

COVID has continued to put a halt to several events, and some have had to adapt last minute, but everyone has still been able to enjoy some social events. Costello Campdraft was the first draft we attended, with the crew having a fantastic time and bringing home the odd ribbon too. The next event is Katherine Show and Draft which is always a lot of fun.

We are all looking forward to some repairs and maintenance in the coming weeks, as well as some well deserved down time, getting refreshed for second round. ... See MoreSee Less