A Week in the life of Anna Plains Station
Host: Anna Plains Station
Written by Helen Stoate – Manager, Anna Plains Station.
The dry season is always the busy season in the Kimberley and this year has been no exception. Below is a weekly schedule from a few weeks ago which outlined the plan for that week.
Monday, 8 July 2013
- Feed Homestead and Erinbee Yards
- Kimberley Aviation Visitors
- Muster Meatworks
- Draft Meatworks
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
- Muster Weaner Paddock
- Draft sale cattle from Weaner
- Draft sale cattle with Agent
- Keeper Heifers to Pinchers paddock
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
- Draft cattle at homestead yards
- Truck sale cattle from homestead yards to Erinbee yards
- Weaner paddock to Cardingy
Thursday, 11 July 2013
- Load truck at Erinbee yards
- Muster Sandy paddock to Erinbee yards
- Process Sandy paddock cattle
Friday, 12 July 2013
- Process Sandy paddock cattle
- Walk cattle back to paddock
On the Monday, we hosted some visitors through Kimberley Aviation who fly to the Station from Broome. After a home cooked breakfast we spend a few hours showing them around the station so they can look and pat our cows, observe any cattle work that is going on and generally get a feel for station life. The final part of their visit is a quick look at the magnificent Eighty Mile beach which is adjacent to our property.
While the visitors were being shown around the property, the staff were busy feeding cattle held in a few of our cattle yards. These are generally cattle that have just been weaned. Following all this activity it was time to muster one of our holding paddocks, Meatworks, which contained our sale cattle. Being a holding paddock it was only necessary to muster using vehicles rather than using helicopters.
The Tuesday activity looks relatively straightforward. Again mustering a holding paddock to retrieve the sale cattle and then having an agent look over them to select the suitable ones for the market. “Keeper heifers to Pinchers paddock” looks like a relatively straightforward activity. However, before going there all these heifers receive a copper and cobalt pellet (administered orally) and a drench. Copper and cobalt deficiency is common in coastal areas of Australia. The bullet is a small pellet which gives a slow release. The drench will control internal parasites. These young ladies will be with us a long time so we want to set them up well for their life ahead.
On the Wednesday, the sale cattle at the homestead yards need to be moved to Erinbee yards so that all sale cattle are in the one location. This makes it easier for the trucking company to collect them. Following this, the cattle not being sold from Weaner paddock are to be relocated to Cardingy paddock. This involves walking the cattle slowly with vehicles to their new home.
Thursday’s program starts with loading the truck with sale cattle at Erinbee yards. This always happens at first light as the truckies usually drive from town the night before. Following the truck loading, we have a muster to carry out of Sandy paddock. This involves the helicopter mustering the cattle supported by vehicles to help out where possible.
Processing the cattle in the yards takes Thursday afternoon and most of Friday. It involves weaning the young cattle, vaccinating and marking the calves. After processing, the cattle are walked home again.