Anna Plains Station – An Introduction
Host: Anna Plains Station
Written by Helen Stoate – Owner, Anna Plains Station.
Anna Plains station is just under a million acres and is situated approximately 250 km south of Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is a family owned business focused on breeding high quality Brahman cattle for live export to Indonesia, Asia and the Middle-East. It is the vision of Anna Plains Station to – provide food for a growing world population while improving our natural and social environment.
The Plains.
Cows bellowing, calves feeding, some cows waiting, herd bulls looking, bobcat busy feeding hay to cattle in the yards and another crew out making hay. The boreman is checking our watering points making sure the cattle are getting water and that their troughs are clean. These are a few of the jobs that go on at Anna Plains.
There are normally about eight people for yard work. This includes our livestock manager who delegates the jobs for the crew to draft and process the cattle for preparation for live export.
Live export to Indonesia is our biggest market. In the north of Australia we breed cattle well within the constraints of our climate. There are essentially two seasons – a wet and a dry. We have a short period when our grass grows and is green, which allows our cows to get back in shape to prepare for their next pregnancy and delivery.
Our predominantly Brahman herd provides a source of protein for millions of people to our north. The Indonesians receive our cattle and they go to feedlots where they are fed and watered very well. The fattening of cattle the Indonesians do very well utilising by-products of other agricultural operations.
Meet Victor Pitt. He is our boreman. A boreman is responsible for ensuring our cattle are receiving an abundant supply of clean water. His tasks are to check all motors are running which lift water from bores and push water along pipelines out to tanks and troughs into the paddocks. He also has to repair windmills and any leaks on the pipelines and also ensures that all our solar pumps are in working order.
Victor.
Meet Tom Pascall. Tom is from a family farm in the United Kingdom. He is travelling around Australia on a working holiday visa. He is employed on the stock camp team and also musters cattle to the yard and works as a station hand.
Tom Pascall.
Meet Tom Hope. Tom is from Queensland and is employed as a station hand otherwise described as a Jackaroo. He is responsible for mustering cattle into our yards, processing the cattle, and ensuring the cattle which are brought in are delivered back to their paddocks with their calves. Fencing is another major focus of his job.
Cameron and Tom.
Meet Cameron Keyte. He is from Queensland. He is employed as a station hand. Cameron has been involved in the mustering team but has also gained experience making hay from our buffel pastures on the marine plain for feeding our cattle that come to our yards.