Animals of the Outback

It is probably difficult to think of animals as purely working machines like the tractor, ploughs, Chain saws and the like.

In the current age we have folk that breed various animals, but these animals are more likely to be known by name, in a sort of 'part of the family' situation.

I like horses, I like, and have a certain sympatico with most animals of trade, but, of course, unless you are from New Zealand, you cannot have a close relationship with a sheep, for instance.

I mean, if you are droving three and a half thousand sheep, how can you pick just one out to be your favourite without upsetting  the others.

In the 50s and 60s, an era that I know about in Queensland, animals were largely a part of the economy of the country, they were treated according to their suitability in the over-all working team needed to run a property with the  utmost profit return as against having a lot of useless mouths to feed for the sake of some sympathetic feeling for an animals welfare.

A horse was a horse, but more than that it was only considered as a working  horse.  Never was the working  horse of the Outback called "Old Billy, the kids pony."  The station horse had numbers, most times, and were given names by the stationhands for the time of the work needing these horses.

Horses were given a fair work out in the shearing musters, or musters for crutching, drenching, lambing and the Like.  Cattle properties had to select even better horses to work cattle in rough country, and at the camp when the branding work began.

All these horses were of the best quality that the station could afford, and many of the show type breed that are around today are from that stock.  The ASH societies, having bred 'pretty' Australian Stock Horses,and including some American Quarter horse lines, rarely use them for cattle mustering.  The ASH of today is judged a lot on looks, and conformation, where-as the Stock horse of old was judged on its ability to stop, turn, gallop off the  mark and be of general assistance to the cattle man.

The Waler, so called because of its breeding from New South Wales stock of some of the draught animals that pulled ploughs and mixed with English blood, developed into what was called a 'clumper' in the days of sheep droving.  This faithful, kind minded and gentle horse did just as its description suggested, it plodded along without fear or fright,  without shying at any little movement that the more warm blooded  horse of the cattle ranges  would dislodge the unwary with a side step that any Rugby League player would die for.

The horse is legendary in this country, from the Snowy Mountain horse to the the long distance horse of the Outback that could trot for half a day without any sign of weariness.

It goes without saying that with all the animals of the Outback, the horse was the most sought after         piece of working equipment that any property could acquire.  It was the most looked after animal as well for that same reason.

Coming after the horse was the good working dog, and animal that was only  fed on the days it worked, the rest of the time it was chained up near a half of a drum for a kennel.  These dogs only received food and a pat from the owners, and only when they have 'Dun good'.  A stranger was not welcome to pat someone Else's working dog.

This work and be fed regime might sound a bit harsh in these times, but imagine trying to work a dog all day long after it had been given a full belly of tucker, it would be looking for chloroform trees all day long to sleep under, not the tail end of a sheep to chase into a mob.

A good working dog was as good as two other men on a droving trip, or where mustering sheep for the many things sheep were mustered for.  In the yard they were far better at getting sheep up a drafting race than any frustrated station hand.

The rattling when shaken inventions of the stationhands, which consisted of sticks with tobacco tins nailed onto them, and the tin filled with things that would rattle were called "Tin Dogs" but never fully replaced the real thing. Of course, the Tin dog is seen as a musical instrument in many a bush band, and I must admit I have not seen a working dog used as a musical instrument.

Sheep: Well you will hear how dumb they are, and there appears to many reasons for this.  They will run in a circle as a mob if frightened, they will run into a grass fire, they will  lay down, head flat on the ground in a give up mode, then if you should leave them, as soon as you are past, it will jump to its feet and take off, usually back into the mob that it first departed.

Sheep do have a high pain tolerance, and will survive where other animals would die of the sheer shock of injury.  Not the 'bleater', I have seen sheep riddled with maggots still trying to get a feed.  The pain  in these circumstances must be horrific as the only indication that a sheep will give to pain is the twitching of the nose, then you know that the poor dumb animal is really suffering.

The Outback is not an office, there is no air conditioning, no cooling fans, no water cooler to stand around.  The Outback is harsh reality, and it has to be worked with the same harsh reality that it applies

Try to be soft in the Outback and  you will fade away like  your dreams of an easy life, succes in your endeavours and plenty of filthy lucre.