Adventures with cattle 5

The main trunk railway line passed through our property (as did Breakneck Road) so I had to exercise care when driving my cattle from one side to the other.

The goods trains were unpredictable but the passenger steamer express went South at around 1:05pm and North 3:15pm. (actually my father in law was a guard on the goods trains). Most usually I would phone the signal box and they would tell me where the trains were.

One Sunday afternoon I needed to drive the cattle across the line to the South side of the farm.

I had a dog that I was training and there were six cows and four yearlings to take across.

It was 12:30pm so I knew there would be no goods trains and there was at least thirty minutes before the steamer express. It only took a few minutes to cross the line.

All went well except the last two yearlings which the dog split from the her and they ran off down the paddock. I looked at the rest and they seemed to be heading for the south paddock, so I took the dog to muster the two yearlings.

The yearling were flighty and ran backwards and forwards but time was ticking and I looked up at the sound of the steamer express rounding the bend at 70mph! And the cows were grazing on the line! They hadn't crossed after-all but were grazing on the railway reserve.

After the smoke cleared away, there were two dead cows on the railway line and one wounded heifer in the south paddock.

We always had plans how we were going to spend any funds raised through out cattle and this represented a big loss!

The heifer had lost skin and was severely bruised and it seemed she would survive - I had no way or concept of reliving her pain, which would have been intense.

I made a sledge out of an old door and some fencepost and using pulleys and rope, I sledged the dead cows to a tree and hoisted them up to butcher them. I rang a butcher in town and he told me he could buy farm-killed meat.

I cut up the beasts as best I could and loaded them into my old Commer Cob. Phew the smell in there was not all that pleasant!

The butcher refused to take the meat because some had been bruised and it had not been bled properly! This makes the meat toxic!

So I ended up giving the meat to the Rabbit Board for dog tucker.

The skins realised $2.00 each - green and because the skinning was not as neat as they buy from the freezing works!

A financial loss and lesson, albeit an expensive lesson.

I will never forget the look of the driver of the train on his return trip at 3:15. I was loading a cow onto the makeshift sledge and he poked his head out the cab, shook is head as if to say, 'Silly bugger!'