Well apparently I needed a bit of extra training. Can – You – imagine ! Moi. Actually I’d like to think that with the season starting to bite and work slowing down that it was more of a case of helping an old friend out on the road and giving Jack (that’s me) a bit of work. So it was that I packed my swag a week ago and headed twenty kilometres away to the Long Paddock. Hmmm, can’t say I’ve ever considered the role of drover’s dog before. Station Dog is more my moniker, Top Dog my destination. True there are some older, wiser dogs over at the main run but between you and me they can’t keep it up forever and at some stage, they’ll turn to me and bark; Jack, we need you… That’s when I can casually reply, ‘Well, okay’.

But for now I’m on the road tailing a mob of cattle with Rosie. Rosie was part of the team on our place on and off for forty years so I knew when Nicole told me where I was going that I’d be in safe hands. We’ve got about 400 Herefords in our care with baby calves, there’s Rosie’s grandson on another quad and three other dogs. They’re a bit of a motley crew. Part kelpie, part cattle, part whatever, but they seem to know what they’re doing. One of them, Georgie isn’t very road wise so I’ve got to keep a bit of an eye on her, in case she runs out in front of a truck or car, but generally the days are peaceful.

The cattle are let out every morning from their enclosure and allowed to wander up and down the stock route eating. We make sure that they stay in the right place and gradually walk them towards water at the end of the day and then yard them up safe and sound for the night. You’d think there wouldn’t be any problems but there’s always some yahoo on the road who doesn’t slow down when the cattle are crossing or a fence that’s busted that the cows walk through and suddenly they’re eating someone else’s feed, whoops. Generally though it’s a pretty neat gig. There’s mooing cattle, dust, manure, good food, a warm bed, blue sky days, star-bright nights and new friends.  A dog’s life really.