Workn class gyro

[birdy]

Only a little bit, but it'll have to do for now. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSmthoGMTsY

[Resasi]

Birdy you old sheep dog you. Seems, you like I, enjoyed your last few days 'chasin moos.'

I may have only been a bus and aerial taxi driver but boy was it always a joy being up there.

[barnstorm2]

Nice!

Thanks for taking us along for the ride!

[Vance]

Hello Birdy,

I watched your video and the flying is inspired! I am trying to understand what you are doing. Where are you moving the cattle to and why are you moving them? Would you please explain what exactly is mustering?

My frame of reference is; when I was 13 I left home and I ended up on a cattle ranch/dairy/hay and corn farm. Once a year we would round up the cattle and drive them to market and most of the rest of the time we would leave them alone. Occasionally we would move them to greener pastures or put out salt blocks. Sometimes we would encourage mating.

I am trying to understand how this relates to your flying.

Thank you, Vance

[StanFoster]

Birdy; Now that I have hi-speed internet...I can finally see some of your flying. That was a good video....looks like the moos were moooving the way you wanted.

Stan

[birdy]

I am trying to understand what you are doing.
Vance, this is at the tail end of about a 7 hour day.
The last few moos didnt want to go through the gate, [ which is 'down sun'] and see'n as i had no ground support, it is a game of patience and bluff.
Theres 20 odd mins of footage, most of it like that and more, but Liz got tyred of the time it took to load it. ;)
Wot your see'n is after id bluffed them and theyd just stoped pushn their luck. :)

Mustering is wot others call rounding up.
Out ere, we usualy muster 2-500 squ KM paddocks by flying a ground grid, workn from one side to the other, and useing our presence or noise to move them the way we want, just like you would on a horse or bike.
Generaly at the end of the job theres a gate, either into a smaller paddock or a yard, and its this time, wen they are all in one mob, and we are workn in a confined area, that things start to happen.

[Vance]

Thank you Birdy,

Why are you always moving them? We would move them and brand them once a year; you seem to be always moving them.

The ranch I worked on was much much smaller. I would imagine that would change the business strategy.

How often to you take them to market?

How do you get them to market?

How many cattle can an acre support?

What does your support crew consist of?

How many head do you run?

Thank you for the window into your life. You are so far outside of my experience it is interesting to try to imagine the world through your perspective. I am a business enthusiast as well as a gyro enthusiast and it is interesting to see how other people succeed.

Thank you, Vance

[birdy]

Why are you always moving them?
Dont tell anyone Vance, but im not always moven my own. ;)
I do a few jobs over me boundery for mates.:)
I only run ours through the yard once a year to brand, cull and take off market ready ones.

How often to you take them to market?
Depends on alota things, like the season, the market, feed supply..........
But usualy we move out bout 1500 head in 3 or 4 lifts.

How do you get them to market?
By road train.
Its bout 1100km to our nearest market.

How many cattle can an acre support?
Not many. ;)
In a good season we could run 20 000, in a run of bad ones, like we are in now, [ only one rain registered since the year 2000] bout 4000. But usualy we have bout 5000 of ours, and if we have excess feed, we adjist stock on, before the fires burn it out.
We'v only got 1100 squ miles of very rich but dry semi desert country and ranges, so everythn depends on wot mood mum nature is in at the time. ;)

What does your support crew consist of?
Usualy my trusty wife. ;) And sumtimes nun. :(
And now and then ill get to sneek one of the kids out of 'school of air'. ;)
But wen we are do'n the 'round', [ a full lap of bout 6-8 weeks of cattle work] ill get one good offsider as well. Iv got Bones [ from the forum] here at the moment, with his own machine, and it certainly makes things easier with 2 gyros.

[birdy]

A definition of a 'road train'.

http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4435

[Vance]

Thank you Birdy, that is very interesting.

It is difficult for me to imagine the size of your operation and how few people you have helping.

We had seven to run 2,000 and milk 75. A lot of time was spent farming too.

At round up we would have twelve.

Thank you very much for all the information, Vance

[Scary Gary]

Hay birdy !
My kid want's to know if you have any kangaroo's out where you are at ?
I told him that your Kangaroo's are like our Mustang's ( wild Horse's ) and are considered to be varmint's or undesirable . And that they eat up your grazing land .

[Chopper Reid]

Hay birdy !
My kid want's to know if you have any kangaroo's out where you are at ?
I told him that your Kangaroo's are like our Mustang's ( wild Horse's ) and are considered to be varmint's or undesirable . And that they eat up your grazing land .

They are a really big pest at home and its estimated that we could have approx 2,000 roos on the place in a good year. Worst part with them is that where they poop, nothing will go near the spot so they spoil many thousands of acres.

[birdy]

It is difficult for me to imagine the size of your operation and how few people you have helping.
Like wise for me Vance, i sumtimes get backpackers out ere to help out, and sitn round the camp fire listen'n to how the other people of the world live is very interesting. [ not to mention re enforcing my love for my lifestyle. ;)]

Not many roos ere now Gary, its abit dry, and the first thing that drops off the perch ina dryspell are the roos. [ and we a always told by the xperts that we should be grown roos instead of cows, bloody brilliant idea init? ]
But ina good season, we can have millions of them here over nite [ im sure they can fly] and they flog the grass to ground level in days. :(
The dingos and eagles usualy keep the roo numders in check in the average seasons.
And like Brian says, where they gather in big numbers, they 'scent' the grass so nuthn eats it.
But the most annoyn thing but roos would have to be the fact that theyd have to be one of the dumbest critters anyone ever farted breath into.