Bringing in the sheep

Julie:
I wouldn't normally write about what I do on my days off but I thought some of you might be interested in the day I had at a friends property near Roto
about 65km north of Hillston. The property is 25, 000 ha but we were mustering sheep (finding and bringing them into the yards) on a neighbour's property in a paddock that is 4000 ha and full of scrub so you can't see more than about 200m in any direction. Driving through it is an exercise in picking the most likely path through the trees, and often getting stuck and having to back out. It was quite an operation with 2 utes, 3 motor bikes, 6 adults and a couple of very excited grandchildren, and took a lot of planning. Being on a sheep farm for nearly 30 years I thought I knew how to muster but I have only ever done it before in small paddocks (none bigger than 120ha) and mostly cleared. This was very different. It was almost impossible to see the sheep unless you were right on top of them but the guys on the bikes were very good and seemed to flush the sheep out of all sort of bush. Lunch was sandwiches and tea in the middle of the bush and we finally had all the sheep (about 300 of them) in by about 3pm. Needless to say I had a great day!