Bigger teams and a new location are all part of the revamped company stockmanship competition known in past years as the RM Williams Outback Muster.
Georgina Pastoral is hosting the Australian Pastoral Company Muster Ltd at Caldervale station, east of Tambo, on October 1-2, and is looking forward to carrying forward the nine-year-old tradition that has pitted Australia’s biggest cattle companies against each other in a friendly rivalry.
Caldervale manager Angus Rains will be welcoming eight other company bosses and their staff to his turf. For the first time, the Hewitt Cattle Company will be saddling up for the honour, alongside Georgina Pastoral, AACo, Consolidated Pastoral Co, ACC/Actons, NAPCo, Paraway, Longreach Pastoral College, and ACC.
The competition will be missing names from S. Kidman and Co and Stanbroke this year.
Tambo has had tremendous winter rain, and Angus expects the cattle mustered up for the weekend to be pretty fit and ready to run.
Unless it rains again a day or two before the event, he’s pretty confident of a certain start in one of the wettest springs on record.
“Our arena can handle any amount of water and the road in can handle a fair amount,” he said.
It’s a far cry from last year’s event at the Longreach Pastoral College, which was scaled back to one day in acknowledgement of the blistering drought afflicting all.
Not a lot has been changed in the program for the weekend that includes an under 21 and an open stockman’s challenge, the poley buckjump and the Golden Spurs campdraft, except that drafting teams will now consist of teams of six rather than three.
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
