A race against time
The Main Roads Department was racing to complete important roadworks on the Flinders Highway between Townsville and Charters Towers before the hoped-for beginning of the wet season.
Particularly important was the construction and repair of several bridges.
The new concrete bridge over Ten Mile Creek (pictured to the left) was estimated to cost $188,000. It had commenced in the August and was hoped to be complete by the end of November.
The state government was planning to spend more than $10 million at the time on the Townsville-Charters Towers road across the following five years.
Record for bull buyer
Charters Towers cattlemen L. D. Knuth created a record at the Gracemere saleyards when he bought the largest ever draft of Braford (incorrectly published as Bradford) bulls for one property.
He bought 52 bulls for his 400 square kilometre (40,000 ha) property St Pauls, 64km from Charters Towers.
Top price was $4800 paid by New South Wales breeder Bob Watson.
Zebu cross now more accepted
Unlike counterparts in southern Queensland, cattlemen in the North were reportedly coming to terms with accepting Zebu crossbred cattle.
In recent years, greater attention had been directed to tick resistance as a spin-off value in using Zebu infusion.
Ninety per cent of half-grade Zebu crosses had tick resistance greater than 95 per cent but only 10 per cent of British cattle fit the same category.
Trial work was conducted on half-grade Zebu cross cattle and indicated up to 10 per cent loss of production due to the effects of ticks.
Classification - a costly process
An extension of the export grading system to include livestock processed for the Australian market was suggested as a better alternative to sophisticated classification at the national convention of the Meat and Allied Trades Federation in Brisbane.
The federation debated proposed marketing changes in detail which rose out of recognition of the present difficulties being faced by producers due to less overseas markets at a time of increased livestock numbers.
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