Spinifax and Cattle Grids

It occurs to me that I have been entirely remiss is posting anything about what I’m actually DOING here. In truth, this was a somewhat intentional oversight because until this past week, the work so far has been a far cry from cattle work. As I have mentioned, it is still the Wet here, and although it only rained once last week, that was more than enough to keep the fields and many of the roads impassably soggy. So what does one do on a cattle station when you can’t get to the cattle? The answer? Manual labor. That’s right. Ditch digging, grass raking, truck fixing blue collar work. In particular there have been 2 tasks worth mentioning.

The first was harvesting spinifax. Spinifax is a sharp-edged bunch grass that grows in a manner similar to the tumbleweed (“rolly polly”) - big at the top, small and brittle at the roots, except that it doesn’t tumble. Because it grows in thick clumps, has a water repellent waxy cuticle, and grows like gangbusters all over the place, it is ideal for thatching roofs. Unlike in the US, where even the meanest structures are built with tin roofs, here they thatch the roofs at the cattle yards and round pens. This provides ample shade at lower cost and I’m told is actually much cooler. When it’s really hot out they will even set up a sprinkler on top of the spinifax roofs to provide a pleasant mist. All of this sounds lovely and comfortable, except that first you have to acquire the stuff. This entails sending 3 or 4 able bodied workers such as myself out to the side of the road to dig up truckloads full of the plants. It usually takes about 3 truckloads to thatch an old roof (double that if you’re starting from scratch), and the process of digging, loading, and thatching takes at least 3 hours per roof. Add to that the blazing heat, and the sharp, cutting blades of grass that make long sleeves, think jeans, and gloves essential, and you have the fixings for a very long day. It took us a whole week to thatch the roofs at the cattle yards, and I’ve heard talk of some new ones being built, but for now that’s done.

Last week the big project was digging out cattle guards (here called “grids”). For those of you who don’t know, a cattle guard is a grid made of railroad ties set over a ditch in the road. This allows trucks to pass over but keeps cattle out. However, on dirt roads like ours, the ditches underneath eventually fill with dirt, and that means that people like me get to go re dig them. That involves digging UNDER the grid- no easy task, and again, doing it in the blazing summer heat and full humidity. We dug out cattle grids all day long, all week long, and I thought I was going to boil alive it was so hot. Add to that foot-long centipedes and an assortment of snakes, toads, and lizards. “Experience Australia! Dig ditches in the Outback!” Right. Shockingly enough, this was not how they pitched the job to me 2 months ago. On the plus side though, I am in excellent shape.

Fortunately it has now (almost) officially stopped raining, so the the main event can begin. Soon enough I'm sure I will be up to my ears in cattle, working horseback or in the yards from before sunup to after sundown, 6 or seven days a week. As hard as that sounds, I can’t wait. I’ll tell you one thing though. I will not miss my shovel even for a minute.