Veraluc photography

Cowboy

Moola Bulla

In the heart of this savage land, 20 kilometers from Halls Creek, you can find Mike and Jane’s huge farm. The farm covers more than 8 million acres and has over 34,000 free roaming cattle.

It takes 9 months to round up all the cattle for their annual check up. The animals are guided into and enclosure and receive their annual vaccine. They are also branded, castrated, and given a general health check-up.

Eight cowboys are already in their saddles before dawn. Four gallop down a dried up river bed which winds its way through a gorge and come back at a trot with 6 frightened cows in front of them. Two more cowboys are waiting to help and together they encircle the cattle and guide them towards the enclosure where there are already hundreds of cattle ready for the annual procedure.

The best cows are destined for export, whereas all the others are free to go back and roam the bush for another year of freedom.