This is a story that I poster several months ago but needs posting again. Unfortunately I dont have access to the photo mentioned at the moment. Attention Sue Andrews, Thanks Brian Fullagar, for the tag. I am not a poet so I wont be putting it into verse. I am not a data analysts so I wont be sprouting statistics. All I am going to write for you are the facts relating to my situation as seen by me. The photo below is of one of our weaner steers. When I first married my husband about 20 years ago, we would have kept similar steers until they were 2 years old then sold them for approximately $1.35 - $1.50 / kilo, average weight approx. 350 Kg for a return of about $475 each with selling cost at 10%. For the last few years we have met market demand and sold them at 1 - 1 1/2 years at $1.50 tops with an average weight of 260 kg for a return of $400 each with selling cost at 20%. But if you look closely at this steer you will notice bite marks on his rump. YES, he is a survivor of a dingo attack. He was one of the lucky ones that got away. What does that mean to us now? We will only get $0.40/kg if we were to try to sell him. With the rise in the cost of our necessary expenses such as rates, rent, fuel, fodder, cars etc. we would have no hope of breaking even on this steer so our options are now to eat him or use him as dingo bait. Ok you say, the loss of one steer is not going to break us BUT in the last few years the number of calves coming through the yards has increased to a conservative 5% and that is only the survivors that we see. You could easily double that figure and still be below the actual numbers. This is despite a rigorous 1080 baiting program that most of us in this district follow every year. How much worse would it be if we didnt bait? We have never and will never be interested in getting DNA testing done on the locals dingos to find out if they are pure or crossed with dogs. As I have said in a previous post, if it looks like a dingo, kills like a dingo then to us it is a dingo. As I was driving around today doing the lick and pump run I counted 14 more calves with bite marks. Luckily not all of them were steer calves but nobody can tell me that dingos make very little impact on our profits. To us it is more like they greatly increase our losses. You are correct in saying that they are not the major cause of our present difficulties but they are significant and they are something we can do something about. If culling them increases our income then we will continue to do it no matter what anyone says. What may you ask was I doing the lick/water runs for and not hubby? Well for the last ten years we have been hit by the destructive winds of two cyclones, the ban on live export, runaway fuel cost, increased cost due to the carbon tax and in the last three years we have had only 5-10 inches of rain over most of the property instead of the usual 26 inches a year average. So therefore hubby has been taking any work he can get just to bring in enough money for us to buy lick to keep our cattle alive and to pay a few bills. Now dont get me wrong, I love this lifestyle and wouldnt trade it for the world. I couldnt imagine working in an office or worse still, not working. We consider ourselves some of the lucky ones because we are both young and fit enough to be able get off station work. Sure enough we have to go without lifes little luxuries like days off, holidays etc. and it is lucky that neither of us smoke and hubby likes my home brew. Yes we get depressed every now and then but we find it is the little things that make a difference like a kind word or gesture from a stranger and both of us have discovered Facebook in the last year thanks to our daughter. Both of us love the station sites because they help us to connect with others in the same situation. We feel a lot less isolated being able to share stories with our peers. What we dont need is to be made to feel like murderers or criminals just because we choose to put our family and livelihood before some dingos. While I accept that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I believe that you are deliberately provoking a negative response by posting your views on a site mostly for station/ farm workers and owners. You would be better off expressing yours on a site more in line with your views such as Ban Live Export. I am sure they would receive you with open arms.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 04:10:40 +0000
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