Old Karmona Stock Camp
I had the chance to go out to camp. I remember as a young boy scout sleeping under the stars. This was much different. The wind picked up and we were sandblasted all night. I cheated ... I slept in the back of the Ute out of the wind. Early starts are EARLY. Coffee at 4am.
Before you can brand you need to collect fire wood. The boys were looking forward to the mornings work out. Peter and Joel had the job of getting the fire started.
Everyone has a job and the job is not the same. You could be castrating, then branding, ear marking or just hanging onto the little beggar so none of you get hurt.
Sometimes the calf just doesn't want to cooperate.
The main part of the muster was completed around 9 am and we ended up at the camp for a breakfast of bacon and steak in gravy. I ended up with Dylan on the drop crush where we branded, marked and dehorned the calfs we missed on the first run.
I branded my first calf today. By the time I did number 20 I got the hang of it. Cobby tried to gross out Dylan by offering him fresh Prairie Oysters cooked on the gas branding box. The look on his face when he tried to eat them was priceless.
I would have liked to walk the cattle to the next water hole with the guys but I had important work to do.
Norm (Camp Cook) showed me how to make a real damper in the camp oven. I made one at the same time. His was brilliant, my effort was OK for the first time.
By George
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