Now It Is “Aeromustering”

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32297, 15 May 1970, Page 8

Now It Is “Aeromustering”

On many of the big ' sheep and cattle stations in Western Australia the light aeroplane has taken over the job of mustering traditionally done by the horse and dog. , On country which is flat with shrubs and a few trees the modern musterer works his plane’ as he once worked his horse and dogs. By diving down at the animals to as low as 30ft and then banking away he is able to get the animals to run, change direction and even to stop. A horn installed in the plane helps to drive the animals. He has complete control over the stock. The first task of the pilot is to spot the various mobs. This is done from about 200 ft. The small mobs are then worked into bigger ones until the whole paddock is mustered (often many square miles). Men on motor-cycles with walkietalkie radios follow the pilot’s instructions and help drive the sheep along. When cattle mustering, because horses are needed to work the cattle, the pilot

does most of the mustering and drives the cattle to prearranged spots where horsemen take over. This new breed of musterer has to be an expert pilot as well as a stockman with plenty of bush sense. One ultra-proficient “aeromusterer” has been known to muster a paddock of cattle, drive them into a set of yards, land the plane and shut the gate. Mustering by air has been going on for five years now and 10 to 15 pilots are engaged in Western Australia on this work. Some station managers have their own planes and do their mustering themselves, although this is more of a spotting nature. A small light type of aircraft is used (e.g. Piper Cub, Cessna 150) which is very economical and highly manoeuvrable. The great advantages in

using a plane are speed, thoroughness and economy. It took 35 hours spread over four to five days to muster 15,000 sheep at one 350,000acre station with a plane, two motor-cycles and a utility vehicle. This same muster used to take five to six weeks with only horses and dogs. It is possible to cover up to 120 square miles (75,000 acres) in one day. At another station, 300 head of cattle were mustered recently in two hours and a half from 8000 acres of open scrub and tree covered country. As well as being fast it is thorough in that it is possible to get a 99 per cent muster, compared with 75 per cent with horses. An aeromusterer costs $22 to $26 an hour, plus fuel, and the full cost of the muster is no more than if done by horses and dogs. “Aeromustering” is now done in many parts of Australia and even helicopters are being used on some big cattle stations for this job. Farmers now look to the sky for a job which many thought would never be done by anything but horses and dogs.

The writer of the accompanying article. Mr J. R. McKenzie, of Scargill, -is now in the course of a working tour around the world. He has recently been in Western Australia. Mr McKenzie interrupted his travels to return to Lincoln College last week where he received a bachelor of agricultural science degree.