Ryan Adam of Dunedin spent two months chasing wild bulls in Western Australia. Photo / Supplied
Ryan Adam of Dunedin spent two months chasing wild bulls in Western Australia. Photo / Supplied
"Every day was a rodeo!"
Those were the words of Ryan Adam, 20, after spending two months bull catching in Western Australia.
In August, he took three months leave from his Dunedin workplace to become a contract musterer in the Kimberley.
"We mustered by helicopter and in the areas out of the yards we'd go around in the buggy and catch the bulls that were out there," Adam told the Herald.
The buggy was a cut-down Land Cruiser with bull bars at the front, which they would use to drive into the bulls.
"They have a slight angle on them with a couple of tires for padding, you'd tip them over with that" he said.
After trapping the bulls, crew would work to tie up their legs with belts. Photo / Supplied
The bull bars are on an angle so that they could trap the bulls in place while others would tie up the beasts.
"You squeeze them under the bull bars and tie their legs up with belts, they average just over 500kg, not massive but they are stocky," Adam explained.
Joining the Lochon Contracting team in Derby, WA, Adam was sent 470km up the road to the Drysdale River Station.
The contracting team was sent to split, catch and send away wild bulls they caught on the 404,685ha station - around four times as big as Auckland city.
After "going bush," the team did not return to "civilisation" until the job was done.
"For a shower we had a bucket of water and a tarp to stand behind.
"We would eat beef mainly, if we had a spare minute during the hot time over lunch we would catch little fish out of the billabongs to cook over a fire."
The bulls would be showered with water to keep cool on hot days. Photo / Supplied
Working in a group of four, the contractors worked all day in 30C wearing only jeans, long sleeved shirts, boots and a hat for protection.
Aiming to catch 10 bulls daily, each was paid for per kilo. The bulls were caught and kept in temporary yards that were set up at the campsite.
They would bring the bulls back to the main cattle yards each week to fill up a road-train that could fit 120 animals, which would then be taken away to the works.
Adam is already planning on heading back next year more permanently.
