Old dog new tricks

My dad used to do a lot of long haul transport, particularly livestock. When he was a young bloke, and just starting out, he was way out west one time and trying to load sheep. Until this point he had only loaded cattle, so this was proving to be a real trial for him. They were going left right and centre, and after about half an hour he'd just about decided that killing them all right NOW was the only option.

An old bloke had been leaning on the rails quitely watching the proceedings. At no time did he offer a comment; just watched. Dad finally stood there cursing and panting. He glanced up and the old bloke gave him, what can only be described as "A Look", whistled up his dogs and had the sheep loaded within minutes, then walked away.

At first dad swore and muttered curses as he swung himself into the truck, and then all he could do was laugh; thinking about what a sight he must have been trying to load animals with no brains, more springs in their legs than they should have and above all no dog!

He didn't make that mistake again .... he started carting wheat not long after!

A great story, I have never had the pleasure of carting stock and can think of better ways to earn a living.

funny story ozgirl. would you mind scratching up some old pics of anything to do with trucks. we cant get enough of them here. thanks

I used to rent a shed in Smith Broughtons auction yard in Bellevue (Midland) .. which is right next to the Midland Saleyards. My missus, who has never had anything to do with farming, trucks, machinery, or anything in the hard work world (she was a coppers daughter) .. used to be absolutely fascinated at watching the blokes unload the stock trucks. One bloke in particular, who had a short fuse and a very wide range of swear words, absolutely had my Missus entranced, one day.
She isn't in the least concerned about swear words (she has a very good range that she can use extensively, herself) .. but was greatly entertained by the performance of this bloke as he unloaded a four-decker of sheep.

It was a constant flow of language like .. you f**^!, p&^$, mongrel, p*&%#s of f**kholes! .. and so on. He was running up and down, frustrated as hell, abusing and grabbing and dragging sheep .. and he had a dog as well .. which obviously was about as useful as a hip pocket on a singlet!! LOL

The Missus, who normally has bugger-all patience, sat and watched this bloke, absolutely fascinated, for about an hour or more, until we had to leave. The truckie still had about 2 decks left to go, so God knows how long it took him to unload!

Sheep are definitely the most frustrating animals you can ever work with. They act brainless, but they aren't stupid .. they just seem to imagine things that aren't there, and promptly baulk. Once one baulks, they all baulk. If one makes a run, they all make a mad dash.

You've never seen anything as funny as trying to drive a flock of sheep through an open gateway .. and the lead sheep decide there's something on the ground in the gateway, and baulk. The rest all bank up, until one decides to get brave and make a dash .. and it leaps 4 feet in the air, over the imaginary "thing" on the ground .. then every single following bloody sheep, will also leap 4 or even 5 feet in the air, as they all think they've seen the same imaginary object ..

In the case of the sheep truckie .. I told the Missus, she might understand if she had to handle sheep, how frustrated they can make a normally sane person.
I also mentioned, how these blokes generally have worked and driven 48 hrs or more .. non-stop .. to go out to the farm, load the sheep, get them down to the yards, and get them off, before they keel over from lack of water or food.

It has to be the worst job I could ever imagine, and I do not understand why anyone in their right mind would take it on. Yet, I've known blokes who've done it for years.
As ozgirl says, a good dog makes sheep handling very easy, and you can understand why many farmers and sheep-transport truckies treat their dogs like family.

Carting livestock is OK, walk on walk off, I had some experience helping grandad on his farm as a kid, so loading trucks from a yard was a soda compared to catching individual sheep in a paddock.

Cattle were usually easier and there was less of them, unless some cowboy had worked them over with a cattle prod, that just made them dangerous.

Moving pedestrians or gawkers at an accident.... now thats hard work.

Sarge

Moving pedestrians or gawkers at an accident.... now thats hard work.

Sarge

You could always try a cattle prod

LOL! - That reminds me, of a local bloke who bought a cattle prod (this was way back in the late 60's) .. and he got it home and was fooling around with it, getting it working.
Mother Dear was bending over, sticking her head in the Metters No2 oven, checking her cooking .. and ole Jack decided he'd try it out, on her sizeable rump!!

Geez!! - I tell ya what .. he wasn't a popular bloke, for many weeks thereafter!!
He reckoned he nearly wore a cast iron frypan on the way out of the house .. and he wasn't game to go back in until dark .. because, by that time, he reckoned she might have cooled off!!