This is big country here in Far North Queensland, the cattle are tall, lean Brahmans and they are here in big numbers, the properties are huge, the trucks are big (130 head in each truck) and there is a lot of money involved. The Gulf has had a good season and the cattle look wonderful, this is not the case all through the north, however. The largest breeding area in Northern Australia - the Barkly Tableland is disastrously dry after missing a wet season, so the big cattle companies are moving huge numbers of cattle - The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) have supposedly moved 80,000 cows and the Acton family over 70,000. With fuel prices like they are - that is a major expense and they will all go back when (if ?) it rains. The roads in North Queensland are full of cattle trucks heading east with cattle and returning west empty. Apparently it is impossible to hire drovers - the few that are left in the business are flat out. It will be interesting to watch the changes to the industry as fuel prices continue to climb and the climate changes.
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