Mustering in floodwaters: Stockmen and dogs relocate stranded cattle

Although to them, "It wasn't anything special".

Saddled upon a black stock horse named Nightwatch, inherited from the late campdrafting stalwart Keith Summerell, Cody Rogers used agricultural know-how to relocate the herd.

Along with fellow stockman Sam Hukins and three kelpies - Joe, Fred and Frank - the pair left a job in Tilba to assist with the cattle "stuck" in Pambula.

"They rang us to go down and give a hand," Cody recalled.

"We couldn't swim across because it was too deep and too fast-flowing, but the cattle were fine to swim through it. So we just rode around the road, cut the chain to a gate, and [charged] them across the water."

Other residents had attempted to muster the cattle by using a motorbike but were unsuccessful due to the sudden rising floodwaters.

"The problem with motorbikes is they can't turn around quick enough. So if the cattle are running and then all of a sudden they stop, the bikes are too slow to turn around," Cody explained.

"That's why we use stock horses and that's what they're bred to do. They can stop and turn on a dime. They can do whatever the beast can do.

"We're using the dogs to turn mobs of cattle. If the cattle aren't going the direction you want, you cast the dogs and they'll go ahead of the mob and turn them. Just saves us from running all over the country."

The pair of stockmen, apart from driving past the fields numerous times, were not familiar with the landscape, so it required them to observe how the cattle moved.

"Basically, you just watch where the cattle go, and if they are going along and fall underwater, it means there's a gully under there. So you just follow them," he said.

"The same with whenever you're crossing something muddy, you go where the cattle have walked."

The herd was made up of "dry cattle", cows in a stage of their lactation cycle where milk production ceases prior to calving, and were bolder and more willing to swim, according to Cody.

"Once you get the first one started, they will all swim and they know which way they're supposed to go," the 30-year-old said.

"It's just a matter of getting them all together then rushing them into the water so they hit it with speed and start swimming.

"It was pretty quick. We were only on the horses for half an hour because once we got [the cattle moving], they started swimming, they just went [to higher ground]."

Their efforts were seen and celebrated by members of the public who watched from the Princes Highway.