Travelling Vets - 15. TV Chapter 15

“Elisa to Alby, is there anything else? What is the problem exactly, over,” Elisa asked, “We may have a Red Tick Fever outbreak on the station, Marcus and Jexon are going to get some urine and blood samples to confirm their diagnosis, but we will need the portable yards out here asap,” Alby replied. “Right, I will get Dave, Gloria, Norm and Mike to get onto it right away, anything else?” Elisa asked.

Marcus grabbed the radio mike again. “Elisa, can you please telephone the vets at Boulia and Winton, we need to get hold of any supplies of Red Tick Fever Vaccine and arrange for it to be delivered out here as soon as possible, plus whoever is bringing the yards, can they tow our trailer out here too, as that is our mobile Vet Clinic, over,” Marcus said.

While we waited for the portable yards to arrive, we parked the vehicle over near the gate, where there was a small grove of shady trees, and walking along the fenceline a little bit, we found a suitable spot where we could place the stockyards, using the fence as part of the yards. It was nearing lunchtime, about an hour later, when we heard the sound of approaching vehicles, and Alby went and opened the gate, for the front-end loader, ute and two motorbikes to drive through.

“Right, we will use the fence line as one side of the yards, so let’s make it 4 panels on each end and 30 panels on the other side, with four panels to make a smaller yard at one end, and the other six panels along the fence line for the smaller yards area,” Alby instructed his staff. While that was all happening, using the ute, we repositioned our trailer under a few shady trees, close to where the yards are been built, and after setting the support legs, we started up the generator, to power up the trailer, and turned on the air-conditioner and lights.

Once done, Marcus and I went and collected a few samples of manure, and began to examine them in our clinic, to see if there are any clinical evidence of Red Tick Fever. We could see signs of anaemia, which was a sign of the fever, but to confirm this, we needed blood and urine samples. Half an hour later, Alby called for a stop to have some lunch, and the staff pulled out two large eskies, that contained food for everyone, so we saved ours for snacks for later.

Half an hour later, work resumed with the yards, with the 4 x 6 small yard made first. The staff had also brought with them a roll of fence netting, to strengthen the fenceline, and stop any cattle from getting through to the next paddock, which we didn’t want to happen. Another hour passed before the job of building the yards was completed, and with the use and two motorbikes, a part of the mob of cattle was rounded up and guided towards the yards, with four cows pushed into the smaller yard.

Now with gumboots, apron, gloves and masks on, Marcus and I started our work, gathering urine samples, plus fresh manure samples, and after a bit of a struggle, blood samples from the first four cows, their ear tags recorded with each sample, and with a spot of animal safe marker paint, a spot was added to their heads, to say they had been checked, before been released.

While Marcus continued to collect samples, I began work on the testing of the samples in the trailer, to see if the diagnosis is correct or not. I jumped when the radio came to life, “Bus to the trailer, do you copy over,” I heard Ryley say over the radio, “Hey buddy, have you finished school for the day? Over,” I responded, “Yes Jex, we have finished, and Mrs Elisa wants to know if it is ok if she drives the bus out to your location, over,” Ryley asked me, “Just a moment, let me ask Alby something first, over,” I replied.

Stepping out of the trailer, I walked over to the yards, where Alby was coordinating the penning of the cattle. “Your Mum just asked if it is ok to drive our bus out here. Do you think it is safe enough to do so?” I asked Alby, “Oh, ok, I guess Mum is planning for us to camp out tonight. Yes, if she takes the direct route here, that will not be a problem, as the track has no soft sand along it, and there are now low trees. Give me a moment, I want to chat with her,” Alby said to me.

Alby followed me back to the vehicles, but he went to his ute to talk on the radio, and I mentioned to him the UHF channel that the trailer and bus are on, which was different to the one the station uses. A few minutes later he stuck his head into the trailer. “It appears that my Mum has everything arranged, she is coming out with the bus and your boys, with a Ute following, with all our staff’s swags. She will head back to the homestead with the Ute, and return a little later with food supplies, and I will send Mike back with her,” Alby announced to me.

“Let her know that we have shower and toilet facilities on the bus, that can be used for the campout, maybe top up both of the water tanks, so we have plenty of fresh water,” I said to Alby who nodded his head before disappearing again, and Marcus arrived with some more samples to be tested. Just as we were stopping for a break and a bit of afternoon tea, we heard the sound of approaching vehicles, and I stepped out of the trailer and saw the bus approaching, so I grabbed my mobile and began filming it coming through the station paddock, with Elisa driving.

With the trailer already parked alongside the fence, Elisa drove up and parked beside the trailer, at a perfect 1.5 metres distance, so that the awning, can be pulled out and secured to the trailer, which the boys got to work to get done, while I connected the power cable from the trailer to the bus, to use just solar power and battery to run everything.

Meanwhile, I saw Elisa and Helen, setting up four foldup tables, six fold-out chairs and three popup gazebos on the other side of the bus, before dragging out a gas BBQ and two boxes of supplies. Finally, a half 44-gallon drum with air holes near the bottom, and a small hatch at the very bottom, was placed a short distance away. Looking into the firepit drum, I saw a steel mesh placed inside, raised about four inches from the hatch, which already had some firewood in place, and two hessian bags of firewood were dragged to near the firepit.

Next, all the swags were temporarily placed under one of the gazebos, and I counted three king single, one double and three smaller single swags, which meant that Norm, Trisha and their three kids would be staying overnight with us, which would be great for Ryley and Langley. I decided to drive the Jeep out of the trailer so that the space could be used as an indoor social space for the kids, and I closed and locked the rear door so the only way in and out was via the side door.

By the time I had finished helping with setting up, we had the results of the first four tests, and I was able to confirm Red Tick Fever, which I let Alby know, and I also radioed Elisa back at the homestead to let he know as well. She informed me that she has spoken to Vets in three towns that had been contacted, to confirm the diagnosis and to have the vaccinations sent out.

With Mike and Helen remaining at the homestead, all the rest of the staff were now camped out in the paddock, as we worked to keep this outbreak of Red Tick Fever under control. With the assistance of the District Veterinary Officer based in Longreach, who is a pilot, he was able to deliver the vaccines to the station the following morning, and he spent a full day and overnight with us at the camp, to assist Marcus and me, with the workload.

Knowing that I was a former DVO myself, he left it up to me to manage the whole event, and he just helped where needed and filled in the required paperwork that needed to be sent back to the Department of Agriculture in Brisbane. Mike and Helen delivered supplies to the camp every two days, and spent a few hours with us over the lunch break period, to update her boss on what was happening at the homestead, which wasn’t much considering all the full-time staff were at the camp.

We spent a total of eight days at the camp, with the station staff busy mustering cattle and bringing them into the yards, which were moved to a new location every three days, as was our campsite, and when the work of vaccinating was finally completed, we all packed up and headed back to the homestead, where we were invited to stay a bit longer as guests.

While the boys continued to attend school with the other children, Marcus and I did a full spring clean of the bus, as we had collected a lot of dust from being out in the station paddocks. Much to our surprise, Marcus and I were given $2,000 each for Veterinary Services provided, and although we attempted to refuse the payment, it was insisted that we accept.

After a total of twelve days at the station, we said thank you and goodbye to all at Glenormiston Station, as we had to continue our journey west towards home. Our next stop is the Queensland & Northern Territory Border, which we estimated would take us a good six hours to complete the journey, and just four kilometres over from the border is Tobermorey Station, where we planned to just stay one night, to refuel the bus, and have a good nights rest, before we continue on our journey.