Cattle farmer Renee Spencer to appear on Muster Dogs with pup Pockets

Find out what this 27-year-old cattle farmer has to say about working dogs, sexism and what makes the bush great before you see her on screen with pup Pockets.

Renee Spencer is practical, down-to-earth and passionate about country life.

The 27-year-old’s Instagram documenting her unique life has close to 12,000 followers, and her love of the bush lifestyle bleeds through both her actions and her words.
She is also a contestant on the new season of Muster Dogs - an ABC television program in which six graziers are given six different dogs - three Border Collies, and three Kelpies.

Over the course of 12 months, the farmers will be challenged to raise the dogs given to them into solid workers, with the goal of being crowned Champion Muster Dog.

Together with pup Pockets, Renee will join five other farmers and their new four-legged offsiders as they face the daunting challenge to raise the dogs into solid workers in 12 months, with the aim of being crowned Champion Muster Dog.

Renee has the country in her blood - she is a fifth-generation cattle farmer with roots in the Central Highlands area.
She currently lives and works on her family property near Capella, a small town about 50km from Emerald.

Renee said watching the purposeful role of a working dog brings her more joy than the easier life of a city dog.

“Obviously, city dogs have a really good life,” Renee said.

“But one of the biggest joys I get out of seeing a working dog versus a city dog is that the working dogs have such purpose.

“They get such an enjoyment out of their purpose, and they genuinely love what they do.

“For some dogs, it’s actually hard to get them to quit working.”

27-year-old Renee Spencer is practical, down-to-earth and passionate about country life. Supplied: ABC

Renee herself was able to gain valuable perspective on the city-country divide when she spent two years studying education in Brisbane.

“I got into the second year of living in the city, and the novelty of it wore off,” Renee said.

“Brisbane is a nice place, but they do seem to be very busy there.

“I can’t imagine not being surrounded by scrub.

“It would be nice if we could slowly bridge that gap a little bit more, and make the country more accessible to city people, if the want is there.”

She also highlighted the importance of country people getting outside their social bubbles in order to widen their perspectives.

“There’s a lot of good things going on in Central Queensland, but sometimes there’s not so much progress (in people’s views),” she said.

“I don’t know if it’s the majority, but often you are who you hang around - and if you don’t get out of that bubble, it’s like an echo chamber.”

Despite her clear capability to endure a highly physical job in an area where temperatures can soar above 42 degrees Celsius, Renee said she still encounters sexist remarks from some older man.

“You do hear the comments, and it can be both funny and upsetting when they happen,” she said.

“(When people make sexist comments) I just go on about my day out of spite.

“I quite enjoy the idea that they’re thinking or saying these things and then I’m going out every day and doing the same work as them - sometimes better.”
Living in the country is beautiful but harsh, and ever-innovative farmers are constantly are learning new ways to adapt and manage their natural resources.

“We’ve been doing time-controlled grazing since 2019 - it’s quite amazing,” Renee said.

“Back then we had the massive 2019 fires, and we had too many cattle.

“We’d just cleared everything because the government had threatened to change the tree-clearing laws, and we absolutely decimated our country.

“It was a lot of dirt when I first brought my partner out to see it - not really something to laugh about, but it was the reality.”

Renee said the time-controlled grazing method was helping the restore the productivity of their land.
“The way that we changed it was by changing the grazing practices - we’ve put all of our cattle into one big mob, trying to imitate what the wild is like,” she said.

“We’ve made our paddocks smaller - the property that I grew up on started as seven paddocks across 12,000 acres, and now it is down to 35.

“By having smaller paddocks, it means that the cattle are able to eat the grass, have manure on it and and put all of the nutrients back into the soil.”
She also had advice for authorities who want to encourage more farmers to take on environmentally-sustainable practices.
“I think it’s about enticing farmers and graziers to do the right thing rather than whacking them on the back of the hand with a cane,” Renee said.
“I actually just heard that our neighbour is thinking of moving to similar practices as us, because they lost a heap of cattle last year to ticks.

“It’s amazing to have that kind of impact.”

Season 3 of Muster Dogs debut on February 2.