Brahman, bull-riding stockman travel to Beef Australia 2021
A stockman and his Brahman bull have hit on an unusual way to bridge the divide between city and country. SEE THE PICTURES
The sight of a solitary stockman astride a white Brahman bull would make anyone do a double take.
Hailing from Longreach, John Hawkes has taken to riding not a horse, but a 600kg gentle Brahman he affectionately calls Ollie.
And he doesn’t shy away from the attention Ollie garners from the people he passes.
In fact, he sees it as an opportunity to unify people from the city and the bush.
Ollie, along with Collie the border collie, joined Mr Hawkes on the road as he travelled in a float the almost 700km to Rockhampton for Beef Week.
The six and a half-year-old bullock was hand reared as a poddy calf, before becoming an integral part of Mr Hawkes’ life since Ollie was two days old.
“Even as a calf, he was that one per cent, who just wanted to be close to you. He’s gentle, he’s always inquisitive, and I thought geez, this bloke is a little bit special,” Mr Hawkes said.
“He’s just a pet, and I didn’t know what to do with him … he just comes with me … even just to take the horses for a ride, he’ll come.”
Mr Hawkes said he has been a stockman “most of my life”.
“I feel really humbled Ollie puts me in a position where I can put smiles on faces, where people are interested, I can educate people … and I just hope by doing this we can try and reduce the divide between city and bush people,” Mr Hawkes said.
“And it’s nice for bush people to remember while we need to produce beef, and we need to eat a hell of a lot of it, and I love it, that we’ve got to treat (cattle) with integrity on their journey.”
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