Introduction:

Cattle stations in the Outback cover many square kilometres in size. The large numbers of cattle that a station stocks requires huge expanses of grass to feed the thousands of head of cattle. The ringer, or cowboy, is hired to check the cattle on the range, doctor sick animals and assist in the care and maintenance of the cow herds. The ringer’s day is a long one, beginning around 4 a.m. and ending at dark when the work for the day is finished.

To work on a cattle station, the ringer is prepared to work long hours during the dry season from March through October. During the wet season in cattle country, rivers flood, making roads and paddocks impassable. Little ranch work can be accomplished during the wet season so the ringer often finds work in other parts of the continent until he can return when things dry out.

Being a ringer, much like the American cowboy, is difficult, exciting, and never dull!

Vocabulary:

• ringer (Australian cowboy)
• paddock (large pasture)
• economical
• kilometres

Materials:

• Examples/pictures of mustering (gathering) cattle on a large cattle station
• Resource material detailing the life of a cowboy for background information
• Journals/pencils for use in the computation process of the activity

Preparation:

• Identify what is needed, i.e., equipment, materials, the number of individuals needed to complete the job.
• Create small groups to brainstorm solutions to the math problem.
• Identify possible math operations needed to solve the problem.

Procedure:

Your job is to hire a crew to muster a large paddock (gather cattle from a large pasture). Not only is efficiency important, but you must complete the work in the most economical way possible. The paddock is 300 square kilometres (180 sq mi), extremely rocky, and the cattle are scattered throughout. The options are to hire seven ringers (drovers) on horseback, or to hire a heli-mustering company using single pilot helicopters. Which do you think would be the most economical? Let’s take a look…

A ringer gets $100/day so a crew of nine would cost how much to employ for one day’s work? ($900) The cost of food for the crew, fuel for vehicles and assorted expenses can run an additional $100/day. What is thetotal cost per day to run a cow camp? ($1000\day). Due to the paddock’s size and rockiness, it will take approximately one week for the ringers to muster it. What is thetotal cost to complete the muster? ($7000)

To hire one helicopter to muster the paddock would cost a station $240/hour. (This includes the use and maintenance of the helicopter and pilot’s fee of $60/hour.) Helicopter fuel is another expense at $60/hour. Total: $300/hour. For a ten-hour day of work, one helicopter would cost $3000. Due to the quickness of travel and the ease with which a helicopter can move about the paddock, mustering time is considerably reduced as horses would have to negotiate the rough terrain, which would take longer to muster.

As a cattle station manager, which do you think would be the most efficient way to complete the mustering?

Analyze and Conclude:

• Compare the costs of the mustering techniques, predicting the length of time each would take to muster the paddock.
• Analyse your costs for each and select the most efficient way to complete this job. (Hint: two helicopters mustered this pasture in five hours.)
• What would be the total costs involved and which is the most economical way to complete this job?
• Each group member is required to document work completed in their journals providing feedback and calculations to support their ideas.

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