Cow Paddocks

Frank Dunshea: Recollections of Acton between 1926-1946
[Excerpts on the cow paddocks]

"The agistment paddock was used by people of the area for grazing cows and horses. The Department of Interior charged an agistment fee for each animal in the paddock. Several of the residents of the cottages had cows in the paddock – we usually had at least one. Bobby Llewellyn used to keep some of her riding school horses there.

There was a small yard with a milking bail in it and feeding and water troughs as well that was used by my family and some of our neighbours. The yard was also used for locking in calves overnight so that the cows would have plenty of milk in the morning.

The entrance to the milking paddock was by a gate near Thurbon's house (where the Hospital Superintendent's house was later built). There was also a style over the fence between Thurbons and Lennox House which is the access we generally used.

My mother used to milk the cows and she had a wonderful way with them. She would just have to stand on the hill overlooking the bailing yard and call out to the cows and they would come running across the paddock to be milked.

I often had the job of rounding up the calves to be penned for the night and it was very frustrating at times after chasing them on foot and getting them almost into the gate of the yard they would wheel round past me and go bolting across the paddock and I would have to start over again.

Often in a dry season we would have to hand feed the cows and we would often go out and cut branches off the willow trees along the river and in the tourist camp and drag them into the paddock to provide feed for the cattle.

I recall that one time we had a cow that went dry and my mother arranged with Kayes at Springbank to have her serviced by their bull. My mother, myself and one of my sisters led the cow from the paddock down the lane to Springbank Farm.

We arrived at the wrong time just as the cows were being herded into the holding paddock for the afternoon milking and the bull was with them. When the bull saw our cow he started to run around and bellowed and our cow also started to bellow and all the other cows became excited and milled around the yard.

George Kaye was very annoyed as he said it would make the cows hard to milk and they would probably give less milk. We had to take our cow who was now a bit hard to handle to a paddock across Springbank Creek and leave her there a couple of days. Apparently she managed to get together with the bull for she duly gave birth to a calf and started to produce milk again.