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I decided to ride close to home and visit some of the roads through ranch land. Then I decided to go down some offshoots of those roads which I've not ridden before. I've been wanting to get some photos of Texas Longhorns to show you Aussies, but trying to decide which route to take was difficult.




BTW - Notice - I have a different screen on now. I think I may like it better than the Givi. Less wind noise for sure. I'll show you a pic from the front - see what you think:

(yeah, I installed it myself!!!)



Which looks better? New (used) BMW Screen or the Givi?
Here's the Givi I use to have on it:



Back on topic: Have you ever seen one of these in AUSTRALIA?

I decided to turn to the right, and that is where I found these Texas Longhorns. Do you have these in Australia?








Cool?



Then around the corner I saw some more Texas Longhorns with even wider horns, but every time I tried to get close enough to get a photo, this crazy horse would stand in my way..... really. It was comical.





I must have looked kind of silly out there - all my gear still on, trying to fake this horse out about which direction I was going to move just to try to get a picture of some other Texas Longhorns. I kept the helmet on so no one would recognize me
(which makes it difficult to shoot good pics).

At one point I thought I had fooled him......

I faded left - he followed.......

I quickly went right, leaping over a huge red ant pile and leaving him facing the opposite direction and about 3 feet away.......

A clear shot opened up.........

I raised the camera to get the shot.........

and this is what happened:






You guys in Australia may not know this, but the horses in Texas are smarter than horses in any other state......... otherwise I might have been able to beat him at his game.

Nope - We only have 'Indecision' around here. I can't decide whether I should take a picture or not!

Our long-horn cattle are called 'Water Buffalo'. Ever see Crocodile Dundee? We also have a lot of Brahman cattle in the North as they are better in the tropics and open grassland than anything else.

There are long-horns, but I can't recall their names. I think one was 'Daisy' and the other one was 'Gertrude'.

My speedster screen is sitting in a box in the shed somewhere. Didn't like it much. The GIVI is a bit of a compromise, but can generate a lot of noise and buffet depending on how tall you are. Johno has his for sale here (maybe sold by now). I'm using one from NZ that's a similar size, but I've modified it with some shaped rubber 'pinchweld'.

I'm guessing you're bored? Time for a holiday downunder!

Cheers, Mick.

MIXR wrote:
I'm guessing you're bored? Time for a holiday downunder!

Cheers, Mick.

Kind of. Mostly just trying to take my mind off of things......

We have something you won't have too many of - A pedigree Australian Border Collie!



Yeah - I know they originally came from Great Britain or somewhere else, but this is a genuine Aussie working sheepdog - Except that he 'failed' sheep and ended up as my pet!

Name is 'Kipper', and I'd love to take him with me on bike trips!

He's really great at keeping me cheerful and happy. Bit of a cheeky bugger at times, and is always trying to 'out-think' me!

Kipper is very cute and looks like a good friend. (and nice photo too, Mick)

This is Bandit. I was told he was a Border Collie, but I can't tell if his accent is Australian or not. He's not my dog, he just hung around when I was messin' around in Colorado last December. I'm a bit afraid of dogs, so I don't own one, nor am I owned by one.

Yep - Bandit's a Border. They come in Black and White, Chocolate and White, Light Brown and White, Blue and White and a patterned blue colour (can't think of the name - 'Merle' or something).

We meet dogs that I'm scared of too! Especially those damned Huskys!

I believe the Texas longhorns were tried in central Australia waaaaay back, but were not a successful breed as they needed better feed than was available on our crappy country.

I'll try and think happy, cheerful thoughts on my ride next week and have them sent through cyberspace to you so life looks all rosy again. Hop on the bike and clear the head Gypsy!

Here you go Gypsy - Charters Towers is up in Queensland, but a ways inland from the coast. The site pics won't come out, but the info is there.

Texas Longhorns in Australia!

Michael & Lynda Bethel at HORSESHOE B LONGHORNS, Leahton Park, Charters Towers, Queensland are dedicated to breeding and improving the quality of Texas Longhorns in Australia. The emphasis being on structure, fertility & temperament. The colour & horns are a bonus. Spend the time on this site and learn a little about this great and historical breed of cattle. Contact us for more information if you wish to start your own Texas Longhorn herd or go to the "Cattle For Sale" page to view what is available right now. For the best in handcrafted saddles and tack visit
BETHEL SADDLERY.

TEXAS LONGHORN ADVANTAGES
Fertility
Reproductive Efficiency
Excellent Mothering Ability
Ease of Calving
Longevity
Browsing Ability
Disease Resistance
Lean Meat
Excellent Temperament
Adaptability
Hybrid Vigour
History
Colourful
Horns

HORSESHOE B LONGHORNS

[email protected] | Phone: 07 4787 8126 | Fax: 07 4787 8143

"Leahton Park"
Charters Towers
Queensland 4820
AUSTRALIA

Now you've got me going!!!!!!!!!!! This should tickle your fancy!

Is Queensland, Australia really like Texas?
Thursday, March 22, 2007
J’Nell Pate

I recently heard a presentation at a history convention about a place that is a lot like Texas. Understanding that no place can really be like Texas, I still became interested in Leland Turner’s comparison of Texas and Queensland, Australia. Turner teaches at Angelo State University and is writing about the similarities.
He said settlers came to both areas in the 19th century and encountered native tribes. The Australians called them aborigines, while we (mistakenly because of Columbus) called ours Indians. In Texas many tribes existed.
Turner said that both Queensland and Texas have similar environmental conditions – such as drought. The Australian land was overgrazed in the late 1880s and 1890s like Texas. Cattle raisers in both places concentrated on beef cattle production.

A drought in Australia in the late 1890s was even worse than the Texas one a decade or two earlier. The Australians responded in a lot of ways like the Texans did, including return to where they came to find more rainfall. Another way was building windmills, with technology they got from the U.S.
Like Texas, Queensland cattle raisers found their cattle came down with a fever. On U.S. cattle drives northward to Kansas railheads, the people called the disease “Texas fever” because the Longhorns came up from Texas. They called it “Spanish fever” too because of the Andalusian Longhorn cattle that originated in Spain.
Obviously, in Queensland they didn’t call it that – but they quarantined like in Texas. Because of the fever they lost over half the cattle in northern Queensland. It was in the U.S. that scientists first learned in 1894 that ticks caused the fever. Then both the Queensland folks and the Texans and others dipped cattle in various solutions to rid them of ticks. The Queensland quarantine was stricter than the Texas one because they allowed no sale or movement of cattle at all. In Texas movement was allowed in winter when ticks were dormant.
Texas cattle raisers experimented with cross-breeding of Longhorns. British breeds like Herefords were brought in. The Australians, with close ties to Britain, were slower to put aside their preference for British breeds. But economic difficulties in Australia caused the Queensland cattle raisers finally to copy some of the Texas solutions, like cross-breeding. In 1933 cattlemen introduced 18 Brahman bulls into Australia. Several Australians at that time visited Texas ranches – including the King Ranch – and saw their Santa Gertrudis breed. The Australians don’t call their land ranches, but “stations.”
The Texas breeds were sturdier and could withstand long walks to market and drier range conditions. Finally the Australians are beginning to overcome their preferences for British breeds and are adopting Texas methods on other things too. They had their stockyards and feedlots like Texas and the Midwest, but they still have more cattle on grass. There is more grazing land there, and settlements are few and far between. Turner told us he drove for eight hours in the Outback and saw only one town of 9,000 people. Even West Texas is not that sparsely settled.

Australians also are into video marketing of cattle like the U.S. If anything, they use it more, Turner said.
Through a port called Townsville in Northern Queensland, cattlemen export animals by ship to Brunei, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Thailand and the Pacific Islands. In Texas, our port of Houston shipped live cattle by water as early as 1937 and then pioneered the export of live cattle by air in 1948 when they exported the Brahman breed to countries mostly in South America.
Yup, there is no place like Texas – but it’s flattering when they want to be.

Dr. J’Nell Pate recently edited and wrote the introduction to From Syria to Seminole, published by Texas Tech University Press
More opinions
This article sponsored by Crabtree & Associates

Great pictures GypsyRR...(and MIXR)...and No, I have never seen a long horn bull like those...but I did see some Aussie bulls today..and took pics.

I have just got back from a big ride and I'm loading my pics right now...I will show you what some Aussie bulls look like..

btw...The new fly/speedster screen looks great...and better than the other IMO...pat youself on your back for doing it yourself.. ..good job.

DJ

Great picture:


So the horse wanted attention, probably because it was a pretty white horse. Great pics, BTW.

Great article Mick. I had heard something similar years ago, and that is why I was asking if you had ever seen one of them.
Anxious to see your pictures, DJ.

John, you are probably right. And he KNEW he was a pretty white horse. But because there was no "Prince Charming" sitting upon him, I didn't pay enough attention to him. I do however have other shots of him. How could I not? He followed me everywhere.

Which looks better? New (used) BMW Screen or the Givi?

I like the speedster screen, and I kind of regret selling it to you.