Breeds & the Australian bush

The cattle themselves, and the country they have shaped. Australia’s herd is a deliberate mix: British breeds through the cool south, Bos indicus blood across the tropical north, and a set of composites invented here to handle heat, ticks and distance all at once.

This section starts with the ten breeds you are most likely to meet over a fence and why the country picks the breed rather than the other way round. It then follows the animals that got away — the feral cattle and buffalo of the Top End, descendants of nineteenth-century settlements that failed and left their stock behind.

And it ends in the campdrafting arena, where the stock horse tradition that grew out of mustering that country is still competed for serious prize money.