IT takes a certain type of person to enjoy living and working on a station, being able to cope with isolation, lack of communication and drought – more than the average country folk or farmer would experience.
Although a love for the land and livestock is paramount, equally important is the need to be independent, self-reliant and determined – and that is just how to describe Rossco and Emma Foulkes-Taylor who live on Yuin station.
Their home was the first homestead in the Murchison area, dating back to 1874.
The historic 130,000 hectare station has been in the Foulkes-Taylor family since 1928 when it was purchased by Charles and Rosemary Foulkes-Taylor.
Charles and Rosemary had managers on the station until their son Michael and wife Jano became partners/managers in 1960 and then sole owners in 1980 before a succession plan for Rossco and Emma to take over, started in 1998.
Meeting Rossco and Emma and wandering around their homestead, the passion and pride they have for their land, livestock and the iconic homestead was evident in their willingness to show a newcomer around.
A great deal of effort has been put into maintaining the homestead to represent its heritage, as well as maintaining the land of Yuin and protecting livestock from wild dogs.
“We understand the country, we see the land types change with the seasons and there is so much excitement when it rains, although that is balanced by stress and sadness when it doesn’t rain — we feel very connected with nature,” Emma said.
Rossco and Emma operate the station with their eldest son Tom and his wife Julia who have a nine-week-old baby named Rosie, their youngest son Henry, who moved back to Yuin last Christmas and with help from Michael and Jano.
Rossco and Emma also have a daughter Fran, who is a dietitian in Perth but gets back home whenever she can.
Yuin has the capacity to run up to 6000 breeding ewes but the invasion of wild dogs in 2010 saw the property de-stock in 2013, except for about 500 of their best ewes that were in a secure Ringlock paddock.
Currently running about 1400 ewes, Emma and Rossco have opted for Dorpers and Van Rooys as their choice of breeds.
Their ability to cope with the elements, easy handling and not requiring shearing makes them well-suited to the country, particularly the Van Rooys as they are taller.
The Foulkes-Taylors have taken a very pro-active approach to combating the dogs by deciding to build a dog-proof fence.
Starting in 2012, they have completed 143 kilometres of Ringlock, with 103km of this having an electric outrigger that is considered dog proof.
About 42km of the Vermin Barrier Fence, or “The Rabbity” as Emma referred to it, runs through their property, and the fencing completed so far has been to the property’s boundary south of the fence.
They hope to complete the fence within three years, depending on funds and its maintenance, as well as the stability of the live export market.
“We are currently contemplating dog fencing the north half, however with the uncertainty around the live export sheep market we will have to seriously consider the economics of this,” Emma said.
Such a large-scale and timely project exhibits Emma and Rossco’s determination to keep their sheep safe and produce the quality meat that Yuin is renowned for, but costing about $3400 per kilometre, it is a major commitment that not many would undertake.
Mustering usually takes place twice a year, in autumn and spring when the weather is suitable and fits in with the station’s program.
With quite a few pilots in the family, mustering is done from the air – usually co-ordinated by Rossco or Tom; Henry also has his licence and Jano used to fly – and four to five motorbikes to steer the sheep to a corner of each paddock at a water point, using portable yards.
Originally producing Merino wool, Emma said, “Yuin had a really good wool clip back in the day” but in 2004 they made the change to being sole meat producers.
“At the time ‘exotic’ haired sheep had been introduced and we feared heavy discounting from contamination in our wool clip,” Emma said.
“We were in the middle of a drought and had had to reduce our stock numbers dramatically which meant selling a great number of our Merinos.
“It was a joint decision with a couple of our neighbours who were also heavily invested with wool at the time – we all changed at the same time.
“Wool prices were not great at the time and we now had other options in terms of running sheep suitable to this country.”
A particularly tough year for Yuin was in January 2006 when cyclone Clare wreaked havoc across the station, losing about 300 sheep from the 150 millimetres of rain, as well as damaged fences and soil erosion.
Sandbags were used to stop water gushing into the homestead’s main living areas, but the walls on the outside suffered erosion damage, water flooded into the kitchen and the floorboards in the dining room and bedrooms became warped.
Water reached as high as 600mm in the garage and areas of the homestead had water up to 100mm.
“It was not uncommon for the ‘flat area’ in front of the house and garage to be covered in water but it had never been as bad as it was in 2006,” Emma said.
Water supply and quality is very reliable at Yuin, coming from the old Royal Standard gold mine which operated in the 1920s.
The Foulkes-Taylors built a 15km pipeline in 2016, equipped with a solar pump to supply water to the station and homestead.
Regardless of continual supply, the couple still make sure they have back-up water which comes from windmills and a submersible generator-powered pump.
Yuin’s annual rainfall is about 240mm and Emma said despite limited rain across the Murchison area, they were reasonably happy with the rain they have received in recent years.
“The winter rain has been less in recent years and we would rather have more winter rain than summer rain because it grows better feed, but we have been quite fortunate compared to some places,” Emma said.
Producing healthy stock is a major focus for the pastoralists.
“In this country the sheep have a great variety of feed which makes for good meat, and they get plenty of exercise by having to walk a fair distance for water and sometimes food,” Emma said.
As with many livestock producers, particularly those with sheep the Foulkes-Taylors were concerned about the live export future, with Rossco saying it would have a significant impact on their income.
“The live export discussion does worry us,” Rossco said.
“We are frustrated that there have been issues with the shipping in this day and age, although hopefully the exporters are getting on top of those now.
“Australia has the highest standards in the world so I think it’s important that we stay in the market and set the bar high for other countries.”
Referring to the cattle live export scandal in 2011, Jano expressed frustration about the-then-Federal government’s neglect of producers and the ripple effect that was felt throughout the industry and in regional communities.
“It’s a tragedy because so many people depend on live export and the ban destroyed so many people’s livelihoods overnight,” Jano said.
“They (the government) had no idea of the repercussions of banning it.”
Although the Foulkes-Taylor’s neighbours are not nearby, the vast distances do not prevent strong relationships with other members of the community or them being key figures within the Murchison community.
“We are a very tight community out here; although we are great distances apart from our neighbours, people go out of their way to help one another, even people they don’t really know,” Emma said.
“People care about one another and we are very connected in community spirit and with a passion for the land.
“We get lots of people come visiting us – people are very interested in what we do and we manage to have a pretty good social life.”
Both Rossco and Emma are involved in the Murchison Shire – Rossco became shire president last year and before that has been a councillor since 2005, with Emma being a councillor since 2015.
Rossco said he decided to run for council and then president to “have some hands-on constructive input as to how the local shire conducts its operations”.
“(I enjoy) working through the challenges of keeping up what I feel is a decent level of community service by the shire while sticking to a budget, meeting pretty interesting people from all around the State and country with both similar and different community issues as us, and standing up for our shire if I feel we are not quite getting a fair go.”
For Emma community involvement is about “the friendships with people that understand our life and the good feeling of doing things for and with other people”.
“(I like) being a part of bringing people together and making our shire a great place to live and work.”
The pastoralists are kept busy, not just with their station work, but also contracting work around the Murchison area with jobs involving concreting (such as building flood ways and concrete cut-off walls), water boring and pit and pipe work and have a full complement of machinery housed at the station.
The Foulkes-Taylor family heritage was evident throughout Yuin and with the arrival of baby Rosemary, is currently home to four generations of the family.
To sit with a family and see how its determination, resilience and passion for the land has been passed through multiple generations was truly something special.
