Preston Pensini

I worked as a Station Hand during school holidays and now full time until March 2024, on the family property. I am responsible for feeding and watering livestock, cattle handling, mustering, cattle processing and transporting, fencing, operating machinery, vehicle maintenance, heavy machinery operating and fitting/maintenance which includes 30 ton excavators, 930 Cat Loaders, skid steers, body and semi-trucks and road trains (a truck with 1 to 3 trailers). Most of the work I do individually as I am the only station hand. The station, Cheela Plains Station is situated in the central Pilbara, 1 hour West of Paraburdoo WA.

This year I worked in a stock camp of 7 as a ringer on Nerrima Station situated 2 hours south east of Derby, Kimberley WA. As a ringers my role is to do all stock work and day-to-day jobs on the station. We processed 6500 brangus breeder cows, 5700 weaners, 1400 joiner heifers and 5000 sale steers and heifers this year. Jobs included but not limited to mustering, drafting, preg-testing, spaying, branding, weaner education, loading trucks, putting lick out to cattle, truck driving either for lick or delivering cattle, fencing, vehicle, bike and truck maintenance and infrastructure upgrades and installations. I will be going back to Nerrima for the 2024 season as I had a great experience this year and wish to keep my relationship with the owner and manager of Nerrima.

I was a cattle stock hand at the biggest saleyard in WA. This was only once a week as it involved receiving cattle on a Sunday during the day, drafting them into their sale pens and penning them in their correct pens. I worked with the drafting team who worked the race, crush, and draft, drafting them into their individual lines such as each sex, breed, colour and condition scores to make the sale ran the most effective way. I also had the task of penning lines into the correct pens according to how the sale would run on Monday.