Shearing Time -Depot Springs Station

The following photos are pretty self-explanatory – scenes of sheep being brought in from outlying paddocks by Geoff Mengersen and his crew of four

The pictures though give a good look at the country that makes up the station.

Depot Springs is a 500 square kilometre property about 30 kilometres east of Copley in the Flinders Ranges.

Its southern boundary is along the Copley to Balcanoona Road. Many visitors to places like Arkaroola pass by unaware.

Its rocky and hilly country with a low stock carrying capacity. Nevertheless It runs about 7000 sheep which do quite well compared to some other areas, even in drought.

Maintaining the property is hard and constant work but around shearing time the tempo picks up.

Geoff and the other stockmen. who are mostly relatives and friends are on the road well before first light.

Because of the summer heat it is best to muster the sheep early….bringing them to paddocks and yards where they can be watered and readied for the trip to the shearing shed.

One of the advantages of mustering in the summer is that the sheep don’t stray too far water for too long.

Nevertheless every corner of the property is checked by the motorbike riders who need exceptional skill in the rocky terrain.

The average rainfall in the northern Flinders Ranges is 200 millimetres a year, last summer when these pictures were taken was exceptionally good.

There’s been little rain over the summer months this year and temperatures have been a lot higher during the day, so the mustering and shearing this year will be a little tougher.