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Australian drovers on horseback, motorbikes, and even helicopters muster 2,400 Brahman heifers for a pregnancy check on Bunda Station, which covers nearly 1,600 square miles in Australia’s Northern Territory. The heifers have spent the last few months in a large paddock for breeding with roughly three bulls for every one hundred females. Each one gets an ultrasound to determine whether she is pregnant, and those that aren’t spend another few months with the bulls. The workday at Bunda starts with a staff meeting more than an hour before sunrise—here, Rodney “Rocket” Carman enjoys an after-breakfast cigarette before going out to service well pumps. On the roof of the cafeteria are antennas for satellite TV, telephone, and internet. The nearest town or paved road is 112 miles away. Bunda is one of nine stations owned by Consolidated Pastoral Company, which has 12,000 square miles of grazing land spread across northern Australia, as well as two feedlots in Indonesia, with the capacity to raise 300,000 head of cattle.

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Australian drovers on horseback, motorbikes, and even helicopters muster 2,400 Brahman heifers for a pregnancy check on Bunda Station, which covers nearly 1,600 square miles in Australia’s Northern Territory. The heifers have spent the last few months in a large paddock for breeding with roughly three bulls for every one hundred females. Each one gets an ultrasound to determine whether she is pregnant, and those that aren’t spend another few months with the bulls. The workday at Bunda starts with a staff meeting more than an hour before sunrise—here, Rodney “Rocket” Carman enjoys an after-breakfast cigarette before going out to service well pumps. On the roof of the cafeteria are antennas for satellite TV, telephone, and internet. The nearest town or paved road is 112 miles away. Bunda is one of nine stations owned by Consolidated Pastoral Company, which has 12,000 square miles of grazing land spread across northern Australia, as well as two feedlots in Indonesia, with the capacity to raise 300,000 head of cattle.

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