True Grit - Lorena Jefferis

Extract from 'Cattlemen in Pearls' published in 2018. Written by Claire MacTaggart.

Each day starts early for Lorena Jefferis at Elrose, south of Cloncurry, as she feeds horses and handles some of the young bulls in the yards before heading off on a water run on the 32,300 hectare property. Much of the afternoon is spent in the office, recording the 2,000 registered females of their grey Brahman stud which Lorena and Rodger have developed over the past four decades. Their successful partnership and dedication to improving the breed has seen Elrose grow to become one of the largest and most significant Brahman studs in Australia.

‘Our whole goal in life is around our cattle and our horses, and we’re both passionate about them,’ Lorena, now 70, says.

Lorena’s childhood was spent traversing the open downs country of Etta Plains, 128 kilometres from Julia Creek, where she lived and breathed horses and cattle. Her parents, Jim and Val Magoffin, relied on their four capable daughters to help run Etta Plains, and Lorena, her older sister Sharon and younger sisters Dallas and Sarita together took pride in how they handled stock.

‘An aboriginal fellow, Frank Douglas, was part of our family and he had a lot to do with how we rode and mustered. In those days you got a terrible roasting if something wasn’t done properly during horse and cattle work. We were taught the right ways from Dad and Frank.

‘I remember going into the kitchen one morning and a fellow was there and he said to Dad, “No boys Jim?” Dad replied, “These are the best ringers of all.” It was just amazing how proud we felt. In those days it was just us and we spent all our time riding. Mum would shut the louvres on one side of the house so she couldn’t see us as we’d gallop about. It was ingrained in us—love of the land and love of cattle.’

The Cloncurry and Flinders Rivers converged in flood time and inevitably sheep and cattle were drowned. Fire was another threat in the dry and Lorena recalls a bushfire that swept across Etta Plains and came perilously close to the homestead. Val put the children in the shower with the poddy lambs and calves but their ponies in the paddock were burnt—they lost their hooves, and with blistered mouths they had to be put down.

‘We were brought up tough; it was part of life, all those hard and horrible things. We might have grieved for a day, then got on with looking after stock’, Lorena says.

Lorena boarded at the convent in Julia Creek for six years before moving to Loreto College in Brisbane for a further six years. She enjoyed boarding, particularly the sporting opportunities that came with it, and was an accomplished pianist who was offered a three-year scholarship to the Queensland Conservatorium, which she decided not to pursue. ‘It would have made my life vastly different I should imagine’, she muses.

Back at Etta Plains mustering was put on hold until the girls were home for school holidays. ‘My dad used to say “whatever you do, do well”. We were happy and had a really good family life; there was no power, just a generator and an old AGA stove. We all played instruments, whether it was the banjo, accordion or piano, and we sat around and made our own fun. We never lacked anything, and the biggest thing instilled in me was a love of the land, animals and family values.’

After completing year twelve, Lorena returned home to work at Etta Plains. She enjoyed competing at local campdrafts and each day was an opportunity to train her horses. ‘We rode everywhere in those days and Dad had shorthorn cattle: they weren’t fast, just cunning, so our horses got so good and quick, and we’d cut out all the bullocks and stragglers. We were all really into it. Back then, most of it was bronco branding with open fire brands and we all took turns on the hind leg. It was just great fun. Everyone survived—you got dumped and you got back on again.’

In 1978 Lorena won the Saxby open draft on her grey gelding, El Condor. ‘Our horses went in dressage and lady rider events, and everything else. I’d just been in the hack with him so I was in jodhpurs, white shirt and tie so all I did was take off the tie and ride in draft on the same horse; it didn’t matter!’ she recalls.

Lorena riding Sting at Mt Isa Draft 1988.

Lorena had known Rodger Jefferis and his family at Elrose since she was a child, through various outings at pony club, local balls, race meets, drafts and rodeos. Their relationship developed and Rodger proposed while he and Lorena rode their horses back one night from the Cloncurry campdraft, and they married in 1973. Lorena took her ‘dowry’ of horses and cattle across to Elrose.

In their first year of marriage they worked near Kynuna with the American company, Dillingham, and in 1974 when a manager was required for their Brahman stud at Mountain Valley Station, 200 kilometres east of Katherine, near Arnhem Land, the young couple took up the position.

‘It was a whole different life for me; there were springs and wild pawpaw trees—where I’d come from was flat downs country with heatwaves on the horizon. There were mountains, springs and creeks, and I loved it all. Roger would artificially inseminate a thousand cows each year and we used to spend the wet season watching the cows. How anything can be sexy in the rain is beyond me! We’d sit and hold cattle in corners and wait, then do AI the next day. Our horses became so clever from cutting out.’

Lorena enjoyed the stud work while Rodger was often away running the camps. They had never broken cattle in before, and approached it the same way they handle horses. ‘It was give and take, respect, pressure and release, and that is still to this day how I break in and handle cattle. They are only there because they want to be with you, because they are loved and spoilt, so you can go out with a piece of hay string and catch them in the paddock. It was a good system.’

Rodger and Lorena Jefferis.

When Lorena was pregnant with their son Grant, they returned to Etta Plains as her father Jim was unwell. In 1979, when Grant was two years old, they moved back to Elrose, and their daughter Brooke was born the same year. Lorena and Roger managed their commercial herd and competed in campdrafts at the weekend, and the children happily fitted in, while learning through distance education. In 1985 Lorena won the coveted Cloncurry Stockman’s Challenge on her mare Tia Maria, and to this day only two women have won the event.

When Brooke was six she suffered a severe head injury: the children were down the paddock looking at a bird’s nest when a limb fell on her. She was flown to Brisbane and remained in a coma for three months. Lorena did what she could and supervised Grant’s on-air lessons in the hospital while they waited out the harrowing months. Gradually Brooke began to improve and learnt to walk and speak again, eventually making a full recovery. It took some time before she could regain her balance and Lorena would lead her on her horse for miles. ‘She had to come back to what she loved and normal bush life. That’s one of the biggest attributes of living in the bush; you just accept things and you get on with it.’

Rodger and Lorena endured many droughts at Elrose and shifted focus to improving the quality of their herd. In 1985 they purchased their first female stud cow, Lancefield Cheeky; and high quality sires such as Tartrus Isaac, Lancefield Ambition, Lancefield Signature and Lancefield Billionaire Manso were carefully selected and acquired over time to increase fertility, soundness, performance and carcass qualities.

‘They all cost big money in those days, but if we saw something that could take us to the next level we didn’t think twice about it’, Lorena says. ‘You just have to trust your judgement. Rodger and I like the same cattle which is fortunate. Although I can’t handle the pressure of bull buying at sales, if Rodger likes something he just keeps going. I have to put my head between my legs—I don’t want to watch!’

Elrose sold stud stock through the Cattle Country sale in Cloncurry for 25 years before hosting the Elrose Invitation sale for six years until 2011. Now they sell about 500 bulls each year, largely in the paddock as well as through the Lancefield sale and the Big Country sale in Charters Towers. Each year, weaner bulls are sent to Brigalow at Moura for scans and vet checks and then return to Elrose. ‘If there are certain ones we like, Brooke and I will keep them here and break them in’, Lorena says.

‘I love seeing the results of breeding and the different bloodlines when the calves hit the ground. We are using more of our own bulls, testing fertility and using Breedplan (a genetic evaluation system). Fertility is the main thing we are on about and Roger is passionate about Breedplan because it gets you to where you want to go a lot faster, without all the guess work.’

Last year the Jefferis’ purchased NCC Justified for a record $325,000 and they will incorporate the promising two-year-old bull into their herd this year. ‘We are both driven as far as wanting better cattle, and to do that we buy better bulls. He has given us another challenge, and top bulls like that are good for the breed and only better it for everyone.’

Over time, Rodger and Lorena expanded their land assets to include Wyreema at Kynuna, Artesian Downs near Maxwelton, Mutton Hole near Normanton, and properties in the Dawson Valley district. They have since sold these properties and now operate Brigalow at Moura, where they run bulls and some single sire lots from their home base at Elrose.

Upholding a strong work ethic throughout her life, Lorena maintains a structured day to fit it all in. ‘I have to be organised and have everything run like clockwork. I rise and have breakfast at 6am every day, then get all our jobs done. I would hate to think things were slipping and getting beyond me.’

Both Grant and Brooke have inherited a love of cattle and continue to be involved in the family business. Grant works on his days off from the mine at Cannington while Brooke divides her time between Elrose and Brigalow. ‘We’ve raised two good kids that are really family orientated and are on a good path’, Lorena says.

Rodger, Lorena, son Grant and daughter Brooke with Elrose sale bulls.

While Lorena finished campdrafting about 10 years ago, she and Rodger still breed their own horses. ‘We were always pretty competitive and it got us away from work. We’ve always had good stallions and been involved in the land and the pleasures it brings; it’s all simple but it’s part of us.’

In 2017, both Lorena and Rodger were diagnosed with cancer within months of each other. After surgery and their respective treatment, they are both recovering well. ‘We’re both feeling better and are moving on. It’s a part of life, and bush people tend to get on and don’t dwell on it.

‘Breeding our own bulls, selling them and getting good feedback makes me feel as though we are on the right track. It’s been a good life and I haven’t slowed down—I’m still heavily involved in the cattle and mustering and all the rest of it. I don’t have any regrets.’

Lorena Jefferis 2018