Trip to Catilernau Outstation:

Catilernau Outstation is some 50 miles from Dadanawa Ranch but is a very vital part of the Ranch.  A beautiful setting with the traditionally built living quarters and corral are centered with a 360 panorama of beauty overlooking a more fertile valley with a creek that despite the dryness of the savannah, still has water.  Our trip in the RDC truck took less than 1 ½ hours.  We were met by Charlie, the manager of Catilernau Outstation and his capable wife, Agatha.  Together they operated the station with very little outside help.  Amazingly, they manage 2000 of the 3700 Dadanawa Ranch cattle at this outstation.

We were impressed by all aspects of the management of the outstation.  Cattle are brought into the corral twice a month.  The previous day, a message had been sent to the nearby village and conveyed to their grandchildren that visitors would be coming to the outstation the next day.  So, the children brought the message to Charlie late afternoon (there is no way to communicate directly with the outstation).  Right away they saddled their horses and brought in 100 head of cattle to the corral for us! 

The original house burned several years ago.  The two replacement houses were again built with thatched roofs but cooking is done in shelter away from the house.

Until recently, all water for household use had to be carried from the creek.  Hand woven back backs were available for both adults and children to carry water. 

Hand Woven Backpacks to Carry Water

Since the new owners took over, two men were hired to dig a 40 foot well for Catilernau Outstation.  Digging a well is serious business!  The ladder does not reach to the bottom so a rope has to be used to get to the ladder.  The well is beautifully bricked and has a hand operated winch to lower the pail for water. 

 

We were impressed with the cattle.  Healthy, docile showing that they had been handled.  Allan had his eye open for potential bull calves for breeding choices.  A bull took no heed of us and was actively inseminating cows! 

Charlie is full of enthusiasm and Agatha enjoys humour.  We delivered seeds for the garden they are planning.  Rain is needed; the soil is impenetrable and impossible to put a shovel into never mind a pick!  Termites seem to have a secret, their nests are architectural master pieces sporadically peppered throughout the landscape.    

For a person who has a pioneering spirit, loves cattle and horses, doesn’t mind isolation or minimalist living, this would be a great spot to learn the art of Ranch management with a skilled and personable couple.

Dadanawa Ranch: Cattle, Horses, Sleep Outs and Round Ups

Cattle, Horses, Sleep Outs and Round Ups

3700 cattle, 180 horses give or take a few spread over 5000 square kilometers.  So horses and very important to find the cattle!  Horses are smaller than ours.  In the book written about the early history of the Dadanawa Ranch, a story is told of someone purchasing a large number of saddles in North America for the Ranch.  When the saddles arrived, they were much too large for the horses so could not be used. 

The first step in planning for a roundup of cattle is to round up some horses!  Early on we saw the vaqueros ‘breaking in’ a horse in the field, same way we would do at home except that the rider will be on the horse the next day for the round up! The picture is breaking in the horse (you probably can’t see the lead line). 

Vaqueros Breaking a Horse

Vaquero Joy Prepares to Mount Her Horse

 Horses are not shoed.  They seem to get along well fending for themselves on the sparse, dry savannah grasses.  Forced dieting!  So the day is set for the vaqueros to go out, the cook (Joy) prepares for cookout, the saddles are readied complete with lassoes.  They used to take saddle bags for their gear but now the RDC tractor loads the campout gear and travels to the spot where the trails split to different areas where the cattle are grazing. Joy is also a vaquero.  I was able to catch her just before she mounted her saddled horse heading out.  She said the ride back with the cattle once the cattle were rounded up would be at least 15 miles and they would likely arrive around lunch time the next day.  Joy, like other vaqueros, wears flip flops or goes barefoot for riding! 

 

 

 

Vaqueros and Riding Guests Prepare To Go On Round Up

Joy Prepares Cook Up In A Large Pot On An Open Fire for the Vaqueros

Horses and Vaqueros Often Camp Over Here

In wet season, creeks and rivers overflow their banks and the whole scene changes.  Dadanawa Ranch’s main area becomes an island.  Boats have to be used to cross the rivers and creeks.  The only way to get to the ranch is to be met on the other side!   What I can’t get over is the cattle take care of themselves when the rains come but the horses don’t have enough horse sense to get to high ground and have to be rescued or they drown!

Below is a photo of a painting in the store of cattle crossing the river with the vaqueros driving them to cross the river.  What a sight it must be.

Painting of Cattle Crossing The River.

 

These cattle basically survive on their own eating only grass with little to no intervention.  Amazing really.  They know where to find water, even in this very dry time and from there they identify the best (which at best is not good) grazing. 

Dry Season

 But, when missing from the inventory, it could be one of a number of reasons:  rustling, jaguar kill or wild in the bush (may appear in future), natural mortality, stolen, or otherwise.  One story:  the owner of a ranch adjacent to land that is part of the Dadanawa Ranch near Lethem died; when his daughter came to take over the operation of the ranch, all the cattle had been stolen!  The person telling the story pointed out that the border to Brazil is very close.

So, the next day around 11 we went with the RDC truck to see if we could see the cattle on the trail with the horses driving them in.   Allan was particularly interested to see the vaqueros in action.  We headed out to the area (anywhere in a two plus mile range) at an undefined time.  We looked for tracks, waited about an hour.   No luck so back to the ranch for lunch.  Precisely, as predicted, we could see them in the distance (about 100 of them) stirring up a good dust on the way to the corral.  We used the zoom lense on the camera and could see the vaqueros circling along-side and behind.  The cattle would now rest overnight in the corral and be worked with the next day.



Vaqueros Bring Cattle In To The Corral On Horseback



Oswald Ready To Record Number

Vaquero Closes The Squeeze To Hold Animal Back

Calves Are Separated Out To Ear Tag and Tattoo Older Ones

Joy Watches As Animal Comes Through For Sorting

In the corral, they aim to separate the calves for tattooing (ear), branding when they are old enough (their hide has to be good and thick), castrating bulls (ouch) and recording ID numbers to verify inventory. 

They usually work with the cattle later afternoon when it is a bit cooler (probably 35 instead of 40!).  They need lots of people.  Vaqueros to bring the cattle through the gate, a person to record the ID number of the animal and call as to which pen the animal will be directed into, a person to work the gate to hold the animal for identification (a particular tricky job as these animals have big horns and a mind of their own).    When the call is made and the gate is opened, the three people on the gates for the different pens have to be swift to open and close the right gates!  My goodness!  We were under the shade of a big tree in a specially made box right in the middle of it all.  Incredible action!

There is a lot of research on stress management for cattle.  We brought several excellent videos which Allan showed to the vaqueros, hoping to change the ‘hooping, hollering and scare tactics’ used to handle the cattle now into a low stress, easy handling situation.  The more the cattle are handled, the more they relax.  I will post a short video to bring this all to reality. 

Branding Irons Ready To Heat In The Fire



Preparing To Brand An Older Calf

Branding A Calf

Choosing A Young Bull To Be Castrated
 

These Are A Delicacy In Guyana! 

 

The vaqueros are very much looking forward to competing in the annual Easter rodeo at Lethem.  Prize money is good (over $100 US for each category).  The Dadanawa cattle will be driven to Lethem (that drive will take two plus days).  I understand after all of that the bulls that go will end up at the Lethem abattoir.   The vaqueros were very anxious to put on a little rodeo for us.  Seeing someone threaten their life on the back of a belted bucking bull will never be my entertainment choice!  Those who participate in this are young males, healthy and strong but their entire lives could be altered in one ride.

       

Presentation of Burdizzos

When one retires from beef farming, castration and tattooing equipment have little use.  So, despite the weight of the burdizzos, all was cleaned and shined and packed in Allan’s luggage.  Imagine the humor when our suitcases were lost and in Barbados we had to fill out a form listing any unusual ‘items’ in our luggage!   Guess ‘nut crackers’ would not be the term to fit!  At 7 pounds, they accounted for a good part of our overweight luggage.



Yolanda and Olwald Receiving The Burdizzos from Allan

Following the mini rodeo and corral work, Allan presented the tattooing equipment and burdizzos to the Ranch.  Ranch Foreman, Oswald worked with a veterinarian in the Rupunini travelling from farm to farm and knows burdizzos well.  Oswald and Yolanda are practicing!  Right up until this presentation, all castrations were done using a knife!  A delicacy among the Amerindians they say! Oswald thanked Allan again and again.

Visit Dadanawa Ranch on utube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKEdBKwqD1M
 

Halifax to Georgetown to Lethem to Dadanawa Ranch

 

Once again we are setting out on a volunteer assignment.  Officially it  is Allan's assignment with CESO to do a Business Plan for the Dadanawa Ranch in southern part of Guyana, South America. 

Our trip Halifax to Georgetown was supposed to be much simpler than it turned out to be.  We arrived three hours early on Jan 31st, 2015 at the Halifax airport.   We sat in Halifax not knowing when we would be leaving, but it became apparent that we were not going to make our connection in Toronto to Port of Spain and on to Guyana.  This would have been an overnight flight.  Instead, it became two nights; one short one (4 hours in the Hilton in Toronto courtesy Air Canada), then one is the Airport Inn, Port of Spain.  In Barbados we filled in a claim for four missing bags, our luggage!  We left Sat, arrived late Monday without luggage in Georgetown.  Tuesday am, after meeting with the Board we had to make a decision, what to do without luggage.  We decided to proceed (ie fly to Lethem without luggage) so we needed to purchase some essentials. 

Meanwhile, our host Yolanda Vasconcellos, Business Development Manager for the ranch along with the CESO people in Toronto and Georgetown were doing their best to locate our luggage.  Did it leave Toronto?  (We saw it being loaded in Halifax covered with snow so it sat outside for the three hours while we waited for the plane to come in from Toronto).   Wednesday morning we checked out of the hotel and went to the office with a list of last minute things to buy because of our luggage situation.  Yolanda was on the phone.  She said, ‘You had better sit down’.  The luggage is on its way to your hotel!   Here we were just an hour away from having to go to the Olge airport to fly to Lethem when we find out suitcases are on their way.  So Allan went to the hotel to meet the suitcases, we picked up a take out lunch and off we went.  I have never been so happy to see suitcases! 

From Georgetown, one must have a booking confirmed well in advance on the 18 seater plane flying to Lethem.  We needed to be at the airport well ahead to have our luggage weighed and approved for the flight.  We as people had to be weighed in showing how important weight is for the small airplane!  Age seemed to command some respect because, when I was going through security check, the asked me how old I was.  When I told them, they waved me on without removing my big boots or taking my computer out of the bag. 

The 18 seater airplane was an experience.  Couldn’t stand up, had to bend forward to maneuver down the narrow aisle holding hand luggage up!  Basically all but computers were checked and under us in the plane’s little belly!  Next time the computer will be checked-you can't bend over with a pack that rides on the ceiling!  Everything about the flight was fascinating.  Takeoff, up to 11000 feet gradually through the billowy clouds.  Allan and I sat right behind the pilot watching the dial.  The 90 minute flight allowed us some views of rivers, villages, a rice farm development, lots of rain forest and savanna. 

Rice Farm Development

We circled over the Brazilian border, saw the paved divided highway and modern bridge and quickly landed on the airstrip field in Lethem.  The luggage cart was wheeled out into the field and the luggage was hauled by hand to the roadside where it was unloaded.  Nothing fancy! 

 

 We were met by the RDC’s  truck and van. The truck is well packed with essential supplies for the remote ranch.   For example, two flats of eggs were in front of me, the sacks of cassava flour on the truck.  

 

 We quickly set off, hoping to reach the Ranch before dark.  The trip will be about four hours.   The road is a sand road alternated with a dirt road.  We saw the sole bus that travels part way to the Ranch stopped at the ‘Bus Stop’, a place where one can relax in a hammock or use the outdoor facility  The Amerindian Village native structures are fascinating. 

Bus Stop Armenian Style

  

We crossed an area where the wheels are washed for disease control (they call it a dip).

                                                      

In rainy season, one does not travel the road.  Much of the area is flooded.    In previous trips, Yolanda and has travelled across the flooded river by boat with Ranch people meeting them on the other side.  Below you will see a picture of one of the streams in the dry season (it has been extremely dry for three years!).  Note the raft on the other side for crossing during wet season!

 The mountains in the distance are beautiful with the setting sun.  The land looks arid with vegetation sparse.  The 3 ½ trip across the savannah on unpaved roads confirms the dryness and lack of soil fertility.  At times travelling through sand reminded us of driving in heavy snow!

 

We reach the Ranch as it is getting dark.

Dadanawa Ranch Entrance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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