A RARE sight greeted Glen Innes locals and people travelling through this morning as almost 800 cattle crossed the New England Highway on the northern side of town.
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The crossing occurred at the intersection with Grafton St just before lunch, and had many drivers gawping at the sight of so many cattle on the road.
The herd have been walked from Paddy and Jay Quilty’s property ‘Kingsgate’ near Red Range, and symbolise the end of 30 years of breeding Herefords at the property, as the family move towards trade steers instead.
The sale will complete a full female dispersal from the property, and will give other breeders a great opportunity to buy the renowned pregnancy-tested-in-calf to Hereford bull stock that are aged between 2 and 9 years old.
‘Kingsgate’ is on the eastern side of Red Range with Mr Quilty deciding to walk the cattle to the Glen Innes saleyards rather than trucking them for practical reasons and to cut down on costs.
The drove with seven year old son Tom acting as boss drover was not without its incidents. This morning the cows had to wait two hours near the highway after a horror car smash on the intersection they were 100m away from crossing. Amazingly no-one was badly hurt, and the cows eventually managed to cross the Highway with only a few slips and falls of their own, to the delight of on-lookers.
The sale will be held at the Glen Innes saleyards on Friday through Colin Say and Co.