Murray the Bull
Murray is our resident rebel but there's no way he could be considered a rebel without a cause. Originally used as a breeding bull, Murray came to hate humans. And who could blame him given that every physical interaction with a human was forced upon him. Eventually Murray decided to escape - and continued to escape. After being caught, yet again, wandering along the highway he was seized by the local council. Destined for market, we heard about his plight and began extensive negotiations with council to convince them to surrender Murray to FAR. You won't be surprised to hear that we won. But, like any rebel, Murray wasn't giving in without a fight and he continued to roam, even after he arrived at FAR. Many fences have been lost to Murray's bulldozer-like tendencies. We've spent hours - and buckets of money - fixing up fences that had been destroyed by Murray in his attempt to move to greener pastures. The arrival of Precious and Sweets and subsequent (unexpected) arrival of two calves, Sam and Sally, was exactly what an old rebel needed. Murray embraced the role of surrogate father and his days as FAR's rebel roamer came to an end. Instead, he spent his time watching over Sam and Sally, allowing their mothers to go graze so they had the nutrients required to nurse their newborn babies.
But, anyone who knows a rebel (or is one themselves) knows that those rebel tendencies will never go away. We discovered as such when two new calves arrived at a neighbouring farm without a mother and without a herd. So excited by his role of patriarch of the herd, Murray took it upon himself to liberate the calves from the neighbour's property so they could find cow companionship with the herd at FAR. Each day Murray would destroy a fence in order to go retrieve the calves from the neighbour's property. And each night we'd have to return the calves and apologise for Murray's behaviour. Those calves have grown up but the recent arrival of Fiona has given Murray someone special to look after and over. The herd - with Murray firmly entrenched in his role of patriarch - now spends their days happily grazing at FAR. The arrival of Sam and Sally originally brought the herd together but it's Murray's determination that ensured no calf was left behind. You can read more about Fiona's heartbreaking story and amazing recovery here.
