Saved by the bull

By Muriel Cooper Photos Yanni

Patricia Hunder always thought herself a city person, but a rising feeling of being trapped left her craving the open spaces of the peninsula.

“I bought twelve acres in Balnarring and looked at different animals such as sheep, alpacas and lamas but nothing satisfied me. Someone said, ‘What about cows?’ and I went to see some, but they were big and had horns, and they scared me. I then saw miniature cows without horns online and I thought maybe I could have two like that to keep the grass down. I bought two stud cows, and they both had babies: a bull named Tom Thumb and a chocolate heifer.

“Everyone who came to the house would say, ‘Oh my God, what a beautiful bull.’ To me, he was just a calf, but it was said to me so often that I thought I’d better get someone with knowledge to have a look.” Eventually, Patricia enlisted the help of then cow handler, now award-winning Angus Stud breeder Fiona Glover and she said, “He’s so good I’d be willing to come and pick you up and take you to Melbourne Show, but first you have to learn how to lead him.”

Patricia enrolled in a four-day beginner’s course at the Melbourne Showgrounds.

“I learned to pick up poo, hose them down, wash their bums –the whole thing, and I wasn’t very good. True to her word,

Fiona entered him in the show in September, came and picked me up, took me there, and my little bull beat thirty-seven others in my Galloway class.”

And so, Patricia’s journey as a cattle breeder began, although she denied being a breeder for years. People would ask her if she’d become a breeder, and she’d say, ‘No, I’m a writer.’ Patricia was in fact an educational writer and had a television series on SBS. Somewhere along the journey, she embraced it and now accepts that she is a really good cattle breeder. “I have a really special relationship with animals but particularly cows – I’m a cow whisperer,” she laughs. “That little bull changed everything and so much for the better. I struggled in the city, but I’m suited to having my hands in the dirt and picking up cow poo.”

Patricia now lives on a smaller property in Bittern and agists most of her cattle nearby.

Galloways, a breed with a rich heritage, were selectively bred in Scotland for their exceptional meat quality. Miniature Galloways were selectively bred for their short stature. Their compact size, a unique trait, makes them a perfect fit for small holdings and even as pets. They’re not the kind of pet you have inside; they’re still a sizeable beast, but you can have them in a paddock, feed them, groom them, and they can even learn their name and come when called.

Patricia cares a great deal about who buys her cattle. “I don’t advertise. I wait until the call comes, and when I’m thinking, ‘I've got too many cows,’ the next day, the phone will ring. It’s been quite magical the whole way through my cow journey.

“No one can buy them unless they come and spend a few hours with me. I make them shampoo an animal because I want them to get their confidence. That’s how I learned. People think they want them because when you say ‘mini cow’, they picture sheep. When they see that, although they’re minis, they’re very solid, and they can knock you over, they change their minds. Even if I was broke, I wouldn’t make a wrong placement because then you've got unhappy animals and unhappy people. I check how many acres they’ve got and what their fencing is like.”

Miniature Galloways live for fifteen to twenty years. Compared with dogs, they’re not very expensive. A pet steer will cost about $3,000. A cow that will give you babies can be up to $6,000 and a good bull could be $6,000 to $10,000.

During COVID-19, people were moving to the country, and there was a strong demand for Patricia’s Torcroft Miniature Galloways. Coincidentally, she had a surplus of bull calves and was able to supply the demand. There is another serendipity in Patricia's cow journey; she’s written a screenplay, ‘For The Love of Cows’ that she hopes will be made into a film.

Now, her cattle are mostly bought by other breeders for her bloodline. The success of her cattle at shows hasn’t stopped since that first little bull at the show in 2004, whose mother, Thumbelina, was described as ‘The plainest cow I’ve ever seen.’

In 2016, Patricia sold a bull to people in Canberra, and that bull beat her cow for Grand Champion. The bull, Torcroft Thyme, was then entered in Facebook Champion of The World, and he won.

Patricia says caring for the cattle, including picking up their poo, can be a bit Zen.

“Yesterday, I was all over the shop and feeling a bit low, then I thought, ‘It’s getting late, I’ve got to do the cows,’ and once I went down, and gave them all their biscuits and talked to them, I wasn't low anymore. For me, they have a calming effect. In the city, I was very often down, and since cows came into my life, I’m mentally in a much better place. Animals do that for us all.”

torcroftminiaturegalloways.com.au