OUR STORIES: Greenfield family reminisce on station life

Nestled at the edge of Lake Torrens and named for its view of a southern gap of the Andamooka Ranges, the station blanketed by red dirt and scrub is home to its fifth and sixth generations of the Greenfield family.

Presently running Shorthorn and Angus cattle, Dorpers and a small number of Merinos, the operation has had immeasurable changes in the past 140 years.

Fifth generation pastoralist Paul Greenfield, his wife Kate, their children Nic and John, and his father Bob, all work the land they call home and say they could never dream of a life better than what they have at their fingertips.

Where it all began

"William Henry managed the place from 1882 to 1896 until the owners abandoned it because they didn't see it as viable," Bob said.

"He put in for it and his brother, who had a little property over the other side of the lake, came over and helped them and they put in for the lease and got it.

"Then a terrible drought in 1900 came through, but there were some big summer rains up around Roxby (Downs) and the swamps filled up.

"They took all the sheep up there except the about 30 ration sheep and left the women and kids."

Then in 1903, the two brothers went their own ways, with William Henry keeping South Gap, while his brother George Greenfield took Purple Downs, another property they had a lease for.

A few years later, the lease for the neighbouring Pernatty Station became available, with William Henry quickly snapping it up.

He was eventually able to buy Roxby Station in 1912, working the lands until his death 10 years later.

"When he died in 1922, his oldest daughter and her husband got Pernatty, two of the other boys got Roxby and my grandfather got South Gap," Bob said.

"We've been here ever since."

Control solution leads to side hustle

Memories for Bob at South Gap are plenty, and while working on the station was his main income driver, he found himself a quirky side-hustle.

"When I left school, there were no roo shooters at South Gap in those days, and there were plenty of kangaroos," he said.

"A big red kangaroo skin was worth $1 and a doe kangaroo was worth 70 cents, or a bit smaller, say 60 cents.

"I used to walk up the creek on weekends with a rifle and a pocket knife and a sugar bag and I'd shoot three or four kangaroos.

"I'd make as much money from the skins as what I was getting for a wage!"

Cattle gamble pays off

Generational life on the station does not just extend to the Greenfield family, with the property's cattle herd all descending from one small herd in the early 1980s.

"Droughts are the worst, especially in 1982 - every dam on the property went dry," Bob said.

"We sold all our cattle except 11, which couldn't fit on the truck - if they had fit they would've been gone too.

"All we had was 4000 sheep on the place, the cattle and about eight to 10 horses."

In one of the toughest periods he can recall, Bob said he was forced to cull his livestock just to stay afloat.

Luckily, the tide turned the following year and with solid rainfall, the station was thriving again just three years later.

Although an inconvenience at the time, keeping the 11 cattle on property during that period was one of the best choices Bob had ever made.

"All the cattle we've got here at South Gap have come from those 10 cows and one bull," he said.

"I've never bought any in.

"We've had different bulls from different studs over the years, but our herd has all descended from that 11 head."

But cattle were not always on-site at South Gap.

"Funnily enough, my grandfather would not have a bar of cattle," Bob said.

"My great grandfather did, but my grandfather wouldn't and he died in 1957 so in '58 we bought a couple of hundred cows and calves from near Oodnadatta.

"Then 1958 was a terrific season, we had about 15 inches (245 millimetres) of rain when our average year is about seven (115mm) or just below.

"We had that much feed and we bought that mob of cattle just to get some of it down and it started something we've continued today."

Shorthorns have always been the cattle of choice for Bob, who said the ability to tell them apart and grow connections while mustering has been a happy memory on the property.

In recent years, Paul has brought in Angus bulls to diversify the herd and value-add to the business.

Paul has also bought in cattle to fatten in recent years from the North West Pastoral and WA.

"We just wanted to make a bit of a composite and put a bit of thickness in the body of the cattle," Paul said.

"It capitalises on the market's love of black Angus and it's more of a guaranteed sale for us."

Bringing the 1800s into the 21st century

Across the 140 years, the station has had many advancements in farming technology, from horses to motorbikes, manual tiling to tractors and everything in between, but one of Bob's favourite inventions has been the post-hole digger.

"My dad wouldn't buy me a tractor with a post-hole digger on it and I reckon I dug a few thousand holes with a crowbar and shovel," Bob said.

"More like a few million," Paul joked.

"That was tough work, but technology nowadays is amazing," Bob said.

"The machinery we've got today saves so much money.

"I remember we had horses right up till about the mid '70s.

"The biggest problem was shoeing them because it's so rough and stoney, they'd wear a set of shoes out in four or five days.

"When we got motorbikes that all changed.

"We didn't need as many people to muster a paddock with motorbikes, like with horses, and we could ride down the other end of the property to a muster paddock and ride home again.

"Before that we'd keep horses at opposite ends of the station because it was so far - that was a huge change."

Bob said the ability to install pipeline across the property has also been a major advancement, with about 100km of pipe in operation to allow for the country to have a spell and plants to regenerate.

"We used to only have 12 or 14 watering points, now we've got 60-odd," he said.

"That just makes things easier on the stock and easier on us mustering.

"Times were tough when I was younger, but they were even tougher when William Henry arrived - I can't imagine what he'd think of the property now."

Merinos to meat sheep

The most important change for the family in recent years has been the transition from Merinos into meat sheep, something Kate said they had thought about for some time.

"It's actually pretty exciting just to be changing it up and trying something new," she said.

"Last year we started getting out of Merinos and are down to our last 2700, which will be gone by Christmas.

"We're transitioning into shedding sheep with Dorpers but we've also got our eye on other shedding options just so that we can try and find the right fit and the right productivity.

Paul said the family felt relieved about the change.

"It sort of frees up your timeframes a bit more - you're not committed to the shearing date or a crutching date," he said.

"It brings in a lot more flexibility.

"There's a lot of work in fencing and yard building ahead of us, but it definitely frees up timeframes."

The family wanted their reputation for high-quality Merinos to translate across into Dorpers, according to Kate who said they didn't want to get out of Merinos and have some "shabby-shedders".

"We've really tried to position ourselves the same way going into the Dorpers so our bloodlines will be sought and hopefully there'll be quite a few people really keen to have a look at them when we have animals for sale," she said.

"Paul and I did an assessment on the various risks that we saw in the business about four years ago and at the time, we flagged being in Merinos as a real risk.

"We thought we would transition into the meat sheep then, we just weren't quite sure on our timeframe.

"When our shearing contractor rang up and said he's out of the game after this year we thought it was the perfect time to make the change."

So this year, the Greenfields held their final shear.

A bittersweet memory for the family, the fortnight had countless people in and out of the shed who had been part of the station's shearing journey across the years.

The family's flock dispersal began in spring last year, with the sheep topping a recent sale at Jamestown with $321 top for a run of 179 Glenville-bloods.

"I remember not that long ago, we got $30 or $40 for a sheep at Jamestown Market and I thought that was good," Bob said.

"When the wool market crashed, I sent fat wethers away to Jamestown and got $6 each.

"It cost me $2 to send them down and about 50c a head to sell them with fees and levies.

"(It was) $320-odd for a sheep now? I can't believe it!"

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Decades of contribution recognised

Along with keeping a detailed history of the inner-workings of the property of the past 140 years, the Greenfield family has also been contributing to the Bureau of Meteorology, tracking rainfall at the station since 1882.

"We've been tracking the rainfall every month since we came here and sending it to the BoM," Bob said.

"About six, seven years ago, a couple of fellows from the Bureau came over to Port Augusta presented me with a big picture and an award for the work, but it's not just been me - it's been generations and now Paul's taken it on."

Although an accolade for his work was a nice outcome, Bob said tracking the rainfall did more than just help the Bureau.

"It's very interesting to look back on the rainfall and match it with the highs and lows of South Gap," he said.

"In around 1906 for five years in a row, they had 10 inches (164mm) of rain each year.

"Those five years got my great grandfather going - he really made a lot of money.

"In 1928 and '29 there were two years in a row where I think there were four inches (66mm) for two years - that was a shocking drought.

"I did the rainfall about 15 years ago for every decade and the average then was 690 points (175mm) for 120-odd years.

"Throughout that there's been years like in the 1920s when we saw nothing, and others like in the 1970s where we had too much.

"No matter how bad it's been though, I've never wanted to give up.

"There's been years tougher than you can imagine - drought years where we had to cull our sheep, years when it was too wet and we lost sheep as well, but I wouldn't change South Gap for anything."

Kate said Bob's love of South Gap despite the ebbs and flows is something she's inspired by.

"I once asked him what he'd do if he won the lotto," she said.

"He said 'oh, that's easy - just get rid of all the sheep and cattle and enjoy South Gap'."

Conservation is key

South Gap is a biodiversity hotspot for nationally threatened species of flora and fauna, and to do their part, the family have allocated certain areas of their property for conservation.

"We've worked with ecologists and allocated bits of land to the north that are remote from water for conservation," Kate said.

"There's also the southern 'conservation block' - a part of land we would never run stock on and we'd always treated as such anyway.

"It was never under any official status previously, but it was always just a mindset we had and when the mining company needed to offset and approached us about conservation it was a no brainer."

Kate said the family had focused on ensuring its production systems could provide for itself, the environment and future generations.

"We have also worked with ecologists to increase the known distribution range of several species," she said.

"It's something I'm really passionate about.

"We've got plants and animals here at South Gap that are threatened or vulnerable and we can do something about it.

"I'd hate to have to turn around to our grandchildren one day and tell them we used to have something here but it's gone because we didn't do our part for conservation."

Family matters

Although Paul was off-property for some years working across the country where he met Kate, and their sons have their own passions, the love of South Gap is something that flows through them all.

"If you want hard workers you have to breed them yourself," Kate joked.

"We're really lucky to have the boys back on the property with their dad and grandfather, like all the generations before us.

"Growing up in this environment is pretty special.

"It hasn't been easy raising children here in isolation though, and sometimes you feel a world away from everyone, even if we're not too far from Port Augusta, but life here is something I can't compare to anything else."

Paul's brothers Steve and Wayne also worked on the property - on and off - something Bob holds close to his heart.

"It's been great to work with family over the years, and although there's been some fights like any other family, we've stuck it out," Paul said.

"To have the boys grow up here with a connection to the land was always important and to have them back now working alongside myself and dad has been invaluable.

"Station life isn't for everyone, but it's what makes our family who we are."