A mate of mine, now gone, had a 60,000 acre property out from Walgett. He reckoned he used to run about 5000 head of sheep, & 60,000 roos.

In hard times he could flog off some sheep, & send most of the nucleus of his breeding herd off to adjustment. However he could not do much about the roos.

He reckoned shooting them at any time was a waste of money, as unless the whole district did it simultaneously, he simply got more from his neighbours.

In drought he said it was the roos that did most damage as they could survive a long time, destroying whatever grass was left. He would shut down his bores & bore drains, but it could take 6 months for the herds to die off. Not nice to watch he reckoned.

He did say it was amazing how quickly the country would come back after a disastrous drought, when most roos died out, compared to a simply bad one, where a moderate percentage of the herd survived to attack any green shoots.

Incidentally my flock is up to about 20 right now, about 1 per acre, although I'm not sure they are faithful to me. I think they do visit neighbours the jezabels.

If Paul would like some, I could do without them.

Hasbeen, my grandfather was a sheep (wool) farmer all his life in the central west of NSW. I spent plenty of time there so I know something about sheep. One of the greatest problems in Australia, has been farming on marginal land, overstocking in good seasons, followed by many years of drought. your friend from Walgett could have been such a case.

//Hi Toni, are we now talking about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?//

Not really, no. Although it would be more interesting than talking about dead roos. Once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all.

But lots of organisations have coats of arms. Most universities, for example. I like the crest of the Royal Society: in a dexter corner of a shield argent our three Lions of England, and for crest a helm adorned with a crown studded with florets, surmounted by an eagle of proper colour holding in one foot a shield charged with our lions: supporters two white hounds gorged with crowns, with the motto of "nullius in verba".

As another Royal Society, it would not surprise me to learn that the RSPCA have a heraldic crest of their own. It's unlikely that the Greens do, but they're missing out: heraldry looks cool, and when it's done right it says a lot about the organisation it stands for.

If I was designing a crest for the Greens it would consist of a shield parted per bend sinister, vert and argent, with a bend sinister gules, or, vert, azure and purpure, a whale, argent, naiant on the vert field and tree vert on the argent field: supporters: a unicorn and a sea-horse.

Paul,

By now you know that the 'roo and emu are mere Supporters of the Coat of Arms; and I seriously suggest that you install 'Spell Check'!!

Those characters that shot the 'roo with a crossbow deserve everything that the law can throw at them, but is it any less cruel than fishermen who nail an octopus to a thwart to stop it from crawling around, and then cut bits off of it for bait whilst still alive?

Or the hunting practices of some Indiginous Australians which the Greens support (probably, to be charitable, in ignorance).

Anyone that wears cammo in the bush has to be a shingle short as animals react to movement not colour.
Waving any rag at a bull will attract his attention.

Hi Is Mise, don't worry about the spell checker, if I wanted one I wouldn't use yours. LOL

Now back to that book of yours, what's its name? 'Road Kill Recipes for the Bad Shot' What could you knock up from a week old road kill roo to feed a couple of unsuccessful galah's shooters, sitting around the camp fire.

Hi Toni, I read your post, ah...yes, quite so, um yes, ummmm okay, if you say so. Now how about King Arthur and the Knights of the round table, or any shaped table for that matter. How about those fellas got a coat of arms for them?

Paul,

"... unsuccessful galah's shooters,"

Didn't know that galahs had shooters; 'Spell Check' is available from
http://www.spellcheck.net/ among others.