While many people start winding down in their 80s, some live to work. Eighty-five-year-old Southlander Helen Miller has been breeding Hereford cattle for 52 years. And, as Seven Sharp reporter Rachel Parkin discovers, she has no plans to hang up her boots.
The sun was shining, but the wind was fierce, nudging Helen Miller’s trusty side-by-side ever so slightly to the right of the gravel road.
She didn’t seem to notice, though; her fingers gripped the wheel, booted hard on the gas, and her mind was firmly on task.
Nothing much fazed this stoic, octogenarian Southlander.
“It can’t have been easy for you at times,” I mused.
“No, it wasn’t. We tried to do it as cost-effectively as we could,” she said. “Once, I got knocked over in the cattle yards and was lying under the cow’s legs, and I scrambled up.”
“Oh my goodness!” I said.
And that was how our conversations typically went – a lifetime of stories twisting and turning like tumbleweed as her mind worked on overdrive to fill me in.
But, as she strode toward her cattle, everything else fell away.
“Hallo! You gooood boys, you are gooood boys,” Miller cooed.
“Do they ever talk back?” I asked.
“No, but my joke is that they can kick back,” she replied with a laugh.
Miller’s “bullie boys” have been her life. 52 years of breeding Hereford cattle on the rolling plains of Pyramid Downs in Riversdale.
“Does it feel that long?” I asked.
“Nooo! I don’t know what I’ve done all that time!” Miller laughed.
There isn’t much she hadn’t done.
On the 240-hectare farm, there were bulls to breed, Perendale Ewes to raise and "Tallboy" the hungry calf to bottle-feed.
And in Miller's garage, there were dried flowers.
“One year, I did church flowers 22 Sundays in the year,” she said, showing me a coal bucket bouquet. “But you just do it.”
“I think that might be your motto, Helen,” I said.
Miller has been “just doing it” — on the farm and at home — since losing husband John in 1968.
She was in hospital with their one-week-old son and their young daughter at home when he was killed in a car crash.
“Well, it’s just something you never get over... mmm... but life goes on,” Miller told me.
When some suggested she sell up, Miller dug in, determined to be a new Mum on a new patch, raising cattle and kids.
“Which was harder... wrangling teenagers or bulls?” I asked.
And like she often did, Miller replied with a memory.
“When Rachel [daughter] was at boarding school, John [son] would get home about 4:40pm, and I’d prepare a dinner and put it in the oven and set a timer so he would have a hot meal while I was out on the farm.”
In 52 years, the Southland farmer had seen a lot of change but held firm to her principles. Like customer loyalty.
“How much is Ogden worth?” I asked of her beloved “spare bull”.
“I’d like $5 thousand for him, which is pretty reasonable,” she said. “But then I’m reasonable to deal with because I like the buyers to come back.”
The same went with her other passion — antiques. Just off State Highway 94 lay Miller's favourite shed, packed to the rafters with collectables and treasure. For more than 10 years, she's sold to tourists and locals.
“I tell you what, I wouldn’t want to do a stocktake with you,” I said, gazing around.
“No... things get put underneath tables and things, too,” replied Miller.
As Miller made her way around the space, she knew every single piece.
“The likes of this blue Wedgewood with the Queen on it, that’ll be collectable,” she said.
“Oooh, I’ve got a cameo lamp down in here,” she said. “It’s made out of a shell like a cameo broach.”
Tucked away under protective plastic was everything from tools, lamps and prams to Royal Doulton crockery and Royals’ magazines.
“Take the lot for $100,” came the offer for the Royal stack, making me giggle.
And that may be Miller's secret to success. No bull.
This was a woman who knew what she liked and knew what worked.
“Sometimes at a [bull] sale, people will pay ridiculous money, and I think, ‘Ooooh, I wouldn’t buy that bull’.”
"Do you ever rest or have a break? I asked.
"Oh, I'm too busy," Miller said before adding: "But I would like more time to spend in the garden."
SHARE ME