Cattle station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cattle station is an Australian term for a large farm (station, the equivalent of ranch), usually in the outback, whose main activity is the raising of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a grazier. The largest cattle station is Anna Creek station.

Sir Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) set up a chain of such stations to be able to deliver his stock in good condition to the markets.

Cattle station has a parallel term, Sheep station, for those stations carrying sheep rather than cattle. In most cases the stations are in a rangeland context on pastoral leases. Many are larger than small countries. Some stations are not exclusively sheep or cattle stations but have a mix of cattle, sheep and even goats to make the owner less vulnerable to changes in the wool or beef prices.

The phrase is also in traditional Australian English to denote something large and/or important.