Denis Lehane: Mick Dundee and my tale of the €220,000 Aussie Angus
Australian Angus bull Texas Thunderstruck with his seller Ben Mayne and new owner Robert Mackenzie. Picture: Texas Angus
The recent sale of that Aussie Aberdeen Angus bull for €220,000 really took the biscuit.
"Who purchased him?" Sure, it's still the question on everyone's lips. Was it O'Leary with the planes? Or Clarkson with the big mouth?
Well, today I can reveal all. The purchaser was none other than Lehane with the mighty overdraft. I purchased the Aussie Angus. I forked out the money and, more importantly still, I feel it was money well spent.
For some time now I have been toying with the idea of running a few sucklers on this farm. Nothing crazy mind, just a small class of an enterprise to compliment my calf-rearing operation. Just something that might bring in a few extra quid of a cold winter's evening and keep the wolf from the door.
The secret to a good suckler herd, I have often been told, is to have a good bull. And that is why I purchased the faraway ruffian. Some say he's the best in the world. Well, we'll see about that.
He was pricey for sure, but what isn't these days? Anyhow, I wrote the cheque (and crossed my fingers) and duly posted it to Australia. With any luck it won't bounce between here and Adelaide.
Of course, the clever thing to do right now would be to purchase a half dozen suckler cows so as not to have the old boy idling away there in Australia. And I will do that too, just as soon Texas Thunderstruck is shipped home.
For great and all as he might be, famous and all as he has become, he can't get cows in-calf here in Kilmichael and he out there in the wilds of Australia. At the very least he would need to be on the same farm as the cows.
I'll have to arrange a boat or some class of a yoke to get him home. To be honest with you, the purchase was a spontaneous thing.
I had only just come in from doing a few odd jobs outside when I spotted him on the phone. The Mart App can be a wonderful thing. Whether an animal is for sale in Australia or Annascaul, a bid can be thrown.
Anyhow, he looked like a fellow who wouldn't be afraid of a cow, so I decided to take the gamble. I threw in an opening bid consisting of nothing more than a few hundred quid. And soon the price had gone up to €220,000. The rest, as they say, is history.
Of course, the money was big. But on the plus side, the advantage with the Angus is he can be wintered outside with ease. That bull would have no problem in making a home for himself by an old ditch of a rainy day in December.
So long as he had a bite to eat in a nearby round feeder, the rain wouldn't knock a shake out of him. He's ideal really for my rough and ready operation.
I can't wait to get the green light from Oz and ferry him home. Right now, he is being looked after in Australia by a chap called Mick Dundee. You might have heard of Mick, he was famous years ago when he ventured to New York.
New York, by all accounts, was a congested old spot, a bit like Macroom before the bypass. Anyhow he's back in Australia now looking after my Aussie Angus.
I spoke to Mick on the phone only last night (the call cost almost as much as the bull). He told me the old Angus bull was doing fine altogether and that he's mad anxious for cows.
"No worries, mate," Mick said as he supped on a beer. "He's out there now behind the pub, with more grass to eat than you could shake a knife at." And while Mick himself might be a little rough around the edges, you'd have to trust him too.
Anyhow, I'll keep you informed as to how it all pans out, for as with everything in my life, I imagine there will be a few twists and turns yet to come before Thunderstruck finally arrives in wild and wonderful west Cork.
