SES performs multiple rescues after south-east Queensland storms<\/a><\/p>\nSeveral people are rescued in the Moreton Bay suburb of Bray Park as some streets are flooded and waist-deep water sweeps through homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It took us six days to locate as many as we could and get them home \u2026 we could not have done any of that without the community support,” Ms Betts said.<\/p>\n
“Some people we didn’t even know came out of the woodwork to render assistance.”<\/p>\n
One man even tracked the river, sending back photos of lost cattle to help identify them.<\/p>\n
Despite all their best efforts, six animals were still lost.<\/p>\n
“We found a deceased calf and a deceased heifer, sadly, and then the others just were never found,” Ms Betts said.<\/p>\n
Then, a few weeks ago \u2014 21 months on from that January morning \u2014 there was news.<\/p>\n
“I received a phone call from a lady from Biosecurity Queensland advising an animal had been found on a property that had our tag,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I knew that it was Birch Talent.”Loading…<\/p>\n
Ms Betts said a man had spotted the cow, which did not belong, on a property he managed \u2014 about 30 kilometres from home \u2014 and called biosecurity officials.<\/p>\n
“It was very kind of him,” she said.<\/p>\n
A Department of Primary Industries spokesperson said the National Livestock Identification System played a vital role in emergency animal disease management, but also in reuniting animals with owners after disasters.<\/p>\n
Heifer leaves, cow and calf return<\/p>\n
When Ms Betts finally saw Birch Talent again, emotions were high.<\/p>\n
“I became quite emotional when I got the phone call, and emotional in the truck when we were driving out to pick her up. But I’m happy now,” she said.<\/p>\n
And there was an extra twist: Birch Talent was pregnant when she disappeared, and was found safe and well with a healthy calf by her side.<\/p>\n
“She came home with talent,” Ms Betts said.<\/p>\n
![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/c4bfaae29c0d7455d219769490e2bda2\")
<\/p>\n
Shane McCarthy says farmers and their animals are a “hardy bunch”. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
AgForce general president and livestock producer Shane McCarthy said stories like this spoke to the resilience of farmers and their animals.<\/p>\n
“We’re a pretty hardy bunch, like our animals,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We are used to flood, fire, drought, wind \u2014 you name it, the weather gods throw it at us.”<\/p>\n
Ms Betts believed the cow’s natural buoyancy in water \u2014 caused by gas in the rumen, a chamber in her stomach \u2014 along with access to grass and water along the way, kept her alive.<\/p>\n
Mr McCarthy agreed.<\/p>\n
“When cattle have been in the water, the gases bloat them and they float a bit better than they normally do,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s a handy built-in natural flotation device.”Back at home<\/p>\n
For Ms Betts, the reunion was bittersweet.<\/p>\n
“It was wonderful to be reunited with her, but it was also very sad for those that we had [lost],” she said.<\/p>\n
“They’re more than just breeders.<\/p>\n
“Some of them are dear family members.”<\/p>\n
Birch Talent and her calf are now safely back in the Samford Valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bronwyn Betts vividly remembers the morning when floodwater swept her cattle away. It was late January 2024 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,150336,150331,99,150335,34743,150330,150334,150333,35216,150332],"class_list":["post-254382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-birch-talent","tag-bronwyn-betts","tag-business","tag-cattle-lost-in-flood","tag-cow","tag-cow-washed-away-in-flood-21-months-ago-found","tag-cyclone-kirrily","tag-droughtmaster-stud","tag-flood","tag-samford-valley-flood-january-2024"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}