Bucking Bronco
- 14 May 08, 11:38 AM
Posted from: Altamira
We are in cattle country. In this part of Brazil, vast areas of rainforest are being cleared to make way for cattle pasture, as thousands of entrepreneurs flood into the area taking advantage of cheap land and good rainfall to make very healthy profits. The cattle industry is booming here, making Brazil the biggest exporter of beef in the world.
We're filming with a very cool gang of cowboys and their big boss Tony. The images and sounds are exactly what you'd hope for: hundreds of cows being herded into corrals, lassoed, branded, injected and exported. The cowboys lead a tough physical life, up at dawn and man-handling cattle all day long, but they seem to love it. Bruce has jumped into their world with both feet, grappling calves in the mud, operating the gates in the corral, and trotting out over the pasture with the boys.
After so much time spent on rivers, walled in by forest on either side, it's very liberating to be out on open grassland with stunning views over rolling hills in all directions. Of course you don't forget that this was all rainforest until quite recently, but the feeling of space and the occasional breeze is quite welcome.
As we can't get the whole crew and the big camera on horse-back I've been riding out with Bruce and the cowboys, carrying a smaller camera, trying to control a horse and shoot at the same time. Trotting gently over hills and through little patches of forest is quite manageable, but when the action kicks off and they start rounding up cattle it's almost impossible to keep up.
As you'd expect the cowboys are expert horsemen, setting off at a gallop at the drop of a hat, twisting and turning as they manage the herd. It was amazing to see them carrying out their work at close quarters. Luckily my horse was steady as a rock, as at one point I got stuck in the middle of a mini-stampede. I held my breath but he barely budged an inch beneath me, and I got some nice unexpected shots from being in the wrong place at the right time.
Some of the younger cowboys compete in local rodeo events and yesterday, as we were waiting for a lorry to ship out another load of cattle, they caught up a very stocky-looking bull and tied a rope around his middle to hone their skills before the start of rodeo season. We are careful whilst filming not to manipulate events and to let the action unfold as naturally as possible. I'd heard that rodeo was big in the area, but the season hasn't started yet, so I'd held back from asking them to demonstrate, as it would have felt very set-up. Then they started an impromptu pre-season training session right in front of us, just to pass the time.
Despite the ferocity of the bull they made it look quite easy. I looked at Bruce inquiringly, and he very gamely smiled and asked if he could join in. He lasted three bucks and fell on the fourth, with a ground-shaking bump that I felt in my boots from twenty feet away. His back will probably be sore for a while, and we have some long car journeys ahead, but the cowboys were very complimentary about his style, and everyone had a very good laugh watching the footage back in slow motion.
Bruce hits the deck
At this time of year about once or twice a week, the cattle are loaded into trucks, driven to the little port of Vittoria on the Xingu River and transferred onto barges for export around the world. I was quietly hoping all week that we might get our final shot of them heading off downriver at sunset, though I knew it would take a great deal of luck for it all to happen at the right time. We knew there was a barge on the way and we had a big order ready for shipping, which the buyer wanted moved out today, our last day, but the boatman called to say the barge had broken down en route.
It poured with rain all afternoon, there was no sign of the lorries, and it looked like it wasn't going to happen. I kept looking at my watch seeing the day ebbing away when Big Tony got a call to say they'd fixed the barge, were approaching the port, and the trucks arrived twenty minutes later to collect the order. Bruce and the cowboys got busy loading and we finally got on the road, arriving at the port with about half an hour of light left. The cattle were prodded onto their new floating home and hosed down, and after deals were done and hands were shook the barge moved out, chugging slowly towards the Amazon against a beautiful back-drop of stunning pink clouds and a setting sun. The beers were very cold and very well-deserved.
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