Going back to the original topic of this post, though it is a definite and invaluable asset to have stock experience, I think it is a load of bull@#$% to say that you won't make it in the mustering industry without it. Knowing cattle is 85% of the job but there is nothing to say that it cant be learnt in a helicopter. Mustering is a thinking game like anything else and it just takes a bit of nouse to work it out. I have met many mustering pilots and seen many go from scratch to very competent pilots that get the job done as well as anyone else and many of them have been from the suburbs. It is up to the companies management and chief pilots to ensure that the pilots are up to scratch and gain the confidence of the station managers. There is far too little dual training now days and the "culture" of the mustering industry is focused too much on cattle knowledge and not enough on airmanship and it is a very unique but undisciplined industry. The best pilots I know are mustering pilots (from the bush and the big smoke) but ask them how much dual mustering they did before they got a run. I was born and bred on a cattle station but I think that some blokes from the bush have got as much to learn as the city slickers