It is safe bet the Australian census does not have categories for the chosen careers of Bradley Cullen and Mal Nikora.
They have chosen obscure careers but ones that have taken them around the world.
Cullen is a bovine portrait photographer and Nikora is a cattle preparation specialist.
They both predominantly work with dairy cows, helping owners prepare them for sale or show. Cullen taking pictures and Nikora grooming and prepping them.
Cullen lives in Tasmania, the son of 10th generation dairy farmers, of which the last seven farmed in coastal New South Wales. Before that three generations of his family milked cows in Ireland.
The 23-year-old has spent a decade taking photographs, starting as a 13-year-old helping a wedding photographer before blending his love of photography, dairy farming and genetics to become one of just 16 specialist cattle photographers in the world.
It is a role Cullen says cattle owners take seriously, using his images to promote and market their stock, which is increasingly being done on social media.
A client once flew him 36 hours from Australia to his farm in Spain to photograph one cow over two days then flew him home again.
Cost is not an object for some clients with Cullen saying one United States Jersey breeder had net worth of about NZ$700 million accumulated through a machinery sales business with cattle breeding a sideline interest.
“For a big player like that in North America it is nothing to pay $2500 for a photograph of his cows.”
Another North American Jersey breeder owns the internationally known Manolo shoe brand but all view the quality of photograph as vital for marketing and promotion.
Cullen estimates he has photographed 6800 cows since launching his business in 2010 and averages one sale a month.
He has branched out to helping with marketing, branding and preparing sale catalogues.
Much of that marketing is now targeted via social media but it has also required him to develop skills such as understanding the NZ dairy index system and how to design sale catalogues and market the sales.
Cullen said his career received a major break in 2014 when working with a leading United States cattle photographer Cybil Fisher.
She taught Cullen the intricacies of lighting, presence, conformation and attention to detail, skills he has strived to emulate.
The job has taken him to Europe, the US, Canada, New Zealand and throughout Australia.
Cullen and Nikora were both involved in the recent sale of 49 cattle by Nathan and Amanda Bayne’s Busybrook Holsteins in North Otago, photographing and grooming the cattle.
Tokoroa-raised Nikora was not from a farming background until his family moved to Australia and his mother married a dairy farmer.
He said he started visiting shows and was fascinated at how stock were prepared so taught himself the art of cattle grooming.
Living in Colac, Victoria, Nikora has been clipping cattle for three years and does about 1500 cows a year throughout North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Depending on an animal’s size the clipping can take between 30 and 90 minutes.
As with photography, grooming cattle is a specialist job that is in demand from breeders wanting to show or sell their stock.
A North American breeder flew Nikora twice in one month to work with his cattle.
Nikora said he is fully booked until September and in one month his work will require him to visit North America twice, New Zealand and Australia.
Last year he had 10 days off when he wasn’t either working or travelling for work.
“It’s a single man’s game,” he said.
Nikora has acquired knowledge that allows him to contribute more than just clipping and styling cows for sale or show.
Come game day he also advises breeders how much to feed cows and how much milk to leave in the udder so the cows are presented looking their best.
