Australian Talk.

[jilleroo]

We took a truckload of weaners off the Charleville cows to Blackall sale....the steers averaged nearly $800 and the heifers $700. May not sound a lot to you guys across the sea, but its pretty good money here in Aus! Feeling pretty good about still having our cows...so far anyway!
Hope your bulls go well Ken, I'm sure they will.

 

[wbvs58]

I am glad you still got those cows Jilleroo. I think some people are going to be in a big heap of trouble buying back in when things finally start to look a bit better and I think the longer the drought goes the higher they will have to pay for females. Having a nucleus cow herd left is a great start.
The bulls don't sell until the 20th August Jilleroo still a long way away but we are under 2 months now and that time goes fast though they can eat a lot of feed in that time but I am happy with the date as it gives the buyers a bit of time to look at the earlier sales and come to terms with what they will have to pay, anyway the slaughter rates for heavy bulls sort of put a floor in the market. I have been having a few early enquiries for my yearling bulls especially for heifer bulls and about half of them are by SAV Thunderbird and from my experience with him on heifers you couldn't go past his son. I have never been a good salesman but when you have confidence in a product from personal experience selling is easier.
Jilleroo have you seen Andrew's post about first AI success? I am so happy he got to taste success first up he got a great calf and it will really fire him up to big things this year.
Ken

 

[jilleroo]

Good on you, Andrew! I hope your success continues this year!
I had a post on the page before too folk might've missed... not that it said much... the second one was a PS. Quite warm here tonight.

 

[mwj]

Jilleroo I am so glad to see your post! I am very happy to see that you still have some of your brood stock and are finally getting a bit of moisture. I am sure it still looks bleak on your end of the world but I am very glad to see you are still looking to the future. It is nice to hear that you did get a good sale price on your calves. As the others said, those good cows are better than money in the bank! :nod:

 

[jilleroo]

thanks so much mwj. The end of the drought must be coming soon, it has to be! What sort of a season are you having there? We heard there was very heavy rain in some of the wheat areas in the US.... where are you in relation to that?
Cheers

 

[wbvs58]

Good on you, Andrew! I hope your success continues this year!
I had a post on the page before too folk might've missed... not that it said much... the second one was a PS. Quite warm here tonight.

Yes I did miss that other post Jilleroo. Yeh the fire at Winton was tragic, did you have any art work there? Just a bit of trivia, I think it was the Qantas museum at Longreach but a few years ago they were looking for historic photos to do with Qantas and ran a comp and Mum put in some photos of her grandfather climbing into the plane for the first airmail trip from Longreach to Winton or viceversa I forget, her grandfather was in charge of the PMG and he signed the first letter and then went along for the ride and delivered it to the post master at the destination, well anyway she didn't win but got runner up and got a trip out to Longreach. They copied the photos and they are supposed to be in the collection out there.
Your hubby has certainly got a bit of ticker Jilleroo. It must be so hard to keep motivated. As I have said before it must feel like your life is on hold.
Ken

 

[mwj]

thanks so much mwj. The end of the drought must be coming soon, it has to be! What sort of a season are you having there? We heard there was very heavy rain in some of the wheat areas in the US.... where are you in relation to that?
Cheers

I am in the heart of corn country and it is very wet. My state (Illinois) has the wettest June on record which is around 1860. Rain is much more forgiving since the water runs to the low areas and the rest thrives. It seems that the weather goes in extreme swings instead of gradual flows. We have rain in the forecast for the next week so not much change in the near term. It is a shame that we can not share our excess moisture with the folks that so desperately need it.

 

[Suzie Q]

http://m.horsezone.com.au/listing/id:52019

Very quick I know but I decided I wanted a younger horse.

He is only a baby but he has been started correctly.

 

[jilleroo]

Did you buy him Suzie? The ad reads well and hes a very reasonable price.

 

[jilleroo]

mwj did you receive more rain? Enjoy your wonderful season and I hope it continues for you.
Ken and Andrew and family you will have all your woollies out getting ready for this big cold front to hit...its certainly had enough publicity. I cleaned out the fireplace this arve and carted in some wood. As is usual in winter, the visitors are flowing through and another lot is due to arrive on Tuesday, just in time for the worst of the weather. These houses are not built for the cold and several years ago we actually had one guest nearly die of pneumonia! Needless to say, they haven't visited again.
We are preg-testing our heifers on the northern agistment next Friday. I wonder how that will go? I think we're going to be very disappointed with the percentage in calf.
What about the latest news that Australian Country Choice and the Actons have joined forces! That was a surprise.
Keep warm everyone!

 

[wbvs58]

I haven't been able to really digest what is happening with Actons and ACC but it seems to me when you start to get really big the desire to get even bigger just gets out of control and these sort of things happen and usually to the detriment of the original entity.
No sign of any snow here so far, yesterday was a beautifull sunny day although the temp didn't get above 7 on my verandah. Cloud came in last night and there has been light rain but no sign of sleet or rain at 1pm it is 5.7 on my verandah, I think the wind is just coming too much out of the west and a couple of degrees too high for snow or sleet. It is 23.4 in the house so very nice. I will stay inside until 3.30 when I go and feed the bulls and a few cows that are in for calving.
I have been outside all morning doing jobs and I am a bit relieved to be having a break. I thought I was going to have to do a search for my heifers, they are in the back along the border, a lot of scrub. They hadn't come down to the front bit for their feed for about 3 days and when I went up there on the bike yesterday arvo I did not see them on the open parts and again no sign of them this morning so after smoko I got all rugged up to run the fence line to see where they could have escaped from and as I went up to the gate here they were all standing at the fence so I was much relieved. I might take their feeders up there and feed them there as they are preferring to stay up there.
I am exactly half way through calving, only 26 this year, all by AI so far and still a few to come. After 7 calves I had 6 heifers and 1 bull calf, now after 13 the boys have hit the lead so 7 bull calves. No surprise really as the girls were a day or two early and the bulls a day or two late. I bring all the cows that are close to calving into a small paddock behind the house and yards, it is handy for keeping an eye on heifers and then tagging and weighing the calves as they are born. I also like to get feed to the cows in the day or two after calving as they neglect themselves a bit when the calf is so precious initially and if I keep the hay going into them they don't get that hollow look plus it lures them into the yards where I can get my hands onto the calf.
Oh well maybe there will be another southerly blast come through and we will get some snow, still a bit of winter to go yet.
Ken

 

[townfarmer]

Looks like plenty of snow fell around the Stanthorpe district last night. We apparently had about 15cms on our place. We weren't there but that's what the neighbours tell us.

Ken
Did you get much? Hopefully all of your news calves coped alright.

Andrew

 

[wbvs58]

Yes Andrew a good fall, very difficult to measure but I think as good if not better than most places. I'll get sorted and post some piccies.
Yeh the calves thrived in it, didn't have any born in it but one the night before and I tagged and weighed him in the snow, mother brought him up to some rocks for shelter and you could see where they had been laying. They are very smart this was her 1st live calf was heifer last year that lost the calf coming backwards but she had no trouble with this 45kg calf.
Ken

 

[wbvs58]

Well here it is. It was unreal, just looking at the landscape today it was hard to believe what it was the day before.
For anyone from the north side of the globe looking at the photos, our district is the only place in our state of Australia that has any bragging rights to the possibility of snow falls in winter and we are down the most southern part and at an altitude of 940m (3000'). Most years we will get a flurry of snow but only about once in 10 years we get a fall that settles like this so it is a big deal when it happens, great for tourism.

Day old calf. Just tagged and weighed him, see scales in the background.


Looking back towards the house.


Yearling heifers coming up for a feed.


Calves playing, it was starting to melt a bit by now.


Ken

 

[jilleroo]

Wow impressive!

 

[mwj]

Is this winter moisture an indicator that the weather pattern could be changing? We find that moisture in the form of snow is almost all absorbed into the soil. There is usually very little lost to evaporation or run off. It sure makes those black calves look like a picture to go on your Christmas cards!

 

[wbvs58]

Yeh mwj, haha, we do have Xmas cards with snow but Xmas here is more about summer and heat.
Where I am we have had a good winter with some regular rain and with low evaporation rate the soil is close to saturation. Unfortunately further north in Jilleroo country things are still very dusty. The outlook for summer is not good with the El nino well entrenched but I am optimistic where I am we often get something unexpected plus the weather is good at making fools of the forecasters so you never know.
Ken

 

[jilleroo]

We've managed to lease another small place at Roma about 3000 acs so that makes it even more worthwhile I suppose to be there with the stock. That's four places we're on down that way - crazy! Son and I mustered and trucked heifers down there from the last of our agistment N of here and they arrived about 2 a.m. and unloaded by the light of the "blue moon"! One with a newborn calf and a couple of heavy springers had to go back to our Winton place unfortunately. So now hubby is away on agistment as well as the stock!
Just the ponies to get rid of here and the cat and I will be all that's left.

 

[wbvs58]

Well I hope he doesn't eat too much of the cows feed Jilleroo.
Even in spite of the doom and gloom forecast surely the odds of getting at least a bit of a wet season this year must be getting better but I suspect you just gotta expect the worse and hope for the best. Maybe the coin will land on its edge.
I am taking 5 bulls to the Kingaroy Bull Sale on the 20th August. It is a bit later than I usually sell but the time is coming around quickly. I hope conditions around there are not too bad. I heard they had a bit of a summer season but not as good as what we had here. The 5 bulls I am taking all look good so I hope I stand a chance of leaving them there.
Ken

 

[Suzie Q]

Wow Jilleroo, you will get a lot of painting done. From memory you paint?

Wow at the snow Ken. It is bad enough for me with getting a frost!

Yes I bought Bobby. The first thing I had to do was teach him English as he only knew a click and woah in Irish.

On Sunday we are having a lesson with both of them. I am nervous. I have been riding both daily and they are going well in walk and trot and transitions.

Sim is going off on both leads but is uncoordinated.

Bobby, I haven't cantered under saddle yet but he is going off on both leads on the lunge.