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wbvs58
Well-known member
Yeh we are around. I gotta go and push up some piles I'm burning, I'll write a bit tonight. Gotta get all this thinning done by the 1st July.
Ken
Ken
wbvs58
Well-known member
Good to hear from you Jilleroo, I'm surprised that you have anything calving. Did you get any rain at home this summer? We didn't do too bad always got another shower just when things started to dry off but their is no moisture in the subsoil. We have not had a major rain event for a couple of years now but our dams have not been too bad I even pumped a bit of water to get some forage oats out of the ground. Our rain dried up in February and the clover disappeared then and strangely the summer grasses just never grew so we haven't got much feed stockpiled but then I have some oats in that have done pretty well.
I just seem to get so busy, I am patching things up like fences until I can get some time to do it properly. Of course having that deadline for tree clearing is a problem, I did the self assessment and the approval is supposed to be valid until I sell the property but I doubt that will be much good with Ms Tradd's tree cops just champing at the bit waiting to be let loose.
The calf you have the problem with did you have to use Dr Toyota on it? You said the HQ came pretty easy and if there was damage from traction I would think it would be in the lumbar area and it was not under much pressure.
It has certainly been strange weather I am hanging out for our first frost but it seems like it is not going to happen.
Ken
I just seem to get so busy, I am patching things up like fences until I can get some time to do it properly. Of course having that deadline for tree clearing is a problem, I did the self assessment and the approval is supposed to be valid until I sell the property but I doubt that will be much good with Ms Tradd's tree cops just champing at the bit waiting to be let loose.
The calf you have the problem with did you have to use Dr Toyota on it? You said the HQ came pretty easy and if there was damage from traction I would think it would be in the lumbar area and it was not under much pressure.
It has certainly been strange weather I am hanging out for our first frost but it seems like it is not going to happen.
Ken
melking
Well-known member
Happy to see many of my friends back on the Australia talk. I have been worried about some of you, especially jilleroo. Nice to hear from you. Hoping for a good winter for all of you.
diana55
Well-known member
I lurk on CT everyday (whilst sitting in my Kawasaki mule "supervising" the young bulls grazing the lanes around our property- I'm like Willie Nelson -on the road again....) but don't often post. We have been waiting months for rain and finally had 52mm at end April and it is raining at the moment (17mm so far). Nothing nicer than listening to rain on the roof. We are fortunate that temps are still warm enough to grow grasses so may only have to keep feeding hay and grain to cattle and sheep for next month or so. Cattle market should kick now so plan to offload surplus cows and steers. I see that Longreach is getting rain but Winton has missed so far. Hope that changes for you Jilleroo.
Hi all. Well I still don't have a pretty picture to paint, our longreach property is shut down and will stay that way for the rest of this year at least. We've only received 10mm (40 pts) there this year, unbelievable. We're going into our 5th year of drought. I am living mostly in our camp between Roma and Injune in the Maranoa. We still lease 2 places around there and agist cows and calves at Charleville in the Warrego. Our Winton place received reasonable summer rain and we have about 550 cows and calves there. The camper trailer was not appealing to face another Maranoa winter so we upgraded to a caravan recently. The country down there is drying off too now after good rain in February.
We're just so sick of the drought...We've had more than our share! At present I'm in Brisbane helping with 1 year old grandson who had his eyes operated on this morning. All went well and he's full of cheek again this afternoon. My mum is still gong well.
Diana and ken, did I tell you have some angus cows now. We bought a small number to fill an agistment paddock. They weaned magnificent calves by angus and simmental bulls, just corners. But they didn't sell as well as our charolais calves at Roma. Charolais are all the go at Roma. Are you ever tempted to go with wagyu? Hubby says we should get all angus cows and go for F1s. What do you think?
We're just so sick of the drought...We've had more than our share! At present I'm in Brisbane helping with 1 year old grandson who had his eyes operated on this morning. All went well and he's full of cheek again this afternoon. My mum is still gong well.
Diana and ken, did I tell you have some angus cows now. We bought a small number to fill an agistment paddock. They weaned magnificent calves by angus and simmental bulls, just corners. But they didn't sell as well as our charolais calves at Roma. Charolais are all the go at Roma. Are you ever tempted to go with wagyu? Hubby says we should get all angus cows and go for F1s. What do you think?
wbvs58
Well-known member
Gee your a real trooper Jilleroo. You would be forgiven for thinking that it is not going to rain again. I really admire your tenacity especially in keeping your herd of charolais cows going.
The wagyu's got off to bit of a false start a few years ago, a lot of people were buying a wagyu bull to do F1's but then had to sell them into the normal market as there wasn't enough buyers for wagyu. Their long leggy look didn't appeal to people. They might have their markets better sorted this time but to produce the highly marbled meat they have to be fed for it and it is expensive and is mainly a restaurant meat and I think that puts a ceiling in the cattle numbers to supply that market. Personally I would have trouble eating it knowing how much fat there is. I think there is a bigger market for grass finished cattle as more people are watching what they eat.
Ken
The wagyu's got off to bit of a false start a few years ago, a lot of people were buying a wagyu bull to do F1's but then had to sell them into the normal market as there wasn't enough buyers for wagyu. Their long leggy look didn't appeal to people. They might have their markets better sorted this time but to produce the highly marbled meat they have to be fed for it and it is expensive and is mainly a restaurant meat and I think that puts a ceiling in the cattle numbers to supply that market. Personally I would have trouble eating it knowing how much fat there is. I think there is a bigger market for grass finished cattle as more people are watching what they eat.
Ken
townfarmer
Well-known member
Hi Jilleroo
Welcome back. You must have gone deep into the archives to resurrect this thread.
How are things out your way?
Andrew
Welcome back. You must have gone deep into the archives to resurrect this thread.
How are things out your way?
Andrew
wbvs58
Well-known member
Yes we are still around the ridges Jilleroo, good to here from you. You better fill us in on all the news.
Ken
Ken
diana55
Well-known member
Yes, still here Jilleroo. Judged cattle today at a local show- weather was superb and a good number of cattle. Exhibitors all hoping for a good fall of rain this weekend. Has the drought finally finished for you Jilleroo? Ken, are you going to Wattletop dispersal?
Glad to hear you guys are still on. Life has been hectic as usual but we are living at home again now. I see I last posted a year ago when we were living at Injune which we continued to do until about November last year. Our home property had great winter rain last year in June. All the dams were filled the first night it rained, a miracle since they had been dry for years. They have not had another run in them since even though the rain continued on and off through to September. Initially this rain brought us a crop of decent herbage, pigweed and lamb's tongue etc and the cattle grew fat. We brought a few home, heifers and calves mainly, but no cows. That herbage died and was replaced with a vast swathe of bright green Black Rolypoly....on every inch of the place! How could there be a seed on every square inch I ask you??
Totally inedible and nasty stuff. So the stock we had here for a while have left again to agistment. This last wet season failed totally for us again. Our fifth Feb-March with no rainfall, unbelievable. As for the cows....they are still all away. The feed ran out at Injune and Muckadilla and we parcelled them all up and shifted them to various places further north and closer to home which had fared better than us. We currently have them on 6 properties and looking for more....agistment is scarce as hen's teeth. None of the agistment will last through the winter so we are starting to stockpile hay and have contracted cottonseed ready to bring them home and feed them. Selling them still doesn't seem to be an option for hubby and our son. Our Winton place is also dry this year and some of those cows are agisted. We are going to feed the rest apparently! With all this cattle shifting and craziness, I've been very busy, here there and everywhere! I just put my bike on and go, sometimes at 4 in the morning.
On the bright side, we received great prices for the steers and heifers we've sold. Just amazing money and we hope it lasts a bit longer! We've sold quite a few through Roma and some at Blackall. Charolais always sell well at those sales.
All the family is well, my mum is ok and there have been no more additions to the family! Because our house dam was filled, in November we hopped in and re-did half of our garden. This was a huge effort by hubby as the soil had to be prepared, even though we had it all covered with a heavy layer of mulch and gypsum. We scraped that off and bought a couple of big loads of soil and barrowed it all through. Hubby created a nice area of rock garden and paths and we bought in turf from Emerald to create instant lawn. All expensive but worth it and it was ok to spend some money on ourselves for a change! Our succession of lovely caretakers had done their best of keep the house nice inside and we will keep in touch with most of those kind folk.
Would love to hear what everyone has been up to and will read through some of the Board posts in due course!
Totally inedible and nasty stuff. So the stock we had here for a while have left again to agistment. This last wet season failed totally for us again. Our fifth Feb-March with no rainfall, unbelievable. As for the cows....they are still all away. The feed ran out at Injune and Muckadilla and we parcelled them all up and shifted them to various places further north and closer to home which had fared better than us. We currently have them on 6 properties and looking for more....agistment is scarce as hen's teeth. None of the agistment will last through the winter so we are starting to stockpile hay and have contracted cottonseed ready to bring them home and feed them. Selling them still doesn't seem to be an option for hubby and our son. Our Winton place is also dry this year and some of those cows are agisted. We are going to feed the rest apparently! With all this cattle shifting and craziness, I've been very busy, here there and everywhere! I just put my bike on and go, sometimes at 4 in the morning.
On the bright side, we received great prices for the steers and heifers we've sold. Just amazing money and we hope it lasts a bit longer! We've sold quite a few through Roma and some at Blackall. Charolais always sell well at those sales.
All the family is well, my mum is ok and there have been no more additions to the family! Because our house dam was filled, in November we hopped in and re-did half of our garden. This was a huge effort by hubby as the soil had to be prepared, even though we had it all covered with a heavy layer of mulch and gypsum. We scraped that off and bought a couple of big loads of soil and barrowed it all through. Hubby created a nice area of rock garden and paths and we bought in turf from Emerald to create instant lawn. All expensive but worth it and it was ok to spend some money on ourselves for a change! Our succession of lovely caretakers had done their best of keep the house nice inside and we will keep in touch with most of those kind folk.
Would love to hear what everyone has been up to and will read through some of the Board posts in due course!
mwj
Well-known member
Jilleroo I am so very happy to read your post! I have wondered so many times if you were still making a go of things. I sure hope that your feeder cattle price stays high to offset your extra feed costs. Keep us posted if you have time and remember that there are folks out there that are hoping for better times for you and your family.
melking
Well-known member
So glad to see some of you down under folks back. I have missed you.
wbvs58
Well-known member
Jilleroo, I always watch what the weather is doing up your way and what you described is pretty close to what my suspicions were, unfortunately. Five failed wet seasons in a row is not a scenerio that anyone could possibly dream up. You have shown remarkable resilience to have kept going. The investment in quality Charolais cattle over many years has obviously paid big dividends with the returns they are giving you to help you finance their keep.
It has been a few years since we have had a major summer rain event though overall we have not been without moisture for any lengthy period due to good winters or other out of season rain events. The summer just gone was pretty poor with not enough in the storms and them too far apart and too much heat in between, the summer grasses did not grow but then we got good rain from cyclone Debbie and as late as it was we got a good response from the summer grasses. I have started to grow some summer and winter forage crops which I graze and have tried my hand at baling with some success. The aim is to have hay on hand to feed the bulls and to smooth out the dry periods that we get and lack of feed for the cows. I enjoy doing the hay and it is certainly comforting seeing the rows of round bales sitting there.
The Sunstate bull sale folded a couple of years ago but last year another local breeder and I got together to sell our bulls at Warwick in August under the banner of Sunstate Angus Bull Sale. We had moderate success but enough to encourage us to keep going and we are now preparing for our 2017 sale on the 19th August.
Diana, I'll probably go down on the 24th to have a look at the cows and see Lock though the time of 2.00pm doesn't suite too well. I do not intend to buy any, I have pretty good representitives of most of Locks cow families and am having a lot of trouble deciding which heifers to keep each year and which cows to sell. They are certainly a good herd and I am pleased I based my herd solely on Wattletop cows. I am seeing the progeny of bulls I have sold coming through the weaner sales now and I can say they have been herd improvers.
Ken
It has been a few years since we have had a major summer rain event though overall we have not been without moisture for any lengthy period due to good winters or other out of season rain events. The summer just gone was pretty poor with not enough in the storms and them too far apart and too much heat in between, the summer grasses did not grow but then we got good rain from cyclone Debbie and as late as it was we got a good response from the summer grasses. I have started to grow some summer and winter forage crops which I graze and have tried my hand at baling with some success. The aim is to have hay on hand to feed the bulls and to smooth out the dry periods that we get and lack of feed for the cows. I enjoy doing the hay and it is certainly comforting seeing the rows of round bales sitting there.
The Sunstate bull sale folded a couple of years ago but last year another local breeder and I got together to sell our bulls at Warwick in August under the banner of Sunstate Angus Bull Sale. We had moderate success but enough to encourage us to keep going and we are now preparing for our 2017 sale on the 19th August.
Diana, I'll probably go down on the 24th to have a look at the cows and see Lock though the time of 2.00pm doesn't suite too well. I do not intend to buy any, I have pretty good representitives of most of Locks cow families and am having a lot of trouble deciding which heifers to keep each year and which cows to sell. They are certainly a good herd and I am pleased I based my herd solely on Wattletop cows. I am seeing the progeny of bulls I have sold coming through the weaner sales now and I can say they have been herd improvers.
Ken
Hi all, we still have one more cows to relocate on agistment, having been given our marching orders with 350 cows and calves at the start of the month. Some of them we have already shifted. We will do the rest next week....we are going to bring them here, sort them up and sell some dry ones as they are older cows, move half the rest onto an agistment with others already there, and keep the rest here and feed them as necessary. Ho hum, the merry go round never ends! Then hopefully we should be okay for a couple of months before we start to get kicked off other places where we are!
Late last year hubby bought me two beautiful pure Guernsey heifers from the roma store sale. They were victims of a dairy dispersal on the downs and somehow ended up in Roma sale. They both calved in January about an hour apart. The next week we had a box-up while shifting a big mob of cows and calves between agistments in stinking hot weather and I ended up with 5 mismothered charolais calves, all bulls, one with a badly broken back leg. We had the horsefloat with us, son and I set the broken leg properly with fibreglass stuff, and we were able to bring all the little guys home, after electrolytes, eggs, milk, water and whatever else was required. Anyway the Guernseys were given three, along with their own calves, and they've reared them magnificently well, such good girls. Maisie and Betty. The broken legged one and another poorly one I hand reared but they are looking great too. Taking a body truck load of weaner steers to the Blackall tomorrow for Thursday's sale.
Gosh you are a goer Ken, now into the cropping! Glad to hear you're fine Diana and Andrew. What do you all think of Speckle Parks? There's certainly been a rush on them lately. Friends up this way who formerly had a well known droughtie stud have gone into them in a fairly big way, crossing over the droughties, and also buying F1 cows.
Late last year hubby bought me two beautiful pure Guernsey heifers from the roma store sale. They were victims of a dairy dispersal on the downs and somehow ended up in Roma sale. They both calved in January about an hour apart. The next week we had a box-up while shifting a big mob of cows and calves between agistments in stinking hot weather and I ended up with 5 mismothered charolais calves, all bulls, one with a badly broken back leg. We had the horsefloat with us, son and I set the broken leg properly with fibreglass stuff, and we were able to bring all the little guys home, after electrolytes, eggs, milk, water and whatever else was required. Anyway the Guernseys were given three, along with their own calves, and they've reared them magnificently well, such good girls. Maisie and Betty. The broken legged one and another poorly one I hand reared but they are looking great too. Taking a body truck load of weaner steers to the Blackall tomorrow for Thursday's sale.
Gosh you are a goer Ken, now into the cropping! Glad to hear you're fine Diana and Andrew. What do you all think of Speckle Parks? There's certainly been a rush on them lately. Friends up this way who formerly had a well known droughtie stud have gone into them in a fairly big way, crossing over the droughties, and also buying F1 cows.
