Australian Talk.

[jilleroo]

A shame you've had such tough luck when starting off Havinago. You can be sure when we all give our cattle away and throw in the towel it will pour with rain....Murphy's law!! There's some good storms down S of Longreach tonight. We're a No Go zone for any moisture it seems. If you approach our property from the N S E or W you will come through green almost right to our boundary.
Son has kindly "unlocked the gates" and is letting us put another 6 decks of cows and calves on our northern place. We've got them in the yard, ready to go at daylight before he changes his mind! Such a hot day here today, 40 degs and a big hit of humidity, just awful, a few calves had their tongues out. The cows we're trucking look good. Don't let anyone tell you charolais aren't tough - they're as tough as anything else.
You're a very handy fellow Ken, putting the kitchen in for Pam etc. I saw that soybean silage you got advertised in the QCL.
Hope you all you folk get some good rain soon - it will help us out too!
Ken, my lame pony mare improved but now is worse than ever. No heat or swelling, her hoof is fine to prod and poke and is neat and clean. I think its in her shoulder. Dug out her papers and she's 17, maybe its arthritis. I'd like to float her in to be assessed but hubby says no way, a big bill and we still won't have a clue what's wrong. She's eating well and hasnt lost condition.

 

[Suzie Q]

The advice we have been given around here Havinago is that as long as you have water you keep you stock. Run out of water and you lose your whole herd. Which is not so bad if you haven't put years into breeding what you want, however it is devastating if you have.

When it does rain the cattle not on grain were fattening up just as fast as the ones on grain. Once it rains everyone wants cattle so the price goes up if you can keep them to sell later rather than now when they are worth nothing.

No horns is better, however it is said that the horned breeds are better, so if you can cut the horns when they are young you get the best of both worlds. It is another hassle though.

At the moment we still have water. The grass is only dead up on the top of the hill and is still a bit there down on the river flats. We still have some water lying on the ground that hasn't evaporated yet and they are predicting rain every day for the next week, but then again they have also said rain every day for the last 2 weeks and we haven't seen that yet!!

My little girls are growing up. Not having the bull with them last year they have put on a bit of height.

The one on the left is a Bazadais x Brahman so you can see how much weight the Bazadais has put on her. The 2 next to her as also Bazamans and the one on the right is a Bazadais x Gelbvieh

Here is a bit older Bazaveigh than above with our current Bazadais Bull, Garbrook Gino. I have found that if we have females born they have no horns, however the steers do have horns.

and one to just show that we still do have a bit of water still on the ground. Yesterday I had to don the waders (in the heat) and go and push two dead fish out of the water. It was still over my knees, but obviously as the water level drops the water temperature rises and it was too much for them. That is the first time in 11 years that I have had to move dead fish out of the water.

 

[Suzie Q]

I have a mare in the same boat Jilleroo. It seems that she has a lump on her coronet and it has actually deformed her hoof a bit, so that doesn't look good.

I hope the rains come for you sooner rather than later.
We went to a free BBQ and Equine Information Night put on by Norco.

There was a lecture on worming and a lecture on the Hendra Virus.

However, the most interesting lecture was by the vet. He did a lecture on what he called 'horses that owners would have put down that didn't need to be' and shudder it was of photos, so no warning other than that really when the first photo was put up and yes I would have called the vet to put it down. Everything gone from the front of the leg down to bone from the hock to the hoof. Tendons, meat, skin, all gone. I have doctored bad legs in the past and even I was squirming, the girl next to me was only a teenager.

He then said that they don't need the front of the leg, it will grow back - 6 months if you don't skin graft, a couple of months if you do skin graft after the proud flesh has grown back. If the back of the leg is gone down to bone then that is no good as you have lost all the blood vessels that are needed, but the front of the leg, they will heal.

The top of the bone will slough off as it is not supposed to be exposed to the air, but don't worry that is normal.

He takes the skin graft from the chest. Grows it in the fridge then puts it on the leg. You have to mark top and bottom as if you put it on upside down the hair will grow the wrong way and they look a bit funny if they were a chestnut with 4 white socks and the hair taken from the chest is chestnut, so they have a patch in the middle of their sock.

There was then supposed to be 2 videos of the horses walking normally afterwards, however unfortunately the videos didn't work and I would have liked to have seen them in trot and canter as well.

I didn't know that they were having door prizes until they started pulling out the form we filled out for them when we went in. The first 2 were given a liquid jug about 10 litres of somethingorother. They were in opaque bags, so I am not sure what it was. I don't usually take much notice as my name never gets called out, it is usually the person next to me though.

Then the big prize came out. A laundry basket full of stuff. WOW and hubby's name was pulled out. - Yes he was sitting next to me.



2 x wormers, 2 x electrolytes, a leather halter, a plastic halter and lead rope, curry combs, little esky, saddle blanket, rapigel, rug cleaner, rug waterproofer, shampoo, 2 x vet wrap bandages, a plastic bridle and a bit lifter and that is just what I can remember!! SCORE!!!

 

[tamarack]

Hey jillaroo what you doing in Austraila now? I have lost all of my Belmore Jackaroo cows except for a few 1/2 bred cows lost my 1/2 jackaroo bull this winter when a tree fell on him in wind storm and lost a calf in the dam last night when the cow got on her back and died all out of Jackaroo semen now but have Yamburgen Tobermory in the tank what do you think of him?

 

[jilleroo]

Hey Tamarack - I think I'm a different Jilleroo - maybe you're after Jillaroo? I'm afraid I can't comment on Yamburgen Tobermory for you, havent a clue!! Best wishes there at Peace River, sounds a beautiful place!

 

[jilleroo]

Wow, congrats on winning the prize Suzie, always a thrill to win something, not that I've had the pleasure very often!
Our local daughter-in-law won $6000 on facebook week before last, just by "liking" a post. It's a group marketing thing they get going, all the sponsors pitch in for the prize and get advertising in return. The cash lobbed into their bank account three days later so - hey - what's not to like! They could really use the money too.
They're forecasting rain for next week for parts of eastern Aust. Hope we're all included in it. We've got the top two decks of our feedlot cattle going into Toowoomba on Monday. We're hoping there'll be some butchers there looking for their weekly killers.
It turned out badly putting them in the feedlot but whatever we did with them wouldnt have had a pretty outcome - that's just the way it is at present.

 

[tamarack]

Yes must be Jillaroo she showed the bull Belmore Jackaroo hard to keep track of all the roo's over there. thanks for straighting this old cowpoke out.

 

[Havinago]

Ok cheers Suzie Q. We have plenty of water that will never be an issue on our property. I think we are down to manageable amount now so might hold tight. We got 1/2 inch fri night it all helps. Unfortunatly the ones with horns were the ones we paid the most for. My neighbour said he will help us dehorn them next time there in the yards. There about 2 yrs old will this be ok? Theres about 10 or so to do. Hope rain comes soon! And yes jilleroo you are right the day we sell the lot we'll get 2 foot of rain lol. We all need to hang in there

 

[jilleroo]

Havinago, hopefully dehorning won't set them back too much, it wouldve been better to do them a lot younger though of course.
It may leave fairly large holes in their head at that age so don't do them in showery weather - if water gets in their head, infection follows and you can get a real mess.
Looking like rain today. I don't think we'll get much here but I think the rest of you will! We've got 73 head in Toowoomba sale today, not expecting big news about the price but hopefully they'll do okay. We'll begin getting rid of the rest of the stock here and closing the place down then.
All the grandkids are here for a couple of days, I'm just hiding from them for a few minutes! They've got little motorbikes now, courtesy of the males of the family, so the ponies are standing in the stable unwanted. They are too slow and don't have enough gears apparently.

 

[burglar]

Good luck today Jilleroo, you should do ok, prices should firm a little you'd hope with the local rain around. We've had a bit over the past couple of weeks, probably 40-50mm all up. Just enough to get the winter oats growing and not have to drop hay bails. I'm hoping for a good few weeks ahead before the frost and cold weather comes, which usually hits around the end of April. Be nice to have a bit of feed before what is likely going to be a long, hard winter.

Burglar

 

[wbvs58]

Suzie, the last time I checked I found that cows needed feed as well as water. The beauty of trading steers is that you can unload them early when the season looks a bit dodgy compared to hanging onto your females.
I got the kitchen cabinets installed well at least as much as we needed to get it all measured up for the bench top. Looks like it could be about 3 weeks before it arrives. Pretty poor really, it is a Masters kitchen but went together pretty well. I would hate to have a family waiting 3 weeks without a kitchen while they got their act together.
Jilleroo, that pony has been lame for a while now. Have a good look at the muscle over the shoulder, compare side to side, hose her down to get the hair sitting flat. If it is the shoulder there should be some muscle wastage by now. Look at the muscle over the spine of the scapula. If there was something floating inside the joint the muscle in front of the spine would be noticeably wasted by now. You might get some clue from having a good look at that.
We have not had as much rain as Dale has had here. It seems to stop at our front gate but the few showers we have got over the last couple of weeks has given a bit of green to the place and yesterday I got 17mm. If the weather stays warm we might even get a bit of feed happening. I only have the 7 heifers here and they are up the back so at least the grass has every chance to grow, amazing how it does so much better when it is not getting eaten. The cows are surviving in the tin mine and are getting Molafos, cottonseed and now a grain mix. Unfortunately I think the welfare check they get is reducing the range that they graze as they are back every morning lining up for the feed.
Ken

 

[townfarmer]

It's good to hear that there's a little bit of rain about. I'm constantly on the bom radar site checking rainfall. Looks mostly light so far. We sold a heap of the older cows last week and now we only have two scottish highland cows left as well as as 9 murray grey and angus X heifers. I'm tempted to sell everything and start again with a new breed. It seems like a good opportunity right now to buy some quality females at a reasonable price. I need to make a decision on what breed to move into. I've been speaking to a number of Lincoln red and sussex breeders over the past month. I like both these breeds but very limited genepool in this country.

Hoping for grey stormy wet week for everyone

Andrew

 

[Suzie Q]

Of course you need to feed them to keep them alive as well as have the water. You have to plan for that ahead. We did make one cut so we have hay in the shed. We made both round bales and square bales, both lucerne bales and grassy bales.

We also have a grain feeder which we don't use unless we have to, and you need to have the cash aside to buy while the grain feed is high, so a lot of planning goes into each contigency. We also need feed if we are flooded not just with drought, as our land goes underwater while we are flooded so they can't graze then either.

IT RAINED!!! The lucerne looks green and alive, so it was saved, plus Energex is coming on Thursday to change the meter. If we are lucky we might get one more cut before the season cools down too much. We have locked the cattle out of our long paddock again. I don't want them cutting it up with their hooves with the ground being soft and if we are lucky we will be able to round bale it again soon. They are saying rain for a week and there was more rain last night after the 36 mm while we were away.

Which means that hubby will be able to start ploughing and get ready for us to plant oats for over Winter as well as having the hay.

 

[jilleroo]

6mm was our total from the rain event - and even that was exciting would you believe....The neighbours got 25mm and a windstorm with it. The very odd isolated storm around now, the closest one being about 200kms from us tonight so that hardly counts.
Ken, I examined the little mare closely again today and darned if I can see anything in the way of either wastage or swelling. She stands with that front leg sort of pulled up a bit and her weight off it. There's just nothing to see. She can bob along all right on it again now as opposed to taking a step and standing for a while.
Off to muster our first calver heifers on agistment tomorrow and see what the situation is there. Quite a few havent calved - they were all preg-tested. Will be interesting to see how many have died calving. Branding the calves and work out what to do with the others when we see what we've got. Planning on heading to Roma with other younger heifers for next Tues. Will also have the balance of the feedlot cattle in either Toowoomba or Dalby. Our other agistment on Bowen Downs seem all right for the present, they had some handy rain.
Here's hoping you're getting some great rain down there - Havinago, you shouldve scored well by now? Have you had some Ken and Burglar? Suzie, you might get washed away next couple of days!

 

[Havinago]

Had about 75mm at our place and still counting. Still another few inches to come i think. Should get some good growth out of this lot. Down to 60 head now so we should get back on track. Gladstone is copping a pounding and we are getting there dregs atm i hope we dont cop what they are getting as baffle region had enough floods last year. Good luck guys!

 

[wbvs58]

It still sounds like the foot to me Jilleroo. Sometimes hard to get pain from them unless acutely lame. You should try and get some Lignocaine and see if there is any Youtube videos to show how to do nerve blocks of the foot but wait until she is acutely lame again. Do the foot which is mid pastern area and the another block further if no improvement up on back of fetlock then I think it is about mid cannon from memory but they are fairly easy to do if you have good directions and Youtube seems to have everything there. Weight until she is at her worse though so that you can see improvement.
We are pretty happy with rain here at the moment. It seems that the boycott on my place is over and I have scored a bit better than around me. We haven't had any heavy stuff yet but with what we have had in small showers over the last couple of weeks and cooler temps things are looking pretty green. No thick grass yet but if we get warm temp for another couple of weeks I think I will get sufficient feed for when the cows start calving so will not have to buy much hay probably just keep supplementing with a bit of grain and cottonseed.
Saturday arvo I got 17mm actually it started as I was spreading some oats on the ground I have been clearing, should make good feed for the roos. 1mm Sunday 16mm yesterday morning and 10mm this morning so all that is in the can. They are saying it is our turn for the heavier stuff today but not holding out for it. If it happens it happens, it would be good as so far no run off and very little moisture profile in the soil.
Ken

 

[burglar]

Where doing pretty well here Jilleroo, Im in Brisbane until Sunday, but being our property is around 4km from Ken's I reckon things will look good when we get back. Not sure about our Breaside property up near Warwick though. Still looked pretty dry when I drove through yesterday. Being the bigger block I really need some rain there to help for winter.

Looking to buy some Wattletop PTIC cows next week. Ken has done some business with this Stud and has encouraged me to take a look. I figure it's a good time to increase my herd quality with the cheaper prices on offer. Will sell off some of my current cows to make room.

Here's to rain for all - Cheers Dale

 

[Havinago]

When it rain it pours up our way. 400mm at Agnes and we are just south of there and really copping it now!

 

[townfarmer]

I'm interested to see what the impact of this rain is at the saleyards, both in numbers of animals being sent and prices.

Ken did you send anything to the stanthorpe weaner sale the other week?

Jilleroo how did your steers fare in Toowoomba?

Andrew

 

[jilleroo]

So how did you all end up for rain? Some good totals I hope.
Townfarmer, sorry I forgot to report our sale prices. The mixed sex calves made $603 GST excl and av. $1.73, 347kg and mainly went to butchers like McMahons Meats. We thought the heifers sold extra well but the steers not as well. The heifers were probably fatter. They weighed 174kgs on entry to the lot and were only ever on a grower ration. $195t. Did they pay their way? Probably not but it was an out for them at the time. We have another 100 in Dalby tomorrow. Having heifers assessed by Elders for A+ for the auction on Friday week. If they go okay, we'll put a bigger mob on. Waiting to see if we can put 300 cows and calves on the road S of here. If we can't they, plus the rest of the mob, will be for sale too. This place has to be destocked and shut down unless a miracle happens! Maybe the easter bunny will bring us rain....
What do you all think of the new Pasturefed Certification deal?
Thanks for the help with Vanity, Ken. She can't even stand on that leg while I clean out the other hoof so will have to get serious about doing something with her.
Just had another load of hay arrive. This is to feed cattle while we're sorting them up to sell.
We've been over and mustered the first calvers. Beautiful feed over there, a sight for sore eyes. But, oh my god, it was hot and humid. Hubby, son and I nearly died branding the calves, what with the heat of the furnace and all. We were seriously heatstruck. We had the long walk back to the paddock with the cattle and then son rode to where he knew there was a 3 inch polypipe end of gushing, cool artesian water. We guzzled that and saturated ourselves in it - I was so wobbly and dizzy I fell over and couldnt get up again - like a poisoned pup! The girls turned up not too badly - I estimate about a dozen died calving which couldve been a lot worse. The other older cows we have there are up in a paddock around the agistor's homestead. He complained about the big size of them and their calves when they arrived from our drought-stricken country - well you should see them now, like monstrous big white balloons floating around the flat - no wonder he cracks a nana. We made our way back to Barcaldine and sat in the nice cool roadhouse there in our dirty clobber until we felt like we could continue the trek home.