Australian Talk.

[townfarmer]

I've been past your place but never knew that I had.

Ok cool. We're on pyramids road a few km's north of Giraween national park.

Where abouts are you? Do you have any wild dogs there with that thick timber?

Hey Jilleroo we're south east of stanthorpe on the new england tableland a half hour or so north of where Colin is. Yes we get heaps of wild dogs. They've never bothered the cattle that I'm aware of. We'd love to have some dorper sheep but they wouldn't last long without a herd guardian dog. A dog isn't an option as we live and work in Brisbane and travel to the property on weekends and holidays.

Andrew

 

[jilleroo]

You must really look forward to getting up to the property at the weekends, Townfarmer. I bet its freezing cold when you hit there on a Friday night in mid-winter! You're doing your kids a huge favour that they'll appreciate in years to come. Congratulations!

 

[jilleroo]

Having another go at posting a pic. This is a typical mob of our cows, coming in to have their calves weaned.

 

[Australian]

Nice drop of rain over our three blocks. Had 18mls at home and 15 mls at our block to the east and 70 mls at our block to our north ( 10 ks away by road but we can see it off about 4ks) Tagged and branded stud Brahman calves today.

 

[Australian]

Superphosphate all out. 40 mls of rain. greening up again after a bit of a dry spell. Had a monstrous hail storm devastated the garden smashed windows, down pipes, solar lights and cracked three of our snake repellers. Stripped trees of leaves, few trees came down in some of the paddocks. Lost count of the barrow loads of leaves and limbs taken from the garden.

 

[jilleroo]

That's very bad luck about your garden Australian....ours was trashed fairly well by Cyclone Olga last night, but not to that extent. It must be distressing for you. Still raining and blowing a fair bit here. We had 40mm but much bigger falls around over 100mm nearby. Got those senepol calves branded and they were in great condition. However, we must grudgingly admit they were no better than the angus portion. The senes were extremely quiet and we were able to do them all in the cradle, despite their size - they just crammed themselves in and fell over, no hysterics. When you'd open the cradle to let them out, many of them just sat there saying "What happened?" and we had to help them up! Didn't take off like a Bondi tram and come back and charge you like the charbrays occasionally do!! They're no where near as thick or beefy as the char calves but they're ideal for the heifers. The next mob doesnt start calving until later in the year.

 

[Australian]

Raining heavily over the past few hours. Had about an inch with lots more to come.
Colin

 

[jilleroo]

We ended up with 245pts and heavy mist this morning still. Olga is certainly spreading herself around.

 

[Australian]

Still cloudy and a few showers. Lot of wind.

 

[Australian]

Pouring rain here now. Had over an inch since yesterday. Bit of sun would be good. But never mind.

 

[Australian]

Hot and sunny just what we need. Had 7 inches of rain so far this year. Have stacks of grass. Not enough cattle to keep on top of it. Bought 10 great grey commercial Brahman cows last week to try and help. These girls originated in the Gulf area of Northern Queensland. They are in calf to a good Charolais bull. They are dog quiet and come when they are called. Off to a Brahman sale in the next state next month to buy a few more stud heifers ( red and grey) Have picked out a few already, by pedigree and pictures.

 

[townfarmer]

These girls originated in the Gulf area of Northern Queensland.

Colin

Does it take them long to acclimatize to the change in conditions?

Andrew

 

[Australian]

It doesn't seem to when they go onto good country.It may well be different if they landed here in the midst of our cold winter. These cattle have already had one winter down toward Glen Innes. They have put on condition since they arrived here. More rain on the way. Its a beautiful morning the sun is shining and the birds are singing and one of my Brahman cows is cycling ( needled here three days ago). Might go to Glen Innes show for a look. Have a few friends showing. I'm having a little rest from showing because of no helpers and an injured shoulder ( the side I lead from) Hopefully will get a fitting service to take a team to Brisbane later this year.

 

[Loch Valley Fold]

Rain, rain, rain & plenty of mud & flooding everywhere locally a bridge on the road between home & dairy is about to go under for the first time since it was replaced in the 1960's. 2 weeks ago we had 200ml that was good filled all the dams up & gave the creeks & rivers a good flush out. We've now reached our yearly rainfall average of 16" & at the moment there is no end in sight to the rain.

 

[Australian]

No rain much here over the past week. About 5mls. Parts just over the border overnight had 6 inches. Toowoomba had 100 mls ( 4 inches) More heavy rain expected tonight. Its been so humid here which is extremely unusual.

 

[Australian]

Back on deck. been trying to log in for days without success. The rain continues apart from the last 4 days of drought. Showery again tonight. Could get some more significant rain early next week if the tropical cyclone comes across the Queensland coast. Had 15 inches of rain so far this year. We had 20 days of rain in recent times with mainly misty and occasional showers. Cattle look great must get and post a few more pictures. Buffalo fly have been a continuing problem.Selling some weaner steers tomorrow at a store cattle sale here in town. They are Hereford with South Devon influence in some of them.Hopefully they'll make close to $600. Wondering how Jilleroo is going out west with all the rain? It has been the best rain influence for years and years. Two great flushes in the past two months and possibly another on the way. The lower end of the Murray river will have a good flush eventually in about May. many land holders are marooned for up to 2 months out in the flat western areas.
Colin

 

[Keren]

havent posted here for a looooong while ...

back at wagga. In keeping with the weather that everyone seems to be having, two weeks ago wagga had a flood. 167ml in one day, the previous record for highest rainfall on one day in march was 60ml. and the average rainfall for the whole month is 14ml. crazy yeah. declared a natural disaster and one suburb in town was evacuated, then a suburb just out of town was evacuated - big dairying area - my friend had to put all her friesians into the parlour to keep them safe, the water was two feet above the pit but she didnt lose any. everyone is still trying to repair fences etc.

have been looking for a new job, applications and interviews, always such fun :roll: just playing the waiting game now

 

[Australian]

A beautiful sunny day. Sold our weaners for $610 a head. equated to $2.10 a kg per head. Our beef industry is way off the mark when we sold the mates of these for a measley $1.83. two weeks ago. Off to Warwick with the reamining cattle. Can't stand the 15 to 20 cent per head loss at our local saleyards. We only gave them a try for convenience rather than necessity.

 

[jilleroo]

Right now we're getting blown away by the remnants of tropical cyclone Ului. No rain here yet but hoping for some on our northern country which is quite dry! Yes, there's still some dry country in Queensland! Hard to believe. We've had about 17 inches here but less than half that elsewhere on our country and that was at the beginning of Jan. Have started unloading our heavy feeder steers in manageable (for us) mobs - selling very well so far. Feeder heifers to go next month. All the feeders are due to go but we just won't be replacing them - the younger cattle will have to be sold rather than held. Then we can spread some cows out. Some rain somewhere now, can smell it on the Flinders grass, smells like coconut!

 

[jilleroo]

Some very heavy rainfalls around the district but it was patchy. We largely missed out, 30pts here, 65pts up north. Oh well.