Thank you for taking the time to check out our latest Boundary Rider’s Report.

Sale O! Sale O! Sale O!

Bald Blair Angus is offering for sale on Auctions Plus on Friday 6th May a line of 24 Angus cows.  They are 2.5 - 2.7 years of age commercial Angus cows.  They have had a calf unassisted and have been joined for their second calf to Bald Blair Angus sires. They are pregnancy tested in calf to Bald Blair sires.  They are due to calve from late July 2022.  They have received all their health treatments including Flukazole C, lice treatment, vibriovax, 7in1 and pestiguard on the 31st March 2022.  These young cows are Bald Blair bred and represent a great opportunity to restock with proven angus breeders.  Please check out this link https://auctionsplus.com.au/auctions/cattle/eastern-states-cattle-sale/24-ptic-cows/assessed/98165-193605 with a full assessment and description as well as photos and videos.  Please call Sam White on 0438 792 140 or Mark Atkin, Elders on 0455 310 657 if you have any questions.

We enjoyed having Al Mabin visit for the first time in a long time and are loving our fresh crop of photos. It is amazing to see the country through her eyes, the green pastures, full dams, fat livestock - so fulfilling.  Al Mabin is someone that will put our passion for livestock into photos. Check out her latest project here https://almabin.com/agrishots-search/

Have we mentioned the rain!  With over 400mm to this point in April, It is wet! We may require a fan boat to get around very soon.  The ground is saturated, however it is better than 2019. 

We have enjoyed a lovely Easter break at home with family and friends. School holidays end soon and we have been making the most of the extra help.

ANZAC Day is a significant event in every local town and locality around Australia. Many people from our local area have served or are currently serving, thankyou for that service.  And for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice:  Lest We Forget. I hope many of you get to a service wherever you are and support our returned and serving service men and woman. There remains a considerable amount of uncertainty around the world, our thoughts go out to the people of Ukraine at this time.

Caring for our Livestock

Sam attended the MLA Livestock Genetics Forum on the 5th & 6th of April in Adelaide and spoke about using genomics in the breeding program.  Here is a link to his speech https://youtu.be/lWE9UWn3oBM . Here is the link to all speeches https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt-uoNwsBUEp6j69gLFhzZ_MZZvkpXS_3

Thank you to the team at the MLA for the opportunity to talk and organising slides and travel.

Pregnancy Test Results

We have heard some great pregnancy test results from cattle men and women using Bald Blair Angus sires.  Please let us know how your bulls are going and the results you are receiving in your heifers and cows.  Sam’s mobile is 0438 792 140.  We are really pleased with our results here at Bald Blair and can see the combination of excellent nutrition due to our amazing season and the emphasis on fertility is working.

600 Day Weights and Traits

Thank you Roger Evans, Bovine Scanning Services for scanning our R (2020) Stud Heifers.  As part of our data collection we weigh the heifers and Roger does a live ultrasound scan for P8 fat (rump), Rib fat (fat depth at the 12/13th rib site), EMA (eye muscle area measuring the area of the cross section of the longissimus dorsi muscle between the 12 and 13th )  and IMF%.  This data is completed on a paper sheet and also entered into our Gallagher TWR-5 crushside.  The TWR-5 data is downloaded into the Gallagher Animal Performance Software on our laptop and imported into HerdMaster (livestock management software).  We then run a report from HerdMaster and submit the data to the Angus Society for inclusion in the next round of EBVs as soon as possible. There are obviously more streamlined ways of doing this and we will continue to work through our data collection issues with our service providers.

Unfortunately our yards were too wet and boggy for Roger Evans to do the structural assessment of these heifers. So we will do that another day.  Information on 600 Day Weights can be found at https://www.angusaustralia.com.au/education/breeding-and-genetics/understanding-ebvs-and-indexes/12-600-day-weight/ and on the traits scanned https://www.angusaustralia.com.au/education/breeding-and-genetics/understanding-ebvs-and-indexes/18-eye-muscle-area/  

The Autumn stud herd and heifers were cynronished for AI (Artificial Insemination) and AIed by Peter Brown on the 7th April.  Thank you Peter and your team for looking after all our AI requirements.  We really appreciate your support and professionalism. Check out their new website at: https://www.bovinebreeders.com.au/

The sires used for this joining include GTNM6, USA19057457, NBBQ133, NORL519, NBBP97, USA18981191, NBBP52.

Weaning & 200 Day Weights for Stud bull calves

The stud bull calves have now been weaned - a month later than usual, due to wet weather.  We were really happy with our weaning system and the bulls have responded really well to their new circumstances.  The cows are even happier.  As this report comes to you all, hopefully the stud heifers will be well and truly weaned and in the yards.