The Boundary Rider's Report February 2020 Blog

Sam & Kirsty White • Feb 17, 2020

Welcome to the February 2020 Boundary Rider's Report!

Snapshot:

Bald Blair Angus is located East of Guyra on the Northern Tablelands of NSW.
We have an elevation of between 1280 and 1420m above sea level.
Area: approx 2000 ha over 4 properties .
Enterprises: Angus stud, commercial Angus herd, crossbred and merino sheep.

Seasonal Challenges:

Rainfall: Our average rainfall is between 800-1000mm

January through to mid February rainfall has been 300mm - woo hoo!

The relief is immense, we acknowledge that this rain has not been everywhere, and some are still in drought.

What's on our plate:
We have enjoyed a cracking start to 2020. It all started on Christmas Day with the best gift of all 25mm of rain.

Many dams are full and overflowing which has taken considerable pressure off our bores. Creeks are flowing and the water crisis we were experiencing has now ended.

The paddocks are green and full of summer annuals and weeds. We are looking forward to the perennial pastures returning. We thought most perennials would have died through the drought, however they are there and are starting to stick their heads up, albeit in slightly less density. Our sacrifice areas, and confinement zones will need renovation. With lower stock numbers our country is getting that much needed rest. It will take a few years for our pastures to fully recover from the 2019 drought.

Back in October we hosted Mandy McKeesick a writer with the RMWilliams Outback Magazine and the story is in the current issues. We really appreciate the opportunity to share our story and hope you enjoy the read if you get a chance to check it out.

Progress against goals:

We planted forage sorghum, millet and rye grass prior to the rain and these crops and pastures are progressing well, although there has been some water damage in some paddocks, they are growing well. We still have more to plant, with our primary goal being to generate winter feed.

All stud and commercial calves have been early weaned by the middle of January and the cows are recovering well now they are not supporting their calves. The calves were kept in small groups of big, middle and small in the yards for a week with water and hay available. They were fed in a separate yard morning and night on a mixed ration of straw, barley, canola meal and beef extender. The calves were processed at the end of the week with Flukazole C, Cydectin LA, Selovin, Bovi Shield, Ultravac 7in 1 to give them the best chance of growing out as possible. The calves were worked with dogs and handled every day. There were no issues getting them onto feed bunkers as they were well and truly introduced to these out in the paddock with the cows.

We have moved the commercial heifer calves to our Gatwood block and steers to our Kolora block onto some pasture. The weaner stud bulls and stud heifers remain at Bald Blair and are still being fed daily. Their first weight since weaning shows a great daily gain of over 1.5 kg/hd/day, all going well.

The process of recovery is at hand, preg testing first up to see what will remain in our herd. It will take a few years to recover our herd numbers, but the process is underway.

All lambs were weaned in early January and have been shorn. They are being finished on our Kolora block. The remaining 400 ewes have been crutched and drenched and are back out in the paddock. It will take time to rebuild our sheep flock, which we will do as the numbers still look good.

Activities over the next month:

Weeds, weeds and weeds. Now we have reduced our feeding regime we have time to deal with the knodding thistle, blackberry and a few others.

Preg testing stud cows this week with the Guyra District Vet. The vet will use a probe to age the calf and we will be able to determine how successful our AI program was. Dan and I will preg test the commercial cows. It will be very interesting to see the results as the cows have done it tough.

The bull sale team will be assessed again shortly and split into small groups for rotational grazing on our recovering pastures.

Angus Society board meetings start again shortly and Sam will be busy with them.

Kirsty has applied for THE Rural Woman seed scheme Guyra program and will continue with her professional development with this group online.

Bald Blair in the media - in case you missed it:
The AM story that ran on radio across Australia 12 Feb 2020: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/farmers-relieved-as-drought-ravaged-areas-receive-heavy-rain/11956514

The online story 12 Feb 2020: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-12/when-will-the-drought-end/11937468

RM Williams Outback Magazine Feb/March issue https://www.outbackmag.com.au/bald-ambition/

Bald Blair Angus Survey
We would really appreciate 5 minutes of your time to complete the following survey to assist us with our marketing strategy.
All entries will go into the hat for a chance to win a Bald Blair Angus enamel cup, hand towel and copy of the latest RMWilliams Outback magazine.

Submit your survey entries by Sunday 23 February 2020 for the prize drawn on Monday 24th February.

Thank you in advance!

Please click on this link to complete the survey:

https://forms.gle/fLThaUjJ2eRQSt2DA

Please feel free to contact us anytime if you would like to discuss any aspects of our blog or your breeding program.

We can be reached on Sam White 0438 792 140 or Kirsty White 0427 722 908.

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