The Boundary Rider's Report May 2020

Sam & Kirsty White • May 29, 2020

The Boundary Rider's Report May 2020

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May 2020 Boundary Rider’s Report

Welcome to the May 2020 Boundary Rider’s Report.

We hope you and your family are safe and well.

This has been a month of home schooling, self isolation and business as usual on the farm.

We really appreciate that we are able to do all these things in the COVID-19 environment and understand that not everyone is able to do this.

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 Snapshot:
Rainfall: Our average rainfall is between 750-1000mm.

Rainfall for the year to date at Bald Blair approx 514mm; May rainfall 32mm so far. This is nearly twice the 2019 rainfall; what a relief.

Bald Blair Angus Bulls

Bull sale preparation is in full swing with a number of important activities completed or in progress that determine the make up and size of our 2020 bull sale team.

On Tuesday 12th May, Roger Evans from Bovine Scanning Services, conducted the live animal ultrasound scanning of our P drop bulls, and bull sale team. We collected their 600 day weights , scrotal measurements, rump fat depth, rib fat depth, eye muscle area and intramuscular fat. This data was recorded in the Gallagher TWR-5 crushside and then uploaded into Herdmaster (our herd management software). A report from this data was submitted to the Trans Tasman Cattle Evaluation within 24 hours, we then await the 14 day turn around for next TACE Run to get the latest EBV’s.

On Thursday 14th May Dick Whale from IBMS (Independent Breeding & Marketing Service) assessed our P stud bulls for structural soundness . Each bull is carefully inspected and only if it is considered acceptable for soundness and muscling does it make the 2020 bull sale team. The bulls structure has been independently assessed by Dick Whale. Records for stature, capacity, body length, front feet, rear feet, pasterns, muscling and sheath are assessed and recorded. A structure assessment guide is provided in the bull sale catalogue, so each bulls results are included for your review.

On the 18th and 20th May Dr Leisa Brown from Guyra District Veterinary Clinic conducted a breeding soundness evaluation of each P Stud bull. This included a physical examination, examination of reproductive organs, semen collection and assessment of gross motility and semen morphology. Only the bulls that pass this rigorous testing make the 2020 bull sale team and are included in our catalogue.

Dr Brown also conducted our annual Biocheck Biosecurity Plan for our farms. BioCheck is a program run by members of the Australian Cattle Veterinarians and is designed to ensure farms have considered the major biosecurity risks and have appropriate risk management strategies in place.

Videos of these activities are on our facebook and instagram pages, if you want more information.

This year's Bull Sale will be a combination of physical auction plus online, with Auctions Plus. The auction is Live streamed on AuctionsPlus as it always has been. It is important to provide for all eventualities under COVID 19 restrictions around social distancing and hand sanitising.

So to this end we will ask that those attending this years sale record their interest prior to sale so that we may cater for appropriate seating arrangements and provisions. We encourage as many people as possible to inspect bulls prior to sale, so that you may use the Auctionsplus platform to purchase your bulls.

Here is a link to what the bull sale will look like online with AuctionsPlus - http://demo.hub.auctionsplus.com.au/auction/95#/_
How to register - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J06A61WphPY
How to bid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hetm5buLKBc&feature=youtu.be

Inspections are welcome anytime at Bald Blair, and we will follow strict COVID-19 safety procedures. We are offering 1 night of free accommodation at Kelly’s cottage (our farm stay accommodation), should you be traveling large distances to inspect bulls. Please call us on 02 6779 2141, Sam 0438 792 140 , email: samwhite@baldblair.com.au or Kirsty 0427 722908 to arrange an inspection of the bulls and to book your free accommodation.

NBBX14 : This beautiful old cow has sadly left the farm for the last time. Even at 18 years of age, she was marble score 5 and still sound in the feet. By embryo transplant she was the dam of 51 calves, was a donor dam herself and has daughters now in our donor breeding program. She was renowned for feet and leg structure, that has passed on to her progeny. Watch for NBBX14 in the pedigree of bulls in the future.

The Productive Producer Podcast by the Northern Tablelands Local Land Services, Beef Officer, Max Newsome has a new podcast dedicated to bull buying. Worth a listen prior to attending bull sales and joining. Check out the link here https://bit.ly/36slQnK

Meat and Livestock Australia have a great pocket Guide “How to shop for a high-performing sire” check out the link genetics.mla.com.au for excellent resources. We have some copies of the pocket guide and happy to post one to you if you would like to send us your postal address to kirstywhite@baldblair.com.au. We have also posted links to each step on our Facebook page over the next 8 weeks. https://www.facebook.com/pg/baldblairangus/posts

We have updated our Bald Blair Angus Pocket Guide for Buying Bulls for 2020 and can email a pdf to you. Please email kirstywhite@baldblair.com.au to get your free copy.

Activities over the next month:
The online catalogue will be available soon, mid June on the Angus Australia website.
The printed catalogue will be available in July. Please provide us with your postal address if you would like to receive our bull sale catalogue. kirstywhite@baldblair.com.au
Please feel free to contact us on Sam 0438 792 140 or Kirsty 0427 722 908.
Please check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for regular updates.

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