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.

How is your season going?

So far this year we have received 345mm at Bald Blair and 32mm for May. We have received a couple of good frosts, followed by clear, still Autumn days. The grass is still growing and holding green. We still have plenty of feed going into winter.

What's on our plate:

2021 Bull Sale team evolves; Structural Assessments, Semen Morphology & Motility

The 2021 Bull Sale team has been independently assessed for structure by Dick Whale. Essentially this assists us in making non emotive decisions with respect to the structure of our bulls. Only structurally sound bulls will make the bulls sale team.

From the 18th of May to the 26th May all bulls have been vet checked by Dr Leisa Brown from Guyra District Veterinary Services. For more details on bull check go to https://www.ava.com.au/about-us/ava-groups/cattle/resources/schemes/bullcheck/. We have semen morphology and motility tested all bulls. We believe this is a very necessary part of our bull breeding program.    

During this time the bulls have received Bovi-Shield MH vaccine to protect them from respiratory diseases and Longrange Botulinum vaccine to protect them from botulism caused contaminated feed - we were concerned our home grown silage may contain some dead rodents - there were plenty in the paddock when we were baling the stuff!  

On the 25th of May Roger Evans - Bovine Scanning Services completed the 600 day weights and scans on our bulls including P8Fat, Rib Fat, EMA and IMF%, plus Scrotal Measures. All this data is submitted to the Angus Society for inclusion in the next round of TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation (TACE) analysis for more information head over to https://www.angusaustralia.com.au/education/breeding-and-genetics/collection-guidelines-for-tace/. This data will go into our catalogues. 

We put years of work into these bulls, so we take every precaution to ensure they make sale day in the best possible condition for our clients.  

Inspections welcome anytime in the lead up to this year's annual Sale on Tuesday 3rd August 2021.

2022 Bull Sale team

These bulls have received their tick fever vaccination. This will ensure that when we offer them for sale next year they are ready to work in the tick zone. Giving the vaccination as weaners is less stressful on them.

Audits 

LPAQA - incorporating Cattlecare audit - we have locked in an audit for mid June! Yikes! We volunteer to under go this audit to ensure external review of our processes and ensure all our book work is upto date. 

Ladies In Livestock

Kirsty attended the Guyra Ladies in Livestock hosted by the Northern Tablelands Local Land Services on the 13th of May. It was another excellent day with speakers on land management, weeds and drones. It was very interesting to get access to the map of our property to see what we can do with our land. In relation to weeds we will all keep an eye out for fire weed and parthinium weed. We have downloaded the weedswise app on our phones for quick reference identification and information. The drones were amazing and the flight over the Guyra golf course was impressive - I (Kirsty) refers to the drones as tax deductible remote control toys - and the boys love them! We will need the drone to carry a bit more than 15ltrs a run to get our blackberries under control. Keep an eye out for the next Ladies in Livestock as it is well worth a day off the farm to connect with other ladies and get the latest information and resources.

Beef Australia  

We are still on a high from our trip to Beef Australia - some highlights include the Nose to Tail dinner with Butcher Girl https://www.butchergirlalison.com/ and Tess Camm from https://www.signaturebeef.com.au/. The Optiweigh https://optiweigh.com.au/ win for Bill and Jacquie Mitchell. Listening to the Bondfields from Palgrove https://palgrove.com.au/ - 5 year plans and reverse engineer. Kirsty enjoyed listening to Rachel Robertson https://www.rachaelrobertson.com.au/ - no triangles, bacon wars and respect trumps harmony every time. Also the Four Daughters https://fourdaughters.com.au/ - the Penfold family and their branded beef - great to see these young women sharing their story, helping to build the capacity of women on farms and empowering women in Ag. Ohh and of course Fast Ed - you know the chef on Better Homes and Gardens https://fast-ed.com.au/ - he cooked up a storm of Angus beef and was great to talk to about his passion for using the whole carcase.

At Beef Australia, AuctionsPlus hosted the Next Generation Forum where key industry representatives and future leaders came together to unpack how to make your start and leave your mark in the Beef industry. Follow this link for some great stories and info your young and old (we were the oldest in the room!)

https://pulse.auctionsplus.com.au/thebox/building-the-future-of-beef-next-generation-forum-at-beef-australia

Projects we are collaborating with:

New England Soil and water monitoring project with Precision Pastures  

http://precisionpastures.com.au/ 

The objectives to collect accurate soil water measurements, measure rainfall infiltration, understand pasture water use, predict pasture growth and feed on offer, improve pasture chart accuracy, and collaborate with various stakeholders. Really good to see some data from the moisture probe.

Welfare benchmarking for pasture-based beef cattle

The welfare benchmarking research project aims to develop a science-based, producer driven tool to benchmark welfare in pasture-based beef cattle operations.

https://www.csiro.au/en/research/animals/livestock/benchmarking-beef-cattle-welfare

Riparian Zone  

Really happy with this project - we will plant trees in spring, once the frosts stop.

Are you registered with AuctionsPlus? Have you seen their new website?

Please take the time to register now, so you can become familiar with the platform. Our sale will be live streamed on AuctionsPlus again this year. Last year we had many people register and bid online, so we understand this is becoming a more viable option for people to buy the best bulls for their breeding program. Here is the link to our bull sale https://auctionsplus.com.au/auctions/cattle/bald-blair-angus-2021-bull-sale/45302

Link to register on AuctionsPlus https://help.auctionsplus.com.au/knowledge/how-do-i-register-to-bid

Link to demonstrations 

https://help.auctionsplus.com.au/knowledge/how-do-i-bid-on-auctionsplus

We will again have photos and videos of individual bulls and can provide additional information on any lots you may be interested in.

Useful links:

Have you heard of ParaBoss?

Nope - us either - well this is the link https://www.paraboss.com.au/

It is Australia's premier resource for parasite management information for sheep, goats and cattle - check it out. All you need to know about worms, lice, ticks etc.

Essential Reading if you are buying a bull: 

Please take the time to read this excellent information on bull testing by Sally White at Eastern Plains. 

https://www.beefcentral.com/genetics/opinion-sperm-morphology-testing-in-bulls-why-all-the-fuss/

What Podcasts are you listening to at the moment?

Humans of Agriculture https://www.humansofagriculture.com/podcast.html

Podcast with the one and only Alice Mabin - great story about "Belief and focus creates reality"

MLA Feedback - Episode 8 - Beef Australia 2021 Armidale Beef Producer and winner of the 2021 Meat & Livestock Australia Producer Innovation Award, Bill Mitchell on his portable in paddock weighing system. (00:44)

https://bit.ly/33UBoQR

Thinking about a minibreak in the High Country?  Kelly’s Cottage Farm Stay 

We were delighted to host Amanda Woods a travel writer and adventurer. Amanda hails from Glen Innes and would normally be travelling the world! So we were really lucky to secure her to travel to Guyra and we can’t wait to see what she thinks of us! Look out Guyra is going to be the next top tourist destination - and we can’t understand why it has taken so long! Thank you Amanda - check her out at https://adventuresallaround.com/

We received this lovely review from a recent guest: “Kelly's Cottage was the perfect getaway for our young family. Spacious yet cosy, everything you need for a home cooked meal, our evenings were spent in front of a warm fire underneath hand knitted blankets and the recently renovated bathroom gives you that little bit of luxury. The morning light and sunsets are spectacular and the White family are absolutely wonderful hosts. A visit to Bald Blair is everything you never knew you needed!”

https://www.baldblairangus.com.au/farm-stay-with-airbnb

If you would like to enjoy our farm stay too - check out our availability here https://www.baldblairangus.com.au/farm-stay-with-airbnb

HAY RACKS FOR SALE

We are selling surplus hay racks.

Price $700.

Collection only.