The Boundary Rider's Report

The Boundary Rider's Report - November 2019

Sam & Kirsty White • Nov 10, 2019

The Boundary Rider's Report - November 2019

Welcome to the November Boundary Rider’s Report blog post from Bald Blair Angus.
We really appreciate the feedback we received from our first Boundary Rider’s Report. Thank you for your interest and that is why we are back again with this one.

Snapshot:
Bald Blair Angus is located East of Guyra on the Northern Tablelands of NSW.
We have an elevation of between 1280m and 1420m above sea level.
Area: approx 2400 ha over 5 properties (1 leasehold).
Enterprises: Angus Stud, commercial Angus herd, crossbred and merino sheep.

Seasonal Challenges:
Rainfall: Our average rainfall is between 800-850mm.

Year to date we have received approximately 235 mm, way below the median rain fall amount for this time of the year of approximately 680 mm which we would have normally had. Only 9mm fell since Sunday.

Lack of suitable soil moisture is still the biggest limiting factor to pasture recovery, inspite of considerable destocking. While there is a slight green tinge, pasture growth is very minimal. What moisture that has arrived has evaporated in the days soon after.

With predictions of the IOD dissipating in late December hopefully a change is not far off. This has truly been our toughest drought so far, I know it is tough for us all. Trying to decipher the BOM data and information is always frustrating, with predicted rain not always turning up. However what they have got right is there prediction of a drier than average November.

I have been listening to colleagues and friends and hearing their stories, what is good is the number of different strategies people are taking during this drought, selling out, partial destocking, destocking completely, whole herd agistment, confinement feeding, sacrifice areas, early weaning. These are all great strategies that are showing people are making tough and necessary decisions that best suit their circumstances. What is important is that we all keep making decisions. Keep talking.

What's on our plate:

Feeding! Feeding our stud herd, commercial herd and sheep continues. We are still sourcing feed and unloading truck loads of hay, canola meal, barley. We are very grateful to Amanda Lockyer at Landmark Armidale for her nutritional advice in helping with our feed ration for our cattle. I’d like to acknowledge our local LLS team for the workshops and advice in drought strategies, and early weaning, and also Guyra district Vets and Ebor Beef for there early weaning workshops also. Our strategies are now locked in for the next few weeks.

We were able to grow our own sorghum silage hay earlier this year and have 3 bales left! I would like to plant again now, but lack of soil moisture is the limiting factor at the moment. Watch and Wait.

Artificial Breeding of our stud herd is done and dusted for another year. With our hardest conditions yet, we were able to still AI and while the results will no doubt be down we felt it was still necessary to continue the on going genetic improvement of our herd using new young Bald Blair Sires, other Australian Sires and some exciting new North American sires.

The bulls are out and working in our stud and commercial herds and we have again utilised our homegrown Bald Blair Angus sires. Even though cows are light in condition, they are still cycling, and the bulls are out there doing their job; it is bloody amazing. A lot to be said for selection pressure on fertility over 30 years. The bulls will come out before Christmas and we will keep a close eye on them out in the paddock to ensure they are working well.

Calf marking has commenced as we prep our herds for early weaning where necessary.

Lamb marking has commenced also, lambing percentages are down considerably due to the drought conditions, merino ewe joined to Border Leicester rams, marked at 65% lambs, our lowest rate in over 30 years, the first of our Crossbred Ewe flocks down to 117% lambs. We still have more to do so will have a better idea by next week of the impact of this drought on lambing success rates.

Activities over the next month:

*Kirsty attended the NSW Rural Women’s Gathering at Walcha last weekend.

Congratulations to the Walcha women for hosting a great weekend. http://www.rwg2019walcha.com

* We have booked into the MLA Red Meat forum in Tamworth from 18-20 November - hopefully one of us will make it - check out this link for details.

Reading
Call of the Reed Warbler – A New Agriculture, A New Earth - Charles Massy
On the waiting list for Alice Mabin’s “The Winding Road” check it out at http://almabin.com/buy/the-winding-road/

Podcast

Down to Earth – the Planet to Plate Podcast. From the USA , from their website - the Down to Earth is a podcast about hope. As climate change collides with our industrial food system, we focus not on doom but instead on people who are developing practical, innovative solutions. We invite you to meet farmers, ranchers, scientists, land managers, writers, and many others on a mission to create a world in which the food we eat is healthy—for us, for the land and water from which it springs, for the lives and livelihoods of the producers, and for the planet.
https://downtoearthpodcast.libsyn.com/how-to-deal-with-mental-and-physical-challenges-on-the-farm-and-beyond

Social Media

#Buyfromthebush https://www.facebook.com/buyfromthebush/

#stayinthebush https://www.facebook.com/Stayinthebush-114257640010434/
We welcomed our first guests to Kelly’s Cottage our Airbnb – a lovely family from France. They loved the cottage and farm tour. Their review “Lovely place to stay. The view at the morning is amazing.” Please check out this link and if you would like to visit our farm please book a date.

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