NEW IN 2024 - OUR FIRST ON-PROPERTY SALE - WEDNESDAY 2nd OCTOBER 2024
To be offered for sale: 20 bulls and selected females
Helmsman Auction, interfaced with AuctionsPlus
30/03/24
Weaning
We weaned the calves this Easter weekend and gave a second vaccine booster shot. Any bulls that are potential candidates for semen collection for export were given a 5-in-1 because the 7-in-1 includes leptospirosis. NZ has brought in an antibody-free test that does not distinguish between vaccinated and exposed animals. The new bull pens are working extremely well. They keep the animals contained but they still have room to move, with feed, water and shade. The weaned calves are really loving the sub hay they’ve got on offer, which is a big step up from the canola hay they’ve been eating to date. It’s good to be able to separate the bulls and heifers as well, so you can get a better view of the quality. The day after weaning we had a quiet walk around the pens - it’s going to be difficult to pick the top 20 bulls for our first on-property sale in October! Bulls that are looking good at the moment are Union (looks sensational – he’s a calf and a half that bull), Umpire and Ulysses. The heifers are a really good even line – they’ve got the softness and the shape that I’m after. I will be picking out 5 for our sale which is going to take some thought. The real standout among the heifer calves is Delvene U30, Strzelecki’s full sister, but there are some really good Josies and Lucys in there as well.
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200 day weights
I have been very pleased with our 200 day weights. After flooding earlier in the year and some damaged pastures, we've actually had some good rain around Christmas which has allowed the remaining lucerne to kick off and provided some nice green feed. But it's going to make it hard deciding which bull to keep this year, with such evenness across the line.
Tony off for semen collection
Mount Major Tony is currently at OvaSem, over at Kyabram, being collected for export for New Zealand. Tony's is my favourite Intensity son - he's a lovely, thick bull out of Mount Major Delvene Q37. He's got outstanding carcass attributes, a very big set of testicles, very good feet and just and excellent all round bull. Tony had some light work joining heifers so we'll get his first calves in the spring. We've retained some semen for our own use but he is certainly providing that softness and thickness that we're after. Photo credits to Andrew Cullen of Cullen Marketing for some terrific shots of Tony.
Josie H11
Josie H11 is Mount Major Kingswood's dam and my favourite cow. She has had more than 10 calves now and still going strong - super sound and breeding extremely well, despite being the second oldest cow in the herd. We're just about wean her 10th calf, Uluru.
Beef WeekGrand Tour
We were open for Beef Week again this year, always a good opportunity to talk cows with new and old friends. But this year, Ted, myself and a local Hereford breeder decided to go on a tour and visit some other studs in Western Victoria and South Australia. We visited 14 studs in 4 days. It was not just Murray Greys and Herefords, we went to look at some Angus studs as well. It was good to chat to other breeders and interesting to see how other people do things. We picked up a few tips that we'll use in our sale, such as yard/pen layouts and how to present cattle. It was wonderful to see the professionalism of all the Murray Grey studs with good setups and well presented animals. Boonaroo Angus and Days Herefords were both impressive with their quality of livestock and presentation of animals. Thanks to everyone we visited for the warm welcome they gave us. Pictured here: Mount Major Ted comparing notes with Carrsview Ted
Biosecurity
Biosecurity is a high priority for us. Sometimes it doesn't take much to keep your herd safe. We are getting into the spirit of "Come clean, Go clean" and I like to ask visitors to either change their boots (we have a selection of gumboots on hand) or wash their boots. I have been impressed with a neat bit of kit produced by Shoof - a simple mat with water detergent. When you stand on the mat, the water and detergent goes up into the cracks in the soles of foot wear. It's a very simple and easy way for visitors to clean their boots, with no bending over required, and gives me great peace of mind.
Hot days
We've had a run of days around 40 degrees in March so heat management is at the forefront of our minds - making sure the cows have plenty of water, plenty of shade and easy access to feed. We keep an eye on the water troughs to make sure there are no problems there. We have installed some new, larger troughs in our Northside paddocks - triple the size. The older troughs didn't have the reserve to keep up with cow numbers and consequently the cows would crowd around the troughs waiting for them to refill, damaging pipes and floats. I'm hoping for a few less trough repairs now. The cows especially enjoyed being able to have a dip in the newly deepened dam in the Back Bush!
Troughs at West's
It was good to get the water on to the last of the paddocks round at the new block we bought last year. Having all the paddocks troughed makes it easier to manage paddock rotations. Big shout out to Noah Smith and his little digger.
