We Care For Our Cattle

Ever since Sam was a young boy, watching stud bulls being prepared for the local Guyra Show, he has been passionate about caring for cattle. When he returned home and had 40 bulls trained to the halter ready for the annual on property sale, his connection with cattle continued. 

Today, Bald Blair no longer shows stock at the local Guyra Show, but the care taken for the cattle remains. 

From the weekly stock checks, regular yarding of stock for preg testing, weaning, joining and calf marking, the Bald Blair stud and commercial herd is well monitored. 

We also use a number of management tools and accreditation procedures to assist in providing the best possible care for our cattle and our people.

Biosecurity Plan

We have just updated our biosecurity plan with our local vet Dr Leisa Brown BVSc as to meet the requirements of the LPAQA and remain a disease free herd. We have been independently assessed as J-BAS Level 8, the highest level of biosecurity in the new scheme. A copy of our biosecurity plan is available by using this link.

Duty of Care

Our team have all signed a duty of care statement on animal welfare, acknowledging that they have a duty of care for the welfare of livestock at Bald Blair and our associated properties. This is in conjunction with the Primary Industries Standing Committee Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals, Cattle, 2nd Edition PISC Report 85. http://www.animalwelfarestandards.net.au/cattle/

Australian Cattle Veterinarians

We work very closely with Dr Leisa Brown BVSc Hons 8292 the owner and manager of Guyra District Veterinary Services. Leisa is a member of the Australian Cattle Veterinarians (ACV) Association. Each year before our annual on property bull sale, Leisa conducts a ACV Bull Breeding Soundness Evaluation on each bull listed in the bull sale catalogue. This test includes:

• A physical examination,
• Examination of the reproductive organs,
• Semen collection and assessment of gross motility,
• Semen morphology – with samples being assessed by an accredited morphologist at the Australian Veterinary Semen Morphology.

Leisa is always on call for any other cattle husbandry requirements when required and we greatly appreciate her skill and availability. See http://www.ava.com.au/cattle for more details.

Bald Blair is honoured to be a member of the Angus Society of Australia. While Bald Blair has been breeding angus cattle since 1898, the Australian Angus Society was not formed until 1919. The first herd book was published in 1922 and listed 14 members include Sam’s grandfather HF White. Bald Blair is now the oldest angus stud in Australia, a title shared with Eastern Plains and Tangley Angus Studs. For more information about the Angus Society of Australia see their website: www.angusaustrtalia.com.au

Low Stress Stock Handling.

In February 2017 and in December 2021 we were very pleased to host a low stress stockhandling school at Bald Blair. It was a great opportunity for Sam and Kirsty to do the school again and for our team to learn the LSS skills at the Bald Blair yards. The vision for LSS is to make the world a better place for people and animals. It is about people, production and profit – where attitude is everything. Their mission include:

• To foster an environment of low stress interaction between people and animals.
• To impart knowledge that promotes a positive attitude to low stress stockhandling.
• To show people the economic benefits of a low stress environment.
  

We really valued being able to host a school for our clients, neighbours, and industry representatives. Please contact us if you would like to do a school, and if numbers permit we can do it all again! See http://www.lss.net.au/ for school dates and details.

We are hosting another school in 2022 for our team.

Welfare Benchmarking for Pasture-based Beef Cattle

We have signed up to be part of the producer case-study for this project with the CSIRO, NSW DPI and MLA.

For more information go to https://research.csiro.au/livestock/our-focus/behaviour-and-welfare/benchmarking-beef-cattle-welfare/