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.

The Season

So far this year we have received 100 mm at Bald Blair, further East of here we have had 140 mm on our other properties. Certainly the diversity of location of these farms allows us to get under these other storms. In spite of this rain, there has not been the run-off to fill dams, and the Aberfoyle creek is not running up this end, but is flowing below us suggesting underground flows occurring. The grass has grown, pasture recovery is underway, but typified by a greater density of weeds which would be expected after a drought. It is starting to feel like Autumn is on the way with the wind picking up and an easterly mist rolling in. We look forward to more rain in the next few days.

Bull Sale update

On behalf of our family to yours, we extend an invitation to attend the Bald Blair Angus Bull Sale at 1pm on Tuesday 3rd of August on property at Bald Blair, Guyra. Link to Google Calendar

If you are unable to travel to Bald Blair, the bull sale will be live streamed with AuctionsPlus. This is the link for the sale https://auctionsplus.com.au/auctionV2/New/#/presale/45302. We will upload photos and videos of our bull sale team closer to the date.  

What's on our plate

2021 Bull Sale team  

We have had the bulls in the yards for their animal health treatments, Flukazole C and Brute for flies, plus Vibrio, Lepto & Pestigard Vaccines. They are growing well on the plentiful pastures we have in front of them and we will continue to rotate them on new pastures each week to keep things fresh for them. We have updated our reference sire listing on our website so please check it out and call us if you have any questions about the best new sires for your breeding program.

2022 Bull Sale team  

These calves are still on their mothers and growing very well with this season. We will start thinking about weaning them soon. The Autumn herd calving group has nearly finished.

Pastures

Lenehan Contractors have sown new pastures in Collins 1 & 2 - on the road at Bald Blair - The seed combination includes Rye, Phalaris, Safin Cocksfoot, Tuscan Red Clover, Storm White Clover, Chicory, Plantain, Brome and Perennial Rye. We used a similar seed combination in 2018 and it was one of the most drought resilient pasture mixes on the property, with grasses growing in extremely difficult conditions, I believe diversity of species having a lot to do with pasture success. As soon as the tractors pulled up it started to rain and we now have a very healthy green shoot that is up and growing well.

Weeds management  

We continue to spray nodding thistle and are graduating onto blackberry. The nodding thistles are requiring constant attention and we are going back to paddocks to spray out the relentless regrowth. The blackberries are having a cracking season too and will require a massive effort to keep them under control this year. Huge thanks to our team for their relentless hard work.

Trees

2019 reminded us again that our livestock need more shade and shelter. While we have been planting 1000s of mixed native trees for the last 30 years, there is unlimited opportunity at Bald Blair and our other properties for more shade and shelter. We have 5 tree guards prepared for this year. Preparations include fences installed, tree lines ripped with the tractor, tree line sprayed with roundup to control weeds and trees ordered. At Bald Blair we had a family planting session of 480 mixed native trees in one tree guard. We spent a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to get them in and the promise of rides on the dodgems at the Guyra Show ensured the motivation of our youngest team member. These trees have now received over 50mm in rainfall and Arthur had an excellent time at the Guyra Show. We have organised another 400 trees for the other tree guards and Steph Sweeney from Walch is going to plant them for us - we had great success with the trees he planted in 2017. See https://www.baldblairangus.com.au/caring-for-our-country here is a link to a video i did https://www.nrwc.com.au/what-s-on/podcasts/file/Kristy%20White.mp4 for the NRWC e-leaders course at the time.

Lamb sales continue at the Guyra saleyards as lambs reach specifications.

AuctionsPlus

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.

Link to register on AuctionsPlus https://auctionsplus.com.au/register

Link to demonstrations https://demo-hub.auctionsplus.com.au/

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

Animal Welfare Project

We have signed up for an welfare benchmarking project which aims to develop a science-based, producer-driven tool to benchmark welfare in pasture-based beef cattle operations. The program will allow producers to objectively track changes in herd welfare over time, benchmark performance against comparable operations, identify areas for improvement and provide pathways for improvement. The research team have drafted a suite of measures to benchmark welfare and are currently looking for producers across Australia to trial the program on-farm. The team will need feedback from producers across a range of production systems to ensure the benchmarking program is a practical, effective and valuable tool for industry. If you would like to get involved in the on-farm trial, you can find more information at https://1drv.ms/b/s!AkXu4s_Pa6GLhiSwB7GWEVWiASEj?e=U2Go8t or download this pdf and feel free to contact Jess Monk with any questions (Jessica.Monk@csiro.au; 0407935965).

Precision Pastures/MLA Project

We are really pleased to be part of a project with Precision Pastures and the MLA, along with 9 other participating producers over the New England region called “Grazing impacts on soil carbon, soil moisture and pasture biomass production”

Data will be collected over 5 years to 2025. The average area for each farm is 100 ha – so this project is conducted on a paddock scale.  

All sites are now established and operating with EM38 soil survey conducted to determine range in soil conductivity; deep core sampling done by conductivity zones; and soil moisture probe sites also placed at range in conductivity.  

This project is measuring and monitoring change in soil nutrients, soil organic carbon and soil moisture. 

By assessing current soil carbon levels, including the potential for soil carbon farming over the next few years and potential to take advantage of soil water use efficiencies (from soil moisture probe data) in stocking rate projections, we will be able to make more informed decisions.

We are hosting a field walk and information session on Friday 26th February. Clik this link  or scroll down to see flyer below. Please rsvp if you would like to attend. Link for registration.

Heifers Wanted

Do you have heifers for sale, and have a JBAS status of 7 or 8? If so we would like to talk to you about the possibility of purchasing them. Like many we are understocked and have the opportunity to purchase stock for the first time in a long time. Please call Sam on 0438 792 140 if you are keen to sell.

Beef Australia 

H ave you got your tickets! https://beefaustralia.com.au/

Podcasts

Do you negotiate? We do... with our children, banks and in community service - like us you may think this is a great listen...

https://profitablefarmer.podbean.com/e/episode-66-the-art-of-negotation/

Kelly’s Cottage Farm Stay  

We really appreciate the reviews we have received from our guest. This is the latest: "Kelly's Cottage is a beautiful place to stay. In the country - very peaceful and relaxing. Kirsty was there to meet us on arrival and tell us a bit of history of the area. The cottage is very comfortable and well presented. It sits high on a hill and has great views out over the property."

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

The Angus Foundation Beef Australia 2021 Scholarship applications are now open, with Angus Australia set to award three scholarships to members aged 18-30 to attend Beef Australia 2021 in Rockhampton QLD, 2-8 May. The scholarships are geared to young people with a commitment to the Australian beef industry and the Angus breed, and aim to increase the recipient’s knowledge of the beef industry, expose the recipients to different agricultural production systems, develop their recipient’s personal skills and strengthen relationships between the World’s beef industries. Follow this link

NSW Farmers Scholarship

click for link  NSW FARMERS' ASSOCIATION TERTIARY SCHOLARSHIPS 2021

Please feel free to give us a call, Sam White 0438 792 140 or Kirsty White 0427 722 908 if you have any questions or wish to discuss any of the content we have shared in this blog. We are keen to get your feedback, so if you have any topics you would like to learn more about, please let us know and thank you so much for reading our blog. We really appreciate it.