They are the life and livelihood of a cattle farmer…apart from pasture, we would consider them our top priority.
They are the cogs in the machine...
And these little fellas are part of the production line...
With the late arrival of the season again and numbers high we lightened off in Spring. The Grazing Chart told us it probably wasn't
going to look pretty if we didn't but more importantly our visual of the paddocks,
even though rested for a number of months, needed rain and more
rest, Summer rest.
We also anticipated better calving results with our cows. We are into our 3rd year vaccinating for Pesti Virus. There has been a decrease of between 7-8% in losses from Pregnancy Testing to Branding. We have also kept our maiden heifers having their first calf, separate to our main breeder mobs. We did this in order to be able to manage them as their own mob. It meant we could shift them out to the steer paddocks if need be in one muster if we didn't get rain. It meant we could monitor the supplement more accurately than if they were with the main breeder mob. Thirdly and most importantly, it was so we could go out there on any given day check pastures, monitor their condition and make a decision about them before it was too late.
We live on coastal country, some of it is highly fertile marine plain, good fattening country, with a strong stand of parra-grass, water couch and marine couch. Some of it is higher plain, it doesn't carry the parra-grass because the water just doesn't sit there for as long. It is also very copper deficient. The ridge is coastal forest country, this time of year it grows a heap of grass so we've increased the stocking rate for the next 6 weeks. But like everywhere it all depends on the rainfall. Sometimes the country can be flooded, we need to have the cows close to the ridge if there is a big dump of rain overnight. We experienced that with Cyclone Oswald. It dropped 13 inches overnight...in our hearts we know it's not a good scenario for cows and young calves to be out in the middle of that.
Like all farmers we talk about our cows and calves all of the time...I liken it to running a boarding school. They are under our care. Their nutrition, their education, their welfare…it is our responsibility.
The first big round of branding was finished a couple of weeks ago.
The rain, yes it has fallen...we consider ourselves one of the lucky ones...
And with new life, brings new hopes and dreams...
And we are still thinking of all of those farmers so desperately hanging on despite the adversity they are being faced with.
xxx
xxx
