News

Last week we made the trek to Wilmot Cattle Co, near Ebor, for a two day field day. The event was run by Maia Grazing & focused on using holistic grazing management to improve ecological & financial profitability. Our key take home message from the event was a comment made by Terry McCosker:

‘Mother nature knows what’s best, we just need to get out of the way & be patient’

2500km. 640 bulls. 2.5 days.
We did a whirlwind trip down south to suss out a few potential new sires last month. After some nervous AuctionsPlus bidding, we’ve managed to secure two of the bulls on our wish list so far!

We finally decided to bite the bullet & do the Grazing for Profit (GFP) school last week. Its been recommended to us by lots of people, but we just hadn’t got there yet. If you’re thinking about doing the course, here are some inside tips!

Each year in January we spend two days planning for the year ahead. We’re still learning & fine-tuning this process, but this is what it looked like for us this year….

‘Happy New Year to all our friends! We hope over the Christmas period you’ve had some time to relax & recharge, ready for the year ahead’

We’ve been really lucky to have Efrain & Nadia from Argentina working for us this year. Some of you would have met them at our bull sale.

Cow-calf producers who make a living from their cows know fertility is by far the most important economic trait. Studies have shown that reproductive traits are twice as important as growth traits, which are twice as important as carcass traits. Ironically, the mainstream beef industry has been selecting almost exclusively for growth and carcass traits for the past 40 years – at the expense of reproduction.

Every season we recieve photos of cows that have had twin ‘Trio’ calves, but this year we seemed to have received even more than normal! Here are some facts about twin calves & some of the problems they can create, written by local vet, Bronte Sutton from Suttons Livestock:

Thankyou to all the buyers, under bidders & supporters for attending our 2020 Bull Sale. We had a great day, selling 49/49 bulls to average $8,326, with the top priced bull being purchased by Banquet Angus, VIC for $17,000.

This year we’ve put together a ‘Virtual Open Day’ to show people through the sale bulls. It includes a video tour along with individual videos of the bulls & an ‘Insiders Guide’….

Want to buy a great heifer bull that fits your budget? Follow these simple steps to pick the right bulls & bid with more confidence & less stress on sale day…

Is it possible to buy a dud bull – one who’s not interested in breeding cows? Here are some insights…

A new podcast has recently launched called ‘The Regenerative Journey with Charlie Arnott’. It will be a great listen for anyone curious to learn about regen ag principles & the benefits & challenges of its adoption….

Maia Grazing recently hosted a great webinar with Jim Gerrish, an independent grazing consultant from the US. The topic was Paddock Design 101: Planned Grazing Fundamentals.

With lots of new faces on our email list we thought it was time to introduce ourselves again!

We’ve been busy this week collecting tissue samples from all the calves born in this Autumn. This involves using a special applicator that takes small sample from the ear of the calf and secures it in a vial. This sample is then sent to the lab for testing.

We’re always hearing about ag technologies that could offer exciting benefits to our business. But we’re often left wondering about their practicality & cost-benefit. MLA has set up a demonstration site at Carwoola to test some of these technologies in a true commercial setting.

An afternoon horse ride has been a popular request the last couple of weeks. With the green grass and nice weather, it’s been pretty enjoyable…

We saw this great idea on the ABC Landline Facebook page – using old tyres to make comfy dog beds!

How many of your cows would get pregnant with no inputs?
Check out this video with David Pratt from RMC, he discusses the cost of targeting high concept rates. Great food for thought. View the video

After many hours of drying & grading we’re pleased to now have some digit seed available to sell

If cow-calf producers want to have a prosperous future, they will need to make some major changes. The sooner they take the first step, the sooner they will reach their destination. I will review 10 steps required to get on the right road. These steps are not difficult – but they will require a paradigm shift.

The results from the 2020 Colin Say & Co. Trade Carcase Competition are in – Champion Trade Carcase was an Angus cross steer sired by Trio Ultimate M121! He also went on to be awarded the Virtual Taste Test Champion.

We’ve just had 30 ET calves arrive home. It’s always an exciting time, as these calves represent the top end of our breeding program. It’s a rather long & expensive process to get them to this point, starting in early 2018 when we took four elite cows to Holbrook to flush.

Two weeks ago a Field Day was held at Wilmot Cattle Co., Ebor titled ‘Grazing in Extremes’. Around 400 people attended & by all reports it was an excellent event. Unfortunately we couldn’t make it, but there was a great summary on the NSW Country Hour that we highly recommend tuning in to. Speakers included Jim Gerrish, Dr Christine Jones & Stuart Austin.

Life is always busy but we’ve been trying to make the most of the lovely weather lately. Our boys enjoy anything & everything outside so we’ve been having plenty of makeshift picnic lunches & enjoying the odd campfire dinner….

We recently listened to a great podcast on farm succession. It was a two part interview with Tony Catt from Catapult Wealth) conducted by the Profitable Farmer podcast. Here are our notes from the interview…

We’re very excited to have sourced 40 exceptional stud cows to add to our breeding program. We purchased them from Murdeduke Angus, Winchelsea VIC. A large stud well-known for its emphasis on independent assessment & performance recording.

We’ve just finished an online farm business program called ‘Take Control’ through the Farm Owners Academy. A key module in the course was ‘Take Control of Your Time’. We thought we’d share the top three lessons that stood out to us…

Following Matts recent trip to the Running Stream BlazeAid Camp, we decided to put together a ‘Fencing Tutorial’ video. The aim was to help the volunteers with their tieing off, knots & straining skills. Its been well received & already watched by close to 200 volunteers.

We’ve just arrived home from the Top Producers Workshop in Adelaide. This was a two day event hosted by the Farm Owners Academy with a focus on increasing farm profitability & learning how to run a better business.

We were excited to have Trio Angus featured on Page 4 of the most recent HMI Magazine. We were contacted after the editor heard about our work with Dick Richardson and the new grazing strategies we’ve been implementing. 

Like many breeders in the area, our calves have been weaned since November. We thought we would give some insight into what’s been working well for us & what hasn’t.

Early weaning is definitely one of the more frequent topics for discussion among producers. Its an important strategy that can be used to successfully care for cows and ensure calf growth can be maintained. However, it does require some planning and has to be done with a daily focus. There are no shortcuts!

We’re always looking for new ways to improve labour efficiencies on our farm. We came across the Optiweigh system & thought it had both labour, time & convenience advantages to offer.

Do you listen to podcasts? If so, be sure to subscribe to the Profitable Farmer podcast with Andrew Roberts from the Farm Owners Academy. It’s an informative and thought-provoking listen as he discusses the skills you need to run a successful farming business.

We’ve just added another new stud sire to our team! We’re very excited to have been able to secure Lot 9. Ardrossan Holbrook N329, at the Ardrossan Angus Bull Sale last week. 

This bull has an exceptional set of data & complete new genetics for our breeding program. He is currently one of the highest marbling bulls in the breed, with an IMF of +4.7.

In this article Kit Pharo discusses the impact a heavy calf can have on a cows ability to rebreed.

In this article David McLean from RCS explains how high productivity doesn’t automatically equal higher profitability.

Kit Pharo says – Absolutely! If you have been paying attention, it should be obvious that not all cows are created equal.

Hot dry conditions have meant a challenging year for pinkeye, with some local mobs unfortunately experiencing high disease levels in not just young stock but cow and bull mobs. Where some have traditionally regarded pinkeye as a self-limiting process, with little intervention needed; no-one can ignore that occurrence and severity appears to be increasing, and prevention and treatment strategies are needed to avoid serious production and sale value losses.

This week marks two years since the Sir Ivan Bush Fire raged through our farm & created chaos in our community. Thankyou to everyone for their amazing help & support since then. Here’s a video sharing our story https://youtu.be/eEjS3cxj2PU

We recently traveled to Ebor to listen to US rancher, Kit Pharo. Kit is well-known for challenging the status quo & encouraging farmers to think outside the box.

Spring joining is now well underway in the local district. During this time regular monitoring of your bulls is paramount.