Agmates

Victorian, Cattle Producer, Feedlotter, Horse Breeder Jenny Bird writes.

Our operation is relatively small..we trade about 4000 steers into feedlots. So we buy in, grow out and send. Wodonga Sale yards on the Victorian / NSW Border (pictured below) is where we source most of our cattle.

Regular sales are Tuesday fat market plus store sale, special sales are held on other days of the week. These special sales require cattle to be yarded the day before and the sales start at 10:30 am. We have arrangements to get cattle out of the pens to dirt yards quickly and then home to paddocks 10 and 15 and 25 k away as the cement footing and radiant heat cook the feet of cattle and cause no end of veterinary work for us.

This is our main processing set of yards on the Bungowannah property under construction. The roof is going on over the yards ($22,000 alone) with lights so we can process cattle when they come in at midnight and get them out into paddocks asap to avoid health issues from standing round on concrete at sale yards and hours of trucking.

Best invention ever a roof over the working area. The power hose is essential to keep the area clean as the cattle are very loose in spring. The heat of the day in open yards in summer is intolerable so we start at dawn and try to knock off by midday……not that it ever works that way!!!!

In the feed on steer job you need to process cattle when they want them so good yards and facilities have become essential….but all are expensive.

The scanning equipment and recording gear we can take to other yards and use portable scales. Above is the sort of crush set up we have in all yards……this one hasn’t got the head grab on it yet. You can’t read buttons manually with out one! All scales need to be programed to the recording box…..if not they can give a false reading of up to 4 kg per 100 kg…..very critical when you are targeting a grid system of price for different feedlots.

We invested in $20,000 worth of crushes and scanner/recording equipment to ease the back pain of having to manually read all cattle on purchased and out the gate so we could check NLIS status of them on the data base to avoid ‘discounts’ at the feedlot entry point.

Above is Bill Weidner, who has been in the cattle business for many years, with some bullocks ready to go to Queensland at the Bonegilla property. Bill and I run his brother’s Estate. AJ Weidner was a very well known commission buyer for 60 odd years. Since Bill had a horse flip on him and break his leg, followed by a horse flinging him into a float and breaking a hip he does very little on a horse now…..but he has a buster off the Ag bike on a regular basis….the brakes on a horse were pretty reliable! At 79 he doesn’t repair as well as he used to!

Manually reading tags is essential on purchase entry as it identifies those cattle who don’t scan; don’t carry buttons at all on arrival; don’t carry a button that matches the NVD; aren’t in fact what they were sold as ie Vendor Bred but second hand, or Vendor Bred but the NVD relates to a different property so they come up on the data base as NOT LIFE TIME TRACEABLE.

The other issue is that when the data is entered on the keyboard, fields don’t hold that data and hours of filling in ‘gaps’ is done off the long hand recording we still have to do.

Nothing beats the written format….except when the dog pi**es on the sheets and you have used a texta pen!!!

“In my spare time I stand 4 Morgan stallions …live service and chilled shipment and breed Pure and Part bred Morgan horses. This mare I originally sold to NZ as a filly but then repurchased when the opportunity arose. I have sold several horses to NZ and every State and Territory in Australia. I have just sold a yearling filly to England….a first.

So when we have a problem on intake we ring the agent and request the correct NVD applicable to the cattle and a roll back of the data entry is done to make the cattle Life Time traceable. Otherwise, we deduct $100 off every incorrect beast purchased.

It is amazing how agents don’t put up a fight!!! It is easier to wear the discount than fix the problem for most……..as they are not computer literate themselves or it occurs so often they would have no time to address their own bottom line profit sheet if they had to fix every “problem” beast!!!

At the price of feed on steers we can’t afford to run 20% non lifetime traceable cattle to punt back into the domestic market!!!…..where Life time traceability doesn’t matter.

Marvelous Encore (pictured) is a Morgan stallion I imported from Arizona in 1994. He arrived mid winter - July 4th in a summer coat but he soon learnt to grow a winter coat.

The filly I sent to England in January went out in 40 degree heat and arrived in -8 with wind chill factor and it snowed the next day. She is growing a winter coat now as she tears off her rugs. It takes horses over 12 months to adjust to the climate change.

I have imported many horses from America, NZ and England as well as frozen semen. The drought and EI has minimised my program but I still have about 25 horses…..but don’t tell Bill!!!”

If only purchasers and breeders and stock owners of cattle would check their data base to see the mess they have on it. Most would recognize that the numbers they are supposed to have in the paddock according to the data base has no relationship to the data they have submitted to the Tax man!!!

Wouldn’t the Tax Office have a field day if they had a look at the data base of most cockies!!!!???? If you aren’t computer literate then ask your Agent to down load a copy of all the cattle you have recorded on your data base. You will be in for a BIG surprise!!! Remember the new buttons in the shed as yet unused are on there too…before you have a heart attack!!!

I headed up a syndicate to import frozen semen from a Palomino Morgan stallion and market that semen as well. Below is a photo of Palomino M0rgan Stallion - PT Cruiser.

Have your say! To ask Jenny a question online or leave a comment click on the Blue word Comment below.

Forwarded to Agmates by Marie-Therese Los:

Tink the Dashound is fostering this guy for another mother who couldn’t take care of him. He had his eyes closed, but now they are open. He is just a little bigger than her other pups.

She loves this little guy more than the other puppies and she is nursing him back to health.He is the cleanest puppy ever because she licks him all the time.

This is ‘Pink’ short for Pig & Tink

Pink and the puppies nursing.

Pink “nurses” all the time.

Pink sleeping with his siblings

He is sooo cute

Tink is very protective over Pink

She keeps him close to her

The family sleeping

Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

Below are more incredible photos of the flooding in Central QLD. After we ran Linda Hewitt’s pictorial history of the flood at their property Agmates has had reader’s sending in a lot of photos of the floods. Below is just a sample of some of them.

Clermont private agent Malcolm Flohr of Australian Livestock sent us these aerial photo’s of some the worst area’s of flooding in and around the Belyando river catchment.

The properties that these photos are taken of are 150 - 200kms (as the Crow Fly’s) from Colin and Linda Hewitt’s Fork Lagoon station. That will give you an idea of the massive sea of water across central Queensland.

This first one is of Albro Station which is on the eastern side of the Belyando River about 100kms due west of Clermont. Albro joins neighboring properties, Laglan to the North, Beresford and Springvale to the east and Degulla and Lestree Downs to the West (across the river.)

Across the river to the west of Albro is Degulla station. Degulla’s neighbors are Lestree Downs to the north, Laglan & Lennox to the west, Forrester & Riverview to the south and Mirrabilla & Albro to the east.

In the Photo below you can see Degulla homestead and other buildings in the water on the top right hand side.

Frankfield Station Homestead complex which is about 70kms North West of Clermont, swamped by flood water.

Foxes Creek - 6 mile cattle yards. If you look closely you can just see the tops of the high steel yards sticking out of the flood water. Where are the cattle?

Isla Plains station which is about 90 kms South west of Clermont, 45 kms North, north east of Alpha and about 100kms west of Linda & Colin Hewitts property Fork Lagoon. (all distances as the crow fly’s). The Belyando River runs right through the middle of Isla Plains.

Now for some photos of another open cut coal mine just out of Capella. These were sent to me by my brother Justin and his wife Tracey. They came from their friend Donna who lives at Capella.

These are the photos of the submersed drag line that all of you in Australia have all seen on the news.

I am told that these drag lines are $100 million dollar machines. There is another one in there under the water somewhere. You might ask why the mine did not get them out. These machines are so big that they walk at 1/4 of a mile per hour. So what hope did they have?

These photos are of the same open cut coal mine Donna tells us that at this stage all of the mine staff have been laid off and no one knows when, if ever it will reopen again.

As water filled one enormous pit it rushed over a dirt wall into another.

The speed and volume of water was just unbelievable.

A truck that was stranded by flood waters on the road between Capella and Emerald.

The highway between Capella & Emerald. The water just lifted the bitumen up and carried it off the road in great sheets.

The destruction these enormous floods have caused to mining, agriculture and infrastructure will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and it may take many years to recover from.

In their comments on the Hewitts flood story at Fork Lagoon, David Connolly & Stephen Lill reminded us that Dorothy McKellar’s Classic poem “My Country” cuts close to the heart of the matter.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of rugged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror,
The wide brown land for me.

Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

Linda Hewitt in her article Central QLD Flood Devastation in Pictures touched on the devastation the flooding has caused in central Queensland not only to the rural but also the mining industries.

Malcolm Flohr principal of private Agent Australian Livestock in Clermont has sent Agmates these photos of a dramatic mine “rescue” at a flooded open cut coal mine just outside of Middlemount.

Flying over the flooded mine.

These huge open cut pits are full to the top.

You can just see the tops of the huge mine machinery poking out of the water. Notice the Excavator in the top left of the picture.

Tops of huge mine hall dump trucks, these are the ones that a Toyota 4 wheel drive comes about half way up the wheel.

Believe it or not there is a man in that machine who has started it and is trying to haul the machine out using the bucket to drag it toward the edge of the pit.

The following is a series of photos of this incredible feat of bravery.

I’d reckon about now our intrepid hero was wondering if this was such a good idea.

And right now he’s given it everything it’s got. I mean who would know what was under the water, these pits go down 100’s of metres.

That was close and a testament to the power of these machines, to be able to haul itself back from that.

Finally our hero in the “Budgie Smugglers” has saved the day. This photo really gives you an idea of just how big this machine is and just how great the financial loss the mining industry in central QLD has suffered.

If anybody know’s who this guy is we’d love to hear from him.

Central Queensland Grazier Linda Hewitt writes:

This is the pictorial story of the disaster of the Central Queensland floods from our property “Fork Lagoon” which is approx 34kms west of Emerald. Fortunately we are one of the lucky ones, we got our stock moved to higher ground just in time.

These floods will prove disastrous for the Emerald and central Queensland economy. The losses suffered by the farming and mining industry which the Emerald township’s economy has been thriving on, will severely hurt the towns economy. This will take years to recover from.

A Brahman cow hanging on for dear life. She epitomizes the many many thousands of cattle washed away in the Belyando River Area. At least she made it. Many, many did not.

Click here to see all these photos in full screen size. They are very impressive in full size.

“Fork Lagoon” house is 3/4 surrounded - in trees at the centre left of the photo below. The water rushed out of the hills behind us and took out the road leading into the house, the dam wall and the fences etc. We received 6 inches (150mm) in about 5 hours, and another 4 inches (100mm) in the next few hours. All up we got 18.75 inches (470mm) for the 3 days. We’d already had one week of wet weather - drizzle - before this so the country was very wet already.

The supposed dam in front of the house. You can see on the right where the dam wall ends, there should be a dam wall going across the front of the “island” which we had purposely left in the middle of our house dam. We have retained water at the old water level, and the dam is beautifully clean now. Always a positive to every negative.

Colin Hewitt & son Jack inspecting damage in Jacks chopper about 11am. Water had peaked during the night, so these photo’s do not show the highest levels.

Flying west of our house, Kettle Creek, running past our house, going through “Fork Lagoon” towards Emerald over the low range about 34kms away.

The 6 Charolais bulls we though had been swept away. By now you can see some of the water has receded. These boys would have had a terrifying night.

Fork Lagoon house on left.

One of the 5 dam banks burst. Water came so quickly it just went straight over the top. The dams never had a chance with the huge tide of water that hit.

Another dam bank gone. Water has taken the entire front wall. Note the top of the fence lines are just visable out of the water at top left of the photo below. This photo was taken many hours after the waters peaked.

This Grain Feeder had 2-3 Tonnes of feed in it. It got picked up and floated over 2 fences, without breaking a wire in them. It finished up on its head. It has to be deep, strong flowing water to do that.

One of our neighbors Machinery Shed.

Crops near Emerald. This is a high walled Irrigation Ring Tank surrounded by prime cropping land. Ring Tanks are filled by pumping into them not by catching run-off. Hence the blue coloured water (rain water) in the tank and the brown sea of flood water outside the tank. Wasn’t far from going straight over the top of it - amazing.

Mick & Jack doing hay drops to stranded cattle.

Flooding around the town of Emerald.

The country just outside of Emerald was an “inland sea”. The dot you can see in the middle is a Brahman Cow that had managed to hang on to a small spot of high ground.

Some people had driven cars out on the high ground on main roads outside of their farms, meaning to walk out to the cars if it got too bad. But the water came so quick and so high that the cars themselves got drowned. Even those that were well prepared got caught out!!!!

Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

Adam Gilchrist retired from test cricket today. One of rural and regional Australia’s greatest ever sportsmen has left the game “on his terms” - just the same way he has played the game and the way he lives his life.

Adam Gilchrist or “Gily” was born in 1971 at Bellingen on the North Coast of New South Wales. He lived at Dorrigo where he attended Dorrigo Public School. At the age of 13, his parents, Stan and June, moved to Lismore were he attended the local school and captained the school team.

Gily is married to his high school sweetheart Melinda (Mel) and they have 2 sons and a daughter. An intensely loyal family man he is looking forward to spending a lot more time with his family. “Gily” is admired world wide within the Cricketing nations as a man of unquestionable integrity.

Matthew Hayden champion open bat and another country boy summed it up when he said………”He’s been a remarkable Australian, he’s held the baggy green in his hand with great pride and passion, great discipline, great work ethic……….a fantastic leader and had the ability to be able to change the game and that has made Adam one of the greatest players who ever played the game..

Richie Benaud Australian cricketing great said “Gilchrist has changed the way cricket is played……..simply one of the finest cricketers I’ve ever seen.” Benaud was referring to the fact that Gily has helped revolutionize the Test match game as an attacking No 7 batsman who scored 5,556 runs at 47.89, with a highest score of 204 not out, including 17 test centuries.

He retires from all forms of cricket once the upcoming one day series is over. In one-day internationals he has scored 9,297 runs at an average of 36.03 with 15 centuries and a highest score of 172. He has taken a total of 454 dismissals in the one-day game.

Make sure you watch him in his last one dayer’s. You are witnessing an all time great of the game. So long “Gily” and thanks for the great memories.

Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

Our USA Agmate Joel Gill sent us an email to remind us of the sacrifice our armed forces make for us. I got really emotional when I first saw this.

My brother, Justin’s 21 year old daughter Hollie (my niece) serves in the Australian Army. Holly had been in Darwin with her troop and they were due for service in Iraq next month. Thankfully one of the first things the Rudd Labor government did was cancel sending more troops to that god forsaken place.

Below is taken from the information Joel sent. It’s as relevant to US troops as it is our Aussie troops. While I don’t agree with them being there I have huge respect for the men and women who serve in our respective countries armed forces.

You stay up for 16 hours, they stay up for days on end.

We take a warm shower to help us wake up.

They go days or weeks without running water.

We complain of a headache, and call in sick.

They get shot at, (as others are hit) and still keep moving forward.

They put on their anti war shirt, and go and meet with friends.

They still fight for the right for them to wear that shirt.

We make sure our mobile phone is in our pocket.

He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dog tags.

We rubbish our “mates” that arn’t with us.

He knows he may not see some of his mates again.

You walk down the beach, looking at all the pretty girls.

He patrols the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.

We complain about how hot it is.

He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.

We go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got our order wrong.

They don’t get to eat today.

Your mum, or partner makes your bed and washes your cloths.

He wears the same thing for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are clean.

You go to your salon and get your hair redone.

He doesn’t have time to brush his teeth today.

Your angry because your class ran 5 minutes over.

He’s told he’ll be held over an extra 2 months.

You call your girlfriend / boyfriend and set a date for tonight.

They wait for mail to see if there is a letter from home.

You roll your eyes when your baby cries.

He gets a letter with pictures of his new child and wonders if they’ll ever meet.

We criticize our government and say war never solves anything.

He see the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he’s fighting.

We hear hear the jokes about the war and make fun of men like him.

He hears the gunfire, bombs and screams of the wounded.

We see only what the media wants us to see.

He see’s the broken bodies lying around him.

We stay at home and watch TV

They take whatever time they are given to call, write home eat & sleep.

We crawl into our soft bed, with down pillows and get comfortable.

They try to get some sleep, but are woken by mortars and helicopters all night long.

All these brave men and women are all someones , brother, sister, daughter, son.

US Cattle Broker Joel Gill of Mississippi Order Buyers Inc, Pickens MSÂ writes

G’ Day Australia, One of the questions that appeared over and over while I was in your country this past summer was “How do you sell the beasts in the US?” Quite simply it has to do with where you live in the nation.

In the far west, sales are often private treaty and in load ( 21850 kg) lots. The same is true for the Northwest and the North Central states, although those agreements very often include firm cash prices and set delivery periods.

In the South eastern portion of our nation (Mississippi where I live) it is a different story. Here for a 3 1/2 % to 5 % agents fee, buyer and seller are brought together (at an auction centre) as the animals are sold one at a time or occasionally in larger lots usually under 25 head at public auction.

This photo shows my parents Jack & Wanda Gill’s home on top of a hill at our farm and auction complex in Pickens Mississippi. The insert is yours truly speaking at the ABA conference in Toowoomba QLD Australia in August of this year in my role as R-CALF USA National Membership Co-Chair/Checkoff (Levy) Chair.