It was shaping up as a really tough day for Ian Bailey, with no one bidding on his calves.
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Then after the online auction closed a Tasmanian farmer not only bought the lot he said when he came to pick up the 90 head he would be delivering nine round bales of hay free of charge.
“It was inspiring. Makes you realise that the Aussie bush mateship is alive and well. In your life you do good turns for people and last week someone wonderful returned the favour,” he said.
The retired cardiologist runs 550 Angus breeders on his 1632 hectare property “Greylands” near Singleton with the herd split evenly into autumn and spring calving mobs. The steer portion is usually grown onto feedlot weights at around 18 months of age.
But given the drought conditions his manager Steve Wilkinson made the decision to early wean the autumn calves and rather than opt to feed them put them on the market.
“Those calves were listed on Auctionsplus computer auctions (amongst 100 lots with 4700 young stock, in a special weaner/yearling sale),and we failed to get a single bid, despite a start price of around half of what they would have achieved two years ago,” Dr Bailey said.
“We watched with apprehension, as the bidding closed.
“Then almost immediately, our agent Bailey Livestock, Singleton received a phone call from a farmer down in Tasmania.
Dr Baliey quoted the farmer “I won’t quibble about a price, given your situation. I’ll pay your reserve (despite it being 10c/kg above our failed listing price).And by the way, we will be sending up a ‘new generation’ double decker stock truck, to collect them, which is equipped with side gates on the crate, and I’ll load in nine large round bales of fodder (which would be worth $120 each and climbing) to help you in your drought”.
The new generation truck duly arrived at “Greylands’ the hay was unloaded and the four to five month old calves sent on their way back to greener pastures in Tasmania.
After the sale was concluded Dr Bailey was able to find out the details of the generous and caring buyer.
“I will be making contact and thanking him for his support in these tough times – his actions were uplifting,” he said.
Dr Bailey said management during the drought was vital and he wished to thank Steve and his wife Carolyn, and their family, for their hard work, expertise and sheer dedication to ensuring the stock get through the drought.
Steve is both practical and scientific in his approach, and forever proactive so we don’t get caught in deep trouble and unless rain comes soon it will be ugly in our district which at present isn’t as bad as some other areas, he said.
Earthworks conducted on the farm during the summer meant the 99mm that fell in a one day rain event in March replenished dams and put some water in new ones.
“We will run out of feed before water thanks to that work,” Dr Bailey said.
In the meantime he expects to sell another 120 calves in a fortnight and continue to cull any dry and old cows to ensure only the best of his breeders are retained.
How does this drought rate in comparison to others? Dr Bailey said when he bought the family farm in 1982 it was an extremely tough season.
“One thing I do believe is that using up to date management techniques and good planning and strategic selling we are hoping to get through as best we can with no losses. That’s Steve and my aim to ensure no losses,” he said.