Well finally we have had a few days of fine weather after last weeks rain and that has given us the chance to halter train our weaner heifer and bulls.  All up we have had 11 to put on halters, some have been to shows before as calves at foot, but most have not had any training.  Luckily Finlay and Freddie had not forgotten their work leading at shows last year, so they have been easy.  The girls we have had a mixed reaction, no-one throwing themselves on the ground, but some a little more resitant to giving in to the halter than others.  Fortunately the two heifers going to Victoria are both leading and standing exceptionally well, so I am happy for them to make the trip.

I have also picked out the potential show heifers for this coming season with Fable and Fine Wine the two standouts at this time.  A lot more work is still required, but they are coming along nicely.

Sadly we cannot keep all of our calves and so decisions have to be made.  Weaning gives you the opportunity to assess which heifers are available for sale and those being retained.  We have decided to sell off another three of our polled heifers, it was four but Faerie Dust is going to a stud in Victoria.

Two of the females who carry a red factor may be double polled as both their parents are polled, but without a test I cannot positively say, but the chance is definitely there.  A great opportunity of you are looking for polled cattle to add to your herd.

We have been fairly busy in this last week with monitoring of cattle for AI (Artificial Insemination) and weaning of our 16 calves.

Firstly we have AI'd both KP Angelica and KP Billi Vanilli with Bircham Ballantyne semen which was acquired some time ago.  This will introduce some exciting new bloodlines into our herds, we will have to wait three weeks now to see if they have taken.

Weaning time is one of the noisiest of the year, especially when their are 16 calves and 16 mothers all bellowing.  A good job the neighbours have just bought their weaners from the saleyards and so they are all bellowing, one mob answering the other, it is very noisy in Preston at the moment.

I have already picked out our potential show heifers for the coming season, with Fable and Fine Wine the stand outs at this moment along with Felicia Belle who is going to Victoria in the coming weeks.  We will see how they halter train before I confirm who we are taking.  A week of fine weather now would be ideal but it is raining as I type and looks to be the outlook for a least a few days.

Sadly I have had to disappoint the potential purchasers of Finlay, who is by far the best bull calf we have ever bred, but unfortunately has white forward of his scrotum.  Although this is allowable Mark & I have set pretty high standards and never registered a bull calf with white underneath and are not prepared to make an exception even if we do have a buyer for him.  He will make a fine commercial bull!

Well we have been to the Wynyard Show on Saturday 12 March and had an enjoyable time.  We took five animals with three calves at foot, including two of the Kirup Park cows, KP Diamond Cut with her little bull calf Gold Rush and KP Angelica with her heifer calf Florida.  Also our show girls Rawlings Eva Diva and Rawlings Delta Blue with Fancy Free at foot, and our youngster Rawlings Fair Lady who had her first outing.

We could have done a bit more work prior to the event with Fair Lady as she had not had a show halter on or a nose clip in her nose, or practice with the show stick.  The show halter went on half an hour before judging along with the nose clip, and she was so calm I could not believe it!  The show stick was just a bit to much to take, but I am very impressed with her super quiet nature and her ability to take everything in her stride, including flapping banners, loud speakers and lots of people.  To our surprise Fair Lady was sashed Junior Champion Female ahead of my favourite young girl Eva Diva, led once again by Zara Knightley who did a super job.

Then on to the cows, Delta showed her experience at such events and just floated around the ring.  KP Diamond Cut was more worried about her new calf who is only two weeks old and she had her cleansing cycle after calving so was not thrilled with the whole event.  Also in the same class where the two Goldshaft heifers who were at a strong disadvantage seeing as they did not have calves at foot, the class structure at this show did not make sense and these two lovely girls should have competed in the Junior Female section as no female under 24 months should be expected to have a calf at foot!  They paraded well though and will have their calves in the coming weeks, so will be on a more even footing then. 

KP Angelica was in a class on her own so won that and competed for Senior Female against Delta who won the previous class.  Delta was sashed Senior Champion, with KP Diamond Cut being Reserve Senior Female.  Delta then went on to beat Fair Lady for Champion Dexter Female at the show, a big ask for a heifer to beat a cow and calf.

Our thanks to Deb Knightley who made the trip across to bring Zara for show experience and I must say she has improved so much in confidence, making a huge effort to walk in time with the animals she is leading, practicing with her show stick in the ring and doing an overall amazing job!!

The venue at Wynyard is brilliant, it would be easier for exhibitors if they were a little more organised and communicated better as to the order of classes, etc.

But overall a great day, with a few genuine enquiries.