WITH the arrival of December last week my Stock & Land colleagues and I took to the roads of cattle breeding country sourcing information for the upcoming January weaner sales.
Across the state it is fair to say seasonal conditions vary enormously with the northeast moist and holding an exceptional bank of feed while the southwest has completely dried, water may be a problem pending, and feed is short and sparse.
However on my tour of the South West I was amazed to find how advanced, conditioned and well-grown the cattle are, given the difficult growing season.
Cows in particular are 'mud fat' and still giving their predominantly March/May-born calves all the nourishment they can on the eve of weaning.
With haymaking in the area reduced to almost half, an early start to pregnancy testing has been made in order to weed out future non-breeders that may prove a burden on the limited feed resources if a late break to autumn is to occur.
Joining success rates have been mostly above average, with many conception results in the 95 to 97 per cent range while most are on or above par.
That's not surprising given the fluctuating fortunes of the season, which opened the autumn in magnificent style before it became too wet in places during July and then saw less than 25 per cent of the spring rains fall during October.
But despite these inconsistencies most breeders visited reported their cattle have performed remarkably well and display few side-effects of this roller-coaster season.
From the excellent start made at calving most breeders said the early growth of their new-born calf-drop was phenomenal and although conditions became a bit soggy during winter their continued development was encouraging.
But some of the more critical eyes expressed concerns the wet winter and failed spring had slowed the finish, particularly of their later-born calves.
Early-born calves they predict will finish to their normal weights while the later-born calves may be lighter, but not that far off the mark.
There were also a number of reports that suggested heifer calves out-numbered steers in the marking yards however few, I discovered, were ahead of the schedule when it came to weaning.
Most calves were still on their mothers but three to four weeks was about the average planned for weaning before each sale.
While most of this report focuses on the season and its ups and downs it was interesting to observe some encouraging changes in nature that may tend to indicate a promising season in the making.
In the area to the southwest of Grampians at Vasey, Melville Park Hereford breeder David Lyons pointed to a bank of flowering red gums which he said was a sign of a good season to follow.
And on the roads around Penshurst, Wallacedale and even my own district south of Ballarat a lot of new-born kitten rabbits are out and about. There was talk also from travellers of emu on the plains of NSW with recently-hatched chicks at foot which is normally a good sign nature has encouraged its native and wild animals to breed and repopulate their stocks.
Yes, the success of the weaner sales will be highly dependent on the weather – and whether buyers from up north are encouraged enough by the weather to return.
It's an exciting and busy time preparing for the January weaner sales.