Dreams can come true. Just ask Trevor Davis, manager of the historic Tom Groggin Station, on the Victorian-NSW border above Khancoban.
Mr Davis was hoping for $600 for his top steers; $500 for the younger and smaller Angus he sold at Wodonga last Thursday. He got much more than that. The 140 Alpine Angus blood steers averaging 290kg sold from $568 (240c/kg) to $678 (205c/kg) to average 205c/kg.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Mr Davis said as he concluded a phone report his boss in Sydney.
“It’s absolutely brilliant; a 13 year high. I haven’t phoned the owner while I’ve still been at the sale in six or seven years. I usually wait for a couple of days, but I phoned him today.”
Tom Groggin, the home of Jack Riley of “Man from Snowy River” fame, has had a bad run in the last 10 years.
The Victorian government took its leases in the Alpine National Park which forced it to slash its herd (it lost half it’s one-time size when the NSW government formed the Kosciusko National Park), bushfires and drought followed.
“It took a couple of years to sort out what forest leases were available to us,” Mr Davis said. “We got down to about 300 cows, but we’ve built the herd back to 360 breeders and we’re hoping to get back to 450.”
He said the last seven years had been a “struggle” but a good season and good prices made it all worthwhile.
“You can see the breeding is still there in a good season like this.”
