REBECCA McGowan was putting on a brave face following the sale of the last of her beloved Angus herd at the Blue Ribbon Female sale held in Wodonga.
She said it was a very emotional experience to see her cattle go under the hammer, but explained her family had no choice but to sell their livestock.
Ms McGowan attended the sale with her daughter Moira, and husband Greg Dale.
Their small farm of 180 hectares, including two filled haysheds, was burnt out on December 20, 2015, leaving only the house and a small paddock unburnt.
“Luckily none of our cattle were burnt or injured,” Ms McGowan said.
“They had been able to get onto kikuyu grass around the dams and that saved them.”
But all the fences were gone, and although the cattle were being fed on anonymously donated hay, Ms McGowan said they couldn’t keep them indefinitely.
“The fire was very hot, completely destroying our pastures and fences, so we had to let the cattle go,” she said.
“We did consider agisting our cows, but eventually decided against it.”
Ms McGowan was pleased, nevertheless, with the prices paid for her line of second-calvers, due again to calve this month.
The line of 34 cows in forward condition, sold to top price of $1400.
“We are relieved to have them off the farm,” Greg Dale said.
“We were always going to have problems with feed and water, even though some kind person has been delivering hay.”
Despite their emotional ordeal, both Ms McGowan and her husband are looking to redesign their farm, and have plans to refence the property to better suit the topography – which they said would include laneways.
Ms McGowan said they would sow more lucerne into their pasture mix in the future, as a neighbouring paddock could be utilised to provide an important firebreak.
“It will take us a good 12 months to get going again, but we will be looking at trading stock when we have got our pastures re-established.”
