The timing of the latest Allflex/Beef Central ‘Great Animal ID Technology giveaway’ could not have come better for one of this month’s winners, Helen Armstrong from Gilnockie Station, south of Katherine in the Northern Territory.
Gilnockie is just embarking on a move to whole-herd NLIS coverage for management purposes, partly in response to some of the important outcomes from the major CashCow fertility research project across Northern Australia.
That process will involve tagging about 8000 cattle over time, starting with each cycle of young females retained for breeding.
As each generation comes through, replacing older breeders, the ID benefit will grow.
“We want to get a handle on some herd performance, particularly in fertility,” Helen said.
“The recent outcomes from MLA’s CashCow project just showed the huge range in fertility performance being recorded in this country, and the opportunity it presents. But in order to start, we need some objective herd recording on an individual basis, otherwise progress will be slow,” she said.
“We need to be able to look at records and say, this is the second calf this cow has missed, so she’s out.”
Just one of the many interesting findings Helen noted out of the CashCow work was a finding from Dr Geoff Fordyce, that hip height above 115cm on a northern Indicus breeder equals a corresponding 5pc drop in weaning numbers.
“That larger Charbray-type animal in this country is just going to cost us more,” she said.
“We’ll certainly be putting the prize to good use, because we haven’t even got a tag reader here yet. It will be most welcome, given our plans to capture more data,” she said.
Gilnockie’s nearest access to Allflex gear is via the Elders and Landmark outlets in Katherine, some 270km to the north.
Helen was one of four Beef Central readers in South Australia and the NT drawn to receive a prize in the latest Allflex draw yesterday. The others include:
- Gillian and Mark Fennell, Lambina Station, Marla, South Australia
- Graham & Laura Ragless, Beltana Station, Beltana, SA, and
- Annemarie Skerrett, Dry River Station, Sturt Plateau, NT.
Each lucky reader will receiving $700 worth of Allflex animal ID equipment of their choice, as part of the “Great Animal ID Technology” promotion.
Gillian Fennell, from Lambina Station in SA’s far north, said the tags would be useful in the transfer of Charbray steers off the property to their normal finishing destination on Ron Greentree’s country around Moree in northern NSW.
Gillian and husband, Mark, also operate Morestone Contracting, which installs solar-powered Grundfos water pumping systems across Central Australia and does contract mustering work utilising a gyrocopter for aerial work.
She said the country around Lambina had recently received 25mm of rain – in a district which has an average annual of only 125-200mm a year – and would now get the benefit of some good winter herbage.
Graham and Laura Ragless, about 550km north of Adelaide in the Flinders Ranges, run a cattle, sheep and tourism venture from their historic property, Beltana.
The cattle operation is based on Angus and a few Black baldies, most of which are sold as young cattle out of the paddock to southern feedlots, making the NLIS tag prize a “very nice surprise,” Graham said.
Annemarie Skerrett, who with husband Hamish runs Dry River Station on the NT’s Sturt Plateau, said she had heard about Beef Central from her friend, Emily Brett and family on Waterloo.
It is referrals like these, where an existing Beef Central reader introduces other beef industry stakeholders to the website, which has driven the strong ‘organic’ growth in Beef Central reader traffic since the website started two years ago.
Readers Australia-wide can share in $14,000 Allflex prize bonanza
Beef Central readers in all states and territories have the opportunity to share in $14,000 worth of prizes during the “Great Animal ID Technology” promotion in coming months.
Each month between now and August, more readers will have the chance to share in $2800 worth of monthly prizes, made up of four Allflex product packages, each carrying a retail value of $700 (inc GST).
Winning readers can claim up to 200 Allflex NLIS EID cattle tags, or choose from the full Allflex product range that also includes visual management tags, applicators, readers and accessories.
States are taking it in turns to be eligible for prizes each month. NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, SA and the NT have now had their run, with Western Australia (requiring a 6000’s postcode when registering), now open.
WA’s prize draw will take place in a month’s time; Queensland readers will then get their turn from early July.
By the end of the five-month cycle, 20 lucky Beef Central readers will have each received a $700 prize, in the form of quality Allflex products of their choosing.
Open to new and existing readers
Both new and existing Beef Central readers can share in the prizes. There are two ways to qualify for the draw:
- If you are a new or existing Beef Central reader, but do not currently receive our free daily email news alert, you can subscribe for the alert by completing the details accessible in the maroon-coloured banner at the bottom of this page, or any Beef Central article. Alternatively, readers can access the ‘Stay Up to Date’ panel on the right-hand column of the home-page. Each new subscriber from the State featured that month, will automatically go into the draw for their state. The only proviso to qualify is the inclusion of your postcode, to verify your location.
- If you already receive Beef Central’s daily email alert, you can still be part of the give-away. We encourage you to ‘share the message’ about the Beef Central website with your friends, colleagues and acquaintances across the industry. You will find the “Forward to a Friend” panel (small green icon appearing at top right and bottom right on any opened story).
By introducing others to the free subscription, you are effectively ‘entering’ yourself into the draw, because each new subscriber chosen randomly for the monthly prize draw will be asked to nominate the reader who has introduced or directed them to the Beef Central website. Provided it is not a family member, that person will also receive a $700 Allflex product package.
Allflex’s national sales manager, Mick Collings, said his company was delighted to partner with Beef Central in the ‘Great Animal ID Technology’ promotion.
“Beef Central has quickly become a highly-regarded source of news and events across the beef industry, and Allflex values the daily articles very highly,” he said.
- Click on the maroon-coloured panel below to register to receive Beef Central’s free daily news email alert, direct into your inbox via your PC, tablet or smart-phone.
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