Tolivar Angus Stud welcomes the rain

Tolivar Angus Stud farm manager Hayden Harper and his kelpie Kellie rode a side-by-side through swollen drains and creeks to check on the stud’s new bull and paddocks heavily stocked with cattle at the Pipers River property last Friday.

Days of steady rain on the irrigated pasture were slow to run off on this and the main farm at Lulworth, owned by Hayden’s grandparents Colin and Sue Hill.

Rainfall totals for the two farms in the first three days of the month showed 229.5mm at Pipers River and 217.5mm at Lulworth.

“It really was a terrific mild autumn and because we had irrigated the average annual rainfall of 650mm over summer, the rain last week left us semi-flooded,” Colin said.

“Part of the reason we bought this land was because of the good rainfall plus it’s well drained.”

With a mild lead-in to winter, pasture growth has been exceptional, leaving the Hills with the unexpected problem of too much feed so 42 Herefords were purchased in the first week of May for commercial purposes – proving a great move with prices on the rise.

The red cattle are an unfamiliar colour among the black Angus, but the 85ha of grazeable pasture at Pipers River has accommodated them well.

In total there are 200 yearlings and 40 cows and calves on 85ha at Pipers River plus another 190 Angus cows and heifers about to start calving at Lulworth.

“We’re stocked to the hilt, with more than one cow to the hectare,” Colin said.

“We’re excited having just AI-ed 50 autumn-calving cows to Uppercut and Ezar Stepup, and we’ve put our new bull out who arrived from South Australia on March 7.

“Pathfinder Goalkeeper V409 has got a terrific temperament and is structurally very sound. We couldn’t be more pleased considering we didn’t travel over for the purchase but went off his data and a video clip.”

Tolivar Stud has come a long way in six years, especially with the temperament of its bulls.

Breeding for high growth and easy calving they have not ignored the benefit of easy to manage cattle - something they couldn’t claim with their first lineage.

“Our next bull sale, through Nutrien on September 18, will show how far we’ve come,’ Colin said.

“We’ll be selling 30 bulls and it will be the first time we’ve put up our younger sires too - with 16 18-month-olds and 14 14-month-olds, from Uppercut, Alpine Special and Kenny Rogers sires.”