Plenty of swish Swiss misses

Paul and Sue Balfour held their sale on-farm at Kannoona, NSW, with a large number of bidders in attendance, as well as online and a few people bidding on the telephone.

The sale was organised through Dairy Livestock Services and interfaced with Elite Livestock Auctions.

Only one lot was withdrawn from the sale of cows and heifers from Australia’s top BPI, HWI and SI Brown Swiss herd.

There were also four Red Holsteins among the 76 lots, from the same vendors.

Vendor Paul Balfour said he and Sue had used this type of sale a couple of times previously to reduce herd numbers. This time their impetus was the difficulty of finding farm workers.

Paul said their son — who has worked on the farm for the past 10 years — had decided to move on.

“We decided to reduce the number of cows we were milking because we were struggling to find staff,” Paul said.

“After four months working by myself, Sue and I decided enough’s enough and we’d sell some of the herd.”

He is now milking 160 cows, with heifers coming into the herd this spring.

A new worker has recently started — a local man who has returned to the dairy industry after 20 years.

The on-farm auction began briskly, with the first lot selling for $3750 — Balgarre Volker Heidi GP81 is a three-year-old heifer, PTIC to calve her second calf in March, and milking 5667 litres.

Then lot two sold at $5250 for Balgarre Volker Heidi 2, another three-year-old heifer, with her second calf due in March, and milking 7364 litres.

Lots three and four each sold for $3500. Balgarre Atley Lunda, a three-and-a-half-year-old cow, due to calve in March, and milking 6177 litres, and Balgarre Viori Beauty, a nearly four-year-old cow, also due to calve in March, and milking 10,713 litres.

Lot six, Balgarre Atley Beauty, the first PTIC heifer, changed ownership for $2500. Her calf is due in March.

Lot nine, Balgarre Alexey Lady, also due to calve in March, also sold at $2500.

The price held up with older cows.

Lot 15, Balgarre Luther Jana, four years old and due to calve in February, milking 5992 litres, sold for $4000.

Lot 16, Balgarre Viori Jana, four years old and due to calve in March, milking 6852 litres, sold for $3250.

Lot 17, Balgarre Gstar Jana, born in March 2018 and due to calve in March this year, milking 6958 litres, sold at $3250.

Lot 18, another heifer — Balgarre Alexis Jana — and artificially inseminated in November, sold for $3600. Her dam milks 8639 litres.

Balgarre Virken Victoria, lot 20, comes from a line of reserve and champion cows. Born in August 2017, due to calve in March this year and milking 6856 litres, this cow sold at $4000.

Lot 27, Balgarre Volker Amereto, a two-year-old cow due to calve the second time in August, sold for $5500.

Lot 40, Balgarre Virkon Fran, a five-year-old cow due to calve in April to an Angus bull, and milking 6880 litres, also sold at $5500.

Lot 52, Balgarre Vassili Lady 2, a three-year-old cow due to calve in July, made $4500.

Lot 56 also sold for $4500 — Balgarre Louie Beauty, a rising four-year-old cow due to calve in August and milking 6143 litres.

Lot 71, Balgarre Hercules Heidi, a two-and-a-half-year-old heifer due to drop her second calf in August, sold for the highest price of $5800.

Among the Red Holsteins, lot 77, the last cow sold on the day, changed ownership at $4500. She was Balgarre Brick Emily, a two-and-a-half-year-old heifer who calved in August last year, has since tested PTIC to AI, and milks 3349 litres. Her dam milks 9423 litres.

Brian Leslie, from Dairy Livestock Services, said many of the buyers had purchased the Balgarre cattle in previous sales.

Successful buyers of cows and heifers were from the Bega Valley and throughout four states, including districts of Comboyne, Newry, Carpendeit, Gympie, Merrigum, Warroo, Katunga, Glencoe, Muswellbrook and Laceby.