News & Results
Wing Valley Romagnolas - Northern Beef Week
18th August, 2008
NORTHERN BEEF WEEK OPEN DAY 2008 - WING VALLEY ROMAGNOLAS
We were delighted to have a visit from James Pullen on the day and we wish to thank James for taking the time and trouble to come.
On the day we were relieved to have pleasant weather 
this time, though James found it rather cold. From our point of view it was dry and sunny with only a gentle (cold) breeze.
To give you an idea about our climate here is Walcha, effectively we have a drought here every year from late April to early October which is 5 months. Once the frosts start, the grass does not grow and the feed hays off so it is only roughage and only what we can grow and keep from Spring and Summer.
In order to keep condition on our cattle we also supply protein in various forms, but a run of cold windy days (like today-about 3 degrees but with a wind of about 20kmh giving a wind chill factor of roughly -5 degrees which works out at -2 degrees) the cattle need an input of 16Mj of energy which is nearly impossible to achieve- so they can sometimes end up looking a bit awful after 3-4 days! Most cattle breeders on the tablelands sell off their weaners in Autumn because of this.
Our visitors on the day must not have minded the chill, as we had 8 interested parties plus industry representatives arrive throughout the day. Unusually, some came to look at the Roms not the Romangus. Most of our visitors over the years are locals coming to look at the Romangus bulls, as most graziers around the Walcha area are fine wool growers who use their cattle as “grass cutters” for their sheep. They are looking for bulls to increase the muscling in their Angus herd without losing the ability to finish them fast. In addition they want to retain their black colour, which is the favoured colour (apart from Hereford) on the tablelands and gets the best price at the saleyards.
While we had no immediate sales on the day (partly due to already selling many of our sale quota of working age cattle) we find these days are a great chance for people to come and inspect our herd and learn more about the Roms and their crossbreeding with the Angus. In the coming weeks we are expecting a couple from the tablelands who are popping in to inspect some of our PTIC Romangus cows to restock their property at Deepwater. They were unable to come to the Open Day as they had their herd on the road west of Wee Waa at the time. They saw the advertisement in the Northern Beef Week Open Day Directory put out for the day and were keen to make a private appointment.
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