Spring State Reports

Queensland bull sale season is around the halfway mark, although a good proportion of the pre-sale bull testing is now behind us. That means many of us are moving into the next round of conversations with clients: what to do with the expensive new purchases once they arrive home.

A BULLCHECK® is an assessment of a bull at a point in time. Unfortunately, that bull can then be trucked hundreds of kilometres, undergo a major change in diet, lose condition, develop a fever, go lame, suffer heat stress or be introduced to a group of older bulls intent on rearranging him. Any of these events can affect semen quality for weeks afterwards.

It is therefore worth reminding clients that acclimatisation and management after purchase matter. Vaccination histories and biosecurity are equally important, including consideration of vibriosis, leptospirosis, pestivirus, three-day sickness and tick fever depending on the region and herd.

Seasonal conditions continue to vary enormously across Queensland, so the discussions heading towards joining are similarly diverse. In some areas the priority remains body condition and supplementation; elsewhere attention is already turning towards wet-season disease, parasite and access issues. As always, there is rarely a shortage of things for cattle vets to discuss once the first storms arrive.

From pocket knives to Starlink

Another topic worth considering is how quickly technology is changing the way we work.

Back in March this year, I was giving a mate a hard time for carrying his AirPod case clipped to his belt. In my view, a bloke working cattle should probably have a pocket knife on his belt rather than a set of headphones.

Unfortunately, I may have been wrong.

More recently I was preg testing while attempting a phone call with the phone wedged between my shoulder and ear, as I have done for while now. It eventually escaped, narrowly missed a cow pat and then survived several close encounters with passing hooves.

I have since bought a set of open-ear bone-conduction headphones — Shokz in my case, although not necessarily a brand endorsement. Apart from allowing me to answer calls while working in the crush, they have another significant advantage: because the ear canal remains open, I can still wear proper ear plugs at the same time. So I can take a phone call, keep working and maintain some protection from the considerable noise generated around cattle yards and crushes.

The slightly ridiculous part is that all of this works because there is now a Starlink mounted on the canopy of the ute giving me wifi reception at all times. Previously, once I was more than about 40 kilometres from the clinic, reliable phone reception was unlikely. Now I can receive phone calls virtually everywhere I go.

That is only the small end of the technological change occurring around us. AI note-taking can assist with report writing and record keeping. Pregnancy-testing data can be captured electronically and rapidly converted into customised reports showing conception patterns, pregnancy rates by weight group, expected calving distribution and other useful herd-level information.

AI is also beginning to be incorporated into ultrasound equipment to help interpret images and estimate gestational age. It raises an important question for our profession.

If our main value is simply telling a producer whether a cow is pregnant, or even how far pregnant she is, that information is likely to become progressively easier for technology and lay operators to provide.

Our value therefore probably needs to sit increasingly in what we do with the information.

Why did one mob achieve 72% pregnant and another 88%? Why are the light heifers empty? Why has conception shifted later? Is the problem nutrition, bull power, disease or management? What does it cost the business, and what should change next year?

Perhaps the cattle vet of the future becomes increasingly a veterinarian, data interpreter and herd consultant, while technology and technicians take care of more of the repetitive recording and reporting.

And where does it eventually stop? Electronic collars can already detect behavioural changes associated with oestrus. Will future systems combine activity, rumination, temperature and other data closely enough to estimate conception in real time?

Once the cattle, water points, fences and machinery are all connected to the internet, perhaps cattle theft will change as well. Instead of stealing 600 cows with horses, someone on the other side of the world may simply hack the virtual fence and demand three Bitcoin to give them back.

That sounds ridiculous.

Then again, in March I was still making fun of someone for carrying headphones on his belt.

The important thing is that our profession keeps moving with the technology. The opportunity is not necessarily to compete with it, but to use it to remove repetitive work, generate better information and provide producers with insights that genuinely improve herd performance and profitability.

Seasonal conditions remain highly variable across NSW as we move into spring. Winter rainfall has improved conditions across parts of southern, central and western NSW, while northern and northeastern NSW continue to experience drier conditions. The warmer winter has generally reduced cold stress in livestock, although spring rainfall will be important for pasture growth and replenishment of feed and water supplies.

Cattle markets remain positive, with generally strong bull sales reported across NSW and continued demand for quality genetics.

Locally in the Northern Tablelands the dry continues to have a significant effect on cattle production in our area, with reduced stock numbers and ongoing reliance on supplementary feeding.

The relatively warm winter has been beneficial for lighter-condition cattle, and where nutrition has been adequately managed cattle have performed well. Producers are now looking for spring to improve condition and rebuild feed reserves.

Bull testing has now moved from predominantly pre-sale testing into pre-use testing as we prepare for the coming joining period. Reduced cow numbers have meant many of our producers have a bull surplus this year. Commercial bull herds are a mixed picture, with some bulls having been overlooked until relatively recently and spending much of winter under nutritional pressure. Consequently, bull condition has been variable, with nutrition and management in the lead-up to joining important considerations alongside the standard assessment of breeding soundness.

Consultation on Modernising the veterinary practice regulatory framework in New South Wales closed in July, with 236 submissions received with 64% being from Veterinarians. The NSW Government has now released a summary of the submissions, with the feedback to inform the next stage of the proposed reforms and preparation of legislation for introduction to the NSW Parliament later in 2026.

Here’s hoping for a good spring flush and some much-needed rain as we move into the joining period.

There is certainly plenty to talk about across Victoria’s farming districts as Spring gets underway. As growers and livestock producers alike keep a close eye on conditions we seem poised in the edge of a potentially very good season. Emerging from the cold depths of a wetter than average winter, the days are lengthening, temperatures are rising and paddocks are drying out quickly. Farmers can be heard quickly changing their tune and suddenly calls for more rain echo across the state.

The headaches of the wet weather seem to be behind us as mastitis rates and lame cow numbers have dropped considerably in recent weeks resulting in cattle in the South West enter mid lactation in good health and condition. Farmer turn their attention locking up pastures, spreading fertiliser and crossing their fingers and toes for another decent downpour of rain to keep pastures growing and help build hay and silage reserves.

After what was an uncertain start to the sowing and cropping season with high diesel prices and concerns over fertiliser supply, crops across much of the state are now looking a picture of health. Hopes are high for a bumper harvest as the pressure to recover those upfront costs mounts and concerns over worker availability remains high. At the clinic this is the time our focus shifts to pregnancy testing for dairy clients, with early results showing strong results, and bull testing for beef producers in preparation for upcoming joining.

For all the challenges, there is plenty of resilience across Victoria and farmers have plenty to be encouraged about as the season moves forward.

The good times keep rolling on in SA this Winter, with near perfect conditions of consistent rainfall without waterlogging or inundation combined with some warmth to kickstart pasture growth. Stock are in good condition with plenty of feed coming up. The Northern areas of the State have also continued to have good rains, with conditions still green, I recently saw some that had come down from the Pastoral zone and they were mud fat.

Good conditions have thrown up the old favourite diseases, grass tetany being a problem for some. Mid winter also saw some cases of ill thrift which were attributed to trace element deficiencies and ostertagia as well as some Phalaris toxicity. The latter being particularly frustrating as there is little to be done once the problem manifests.

Early heifer preg testing has begun for the Autumn herds in our area. Results have generally been good, understandable given the good seasonal conditions. There are reports of poorer AI program results, with people probably forgetting that heifers born in the drought year of 2025 were still likely to be behind the eight ball for body weight at joining.

H5 Avian influenza has hit the state and our coastal region. This has added a bit of extra work and consideration in the local community for managing birds but also the interaction with pets and potentially livestock. Spread into marine mammals of seals and dolpins have been proven in our local area. It will have to be something on our radar now when dealing with sick animals, especially those that have close contact with our local wetland and coastal birds.

Another quarter down — here’s what’s been happening on our side of the Nullarbor.

Spring has arrived with a mixed bag across the west. After a promising start to the season, southern WA is drying out quickly, with growers and producers in the wheatbelt reporting some of the driest conditions in years – some properties sitting on as little as a third of their average annual rainfall with three-quarters of the year already gone. Pastures are struggling in these pockets and some herds are already being hand fed well ahead of the usual autumn break. Pregnancy rates are reflective of seasonal and cow conditions in these areas. It’s a sharp reversal from the story further north, where the Kimberley and northern Pilbara have enjoyed above-average rainfall since the start of the year, giving northern producers a much stronger platform heading into their dry season. The Bureau’s outlook for the southern rangelands and south-west continues to lean towards below-median rainfall and above-average temperatures through spring, so it’s worth keeping a close eye on body condition and help clients with feed budgets as you do your rounds over the coming months.

On the input side, fuel security remains firmly on the agenda. The WA Government has just renewed its fuel emergency powers for a further six months (until March 2027) with state-owned diesel stockpiles now sitting at 20 million litres held across regional hubs including Kalgoorlie, Esperance, and Geraldton. These remain in place to support agriculture, transport and remote communities if things tighten up again. Diesel is currently sitting around $2.65/litre, almost $1 higher than this time last year. Although this does seem “cheap” compared to $3.20/litre that is peaked at earlier in the year! Many mobile businesses, including vet practices, have implemented fuel surcharges on their travel to help cover costs – fortunately livestock prices are helping ease rising costs to producers. One positive is that we might see livestock sneaking back into cropping areas if there isn’t enough fuel to go around.

Little news to report on the Veterinary Practice Act front this quarter – the 2025 amendment regulations continue to bed in, and the cattle spaying technician pathway introduced earlier this year is now fully up and running. As always, keep an eye on DPIRD’s YourSay page for any further consultation or refinement as the legislation continues to settle.

Nationally, the cattle market has had a remarkable run, with the EYCI reaching parity with the 90CL export beef indicator in early September – around 995c/kg – the first time the two have met in three and a half years, driven by historically tight slaughter numbers and strong restocker demand off the back of a good winter across the southern and eastern states. Closer to home, the story has been a little different this spring: with the drier finish in the southern half of the state, our own market has been tracking at more of a discount than we’ve seen in recent years (with the WYCI currently sitting at 953.19c/kg) – a good reminder of how quickly the west/east relativity can flip depending on the season and why a WA specific indicator has been useful.

On the research and extension front, the SmartBeef project (supported by MLA and WALRC) is now well underway, running peer-support groups for southern WA beef producers out of host farms at Keysbrook, Donnybrook, Pemberton and Albany, through to the end of the year. Worth flagging to clients who might be after some structured support on productivity, profitability and peer to peer learning, given the season we’re having.

On the policy front, the live sheep export phase-out remains locked in for 1 May 2028, and the tightening feed situation in parts of the wheatbelt has already brought fresh conversations about live export as a pressure valve for producers in dry years. Live cattle exports remain unaffected for now, but as always we’ll keep watching for any signs of that scrutiny extending north.

WA members – if there is anything you’d like me to include in future state reports, feel free to send through your thoughts jess.shilling@bovitech.com.au

That’s all from the west for now, catch you next quarter!