Welcome to Julie Nixon of Chinchilla QLD. Julie runs Weetalabah Cattle Services and both my father and I are big fans of her Hereford Bulls. Knowing how busy Julie’s day is she was an easy pick for the inspirational women series that I’ve been running over the last two months. Welcome Julie
“It certainly is an honour to be asked to write on Nicoles blog. Who knew that a book I was given for Christmas last year was actually written by a person that I delivered bulls to in March!! As the old saying goes its a small world afterall
My story is I think, not so much inspirational as it is normal. With most small farms in Australia one or both partners have to work off farm, ours is no different except that my husband works off farm and I work the farm. We both come from rural properties, my husband is from Dulacca in QLD and I was raised on a property near Coolah, NSW. I spent 7 years at a girls boarding school in Sydney, surrounded by buildings and concrete and knew that I could not live there, so I attended an Ag college and studied Farm Management. (1 of only 3 girls in my year). After which I worked on farms in Australia, NZ, USA and Canada and started a Hereford and Gelbvieh Stud which operated from the family property at Coolah.
Aderian & I met at the Ekka (Brisbane Royal Show) when I was showing my cattle and he was stewarding in the Hereford ring at the show. Along with our 2 children Aleacea born in 2000 and Lyall born in 2002, we now own (well the bank does) a 1280 ac property. In 2005 we moved to a property NE of Chinchilla, due to Aderian changing jobs, when we bought a 640ac block and in 2009 bought another 640ac adjoining the first block on a corner, where we run around 100 Hereford and Gelbvieh stud cows.
A typical day for me, as like most people is full of hard work and long hours but I could not think of anywhere else I would rather be, to bring up children and to live. I am surrounded by absentee neighbours, from my house you cannot see a neighbour but I am not isolated. Only 30 km from town, school, Maccas and Woollies!! The Neighbours we do have close (5km) are fantastic and there is nothing we all would not do to help each other out, which is typical of any rural community.
The day starts with my husband going to work before 6am and as soon as the sun breaks I go and feed the show and sale bulls, check heifers close to calving then Ill be back inside in time to get the kids ready for school, we have to meet the bus 2km away at 7.45am.
Once the kids are gone, I then go about my day as planned, but hey nothing ever goes according to plan on a farm! Running a stud business is full time; cows must be checked daily for calf birth records, bulls have to be single mated and kept away from heifers and joined only at certain times of the year. The bulls for show and sale are broken in and fed twice daily for optimum growth.
Grand Champion Gelbvieh Bull 2013
I also run a small fitting service, where I prepare other peoples cattle for show and sale along with our own. Due to the gas and coal industries taking our workforce it is extremely hard, if not impossible to get help on the farm. My best employees are a donkey and a dog! The donkey helps me break in all my bulls, he is incredible to watch, he just keeps pulling 1000kg bulls around and never gives up and doesnt ever say no. My dog is my mate and goes where ever I go and helps out occasionally, mainly when not needed.We plan our mustering and sorting out when my husband has days off or on weekends when the kids can help. Meanwhile the farm and house still have to function. It is nothing for me to fix a broken pipe or fence, truck our cattle to market or drive a tractor. I am the office worker, advertising executive and secretary for the farm.
Due to only having a small number of bulls to sell each year (around 20) we take our bulls to 4 multi vendor sales throughout Eastern Australia each year to sell into different regions and markets. The furthest is The Hereford National Sale in Wodonga, Vic a 1400 km trip, Glen Innes Hereford sale in NSW, which is 400km, Ag show sale in Toowoomba and the QLD Gelbvieh sale, both 2 hours away.
I am also President of the local Bus committee, Vice president for the Australian Gelbvieh Assoc, Secretary for The QLD Branch of the Australian Gelbvieh assoc, Vice President for Herefords QLD, Vice president for the Glen Innes Hereford sale and organiser for The QLD All breeds junior show, all of which take a considerable amount of time.
Grand Champion Hereford Bull 2012
Isolation is no barrier to success, you just have to work harder at it, but with technology these days nothing is impossible, albeit a bit slower than our city counterparts.”
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