A MULTI-FACETED livestock enterprise which is run with attention to detail has worked well for many years for the Coldham family, “Ben Vale”, Emmaville.
Bob and Jan Coldham, together with their son Geoff, run a mixed farming operation on the 1530-hectare property, including prime lambs, Angus cattle, Merino sheep and cropping.
Bob moved to the Emmaville district from Victoria with his brother Chas in 1965 when they purchased “Wycliffe” in partnership, and then added the neighbouring “Ben Vale” in 1973.
The partnership was dissolved in 1978, with Bob taking on “Ben Vale” while Chas retained “Wycliffe”.
Historically the Coldhams had run first-cross ewes and Merino wethers on “Ben Vale”, but in the early 1990s Merino ewes and cattle were added to the mix.
About five years ago the family stopped running Merino wethers, and this lead to an increase in the number of cattle run by the family.
Today the Coldhams have close to 2000 first-cross ewes, 600 Merino ewes and about 300 Angus breeders on “Ben Vale”.
The family has a particular focus on animal health, with sheep being regularly rotated through paddocks and regular fecal egg counts (FECs) being taken to stay on top of internal parasites, particularly barber’s pole worm, which can be a big problem in sheep in the New England’s wet summers.
This strong attention to animal health has allowed the Coldhams to become accredited under the Cattle-
care and Flockcare quality assurance programs.
In the prime lamb enterprise, first-cross ewes are sourced from western NSW as ewe lambs, and are joined to Poll Dorset rams from Andrew Say’s Yasloc stud at Glen Innes.
The Coldhams have been buying rams from Yasloc for more than 30 years, originally from Andrew’s father Colin Say.
Ewes are scanned after joining each year to identify twin bearing ewes, which are run on a higher plane of nutrition than those carrying singles.
Lambing begins at the start of Sept-
ember for a six week period, although the great majority of lambs are born in the first four weeks, with last year’s lambing rate totalling 138pc.
When lambs are sold is determined by the season, and if possible some are sold as suckers prior to weaning, which usually happens in December.
Shearing and crutching of lambs takes place in January.
The number shorn depends on the season, with the heavier lambs closer to sale being crutched and the lighter lambs shorn.
Prime lambs are marketed over the hooks, and while prices are obtained from a number of different buyers, in recent years most have sold to Coun-
try Fresh at Tamworth.
The weight of the lambs at sale depends on the season – if it is good and plenty of feed is available the Coldhams will hold onto them for longer and grow them out to export weights.
In the Merino enterprise, all ewes are joined to Merino rams, with the flock having been based on Cress-
brook bloodlines since the initial purchase of Merino ewes in 1993.
The flock’s average fibre diameter is about 18-micron and wethers which were entered in the recent Glen Innes wether trial performed well, placing among the top teams.
Merino wether lambs are sold as woolgrowers each year, which in recent years has seen them bought by a repeat buyer from southern Queens-
land.
The Coldhams also have a strong focus on sustainable farming practices on “Ben Vale”, with no-till farming being practiced, and more than 20,000 native trees having been planted in windbreaks in the past 15 years.
In 2005 the family started installing a reticulated water system, which pumps water 4.5 kilometres from the Severn River to a 90,000 litre tank on one of the highest points on the prop-
erty.
The water is then gravity-fed through about 20 kilometres of polythene pipe to nearly 40 troughs, with more troughs still to be installed.
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