Firstly, we would like to thank everybody who attended our initial Forest Hills Brangus Sale last year, we were truly overwhelmed and humbled by the wonderful support that we were generously given for our first sale and we are very grateful and appreciative for a successful sale. It was a very special, rewarding and pleasing day for us and it certainly made all the hard work and sacrifices worthwhile.
Well, the last twelve months has definitely been a whirlwind of challenges for us with too many long, hot and exhausting days, as we entered our toughest season that we’ve ever experienced here on Forest Hills, shortly after our sale. One, which we hope we never have to endure again, although this season is not shaping up to be much better at the moment but hopefully some early rain comes through soon to make it a little better for us all.
On a more positive note, it was endearing to see our Brangus cattle survive through such harsh and dry conditions with progeny at foot which has truly been maternal excellence. The adaptability that we have witnessed in our Brangus cattle cannot be overstated and certainly continue to amaze us and consistently exceed our expectations. They can unquestionably survive and thrive in any environment with minimal maintenance.
Michael has been incredibly busy this year with his Cattle Buying & Consulting Business (Silvester
Livestock Services Pty Ltd), buying more cattle than ever before. With our incredible Australian Beef Industry breaking many records throughout the year and constant increased cattle yarding’s and prices to match, it certainly portrays exciting times in the cattle industry at present. Another pleasing part of Michael’s business has been readily witnessing Brangus animals throughout various selling complexes and regions that are highly marketable and preferred, often commanding and setting premium markets and prices due to their adaptability, consistency and the predictability of black cattle. This demand has been a clear indication that black cattle have proven themselves to be a desired, profitable and valued breed and clearly very marketable in many areas throughout Australia.
No doubt, we have all seen or experienced some record prices for cattle this year and to some degree, a future of very unknown and unchartered territory relating to our cattle prices. Fortunately, we have been able to capitalise on some of these increased cattle prices this year with our commercial operation, which was a great reward after the prolonged drought and relentless costs and workload associated with it.
Regrettably, Kel has had some health struggles throughout this past year, yet she continues on with her positive attitude and is slowly getting through all the challenges and is adoring returning to work outside again, especially with her cattle. Undesirably, she was restricted to light-duties which is not a familiar term or habit for her and one she struggled greatly with. Although she focused on teaching Heidi and designing multiple new projects and improvements for Forest Hills which, we’re looking forward to completing over the next twelve months. During this time, she also resigned from the Board of the Australian Brangus Cattle Association as Vice President and Zone 1 Director, after she was honoured to have served for two years until her recent resignation in October last year, to focus on her health.
Personally, this year we continue to teach and involve our children about the responsibilities that come with raising cattle and the requirements and demands of living and operating our property, especially through a difficult season. We are extremely proud of the young people they are becoming, particularly the workload that they diligently help us with and we look forward to sharing our wonderful life journey with them and watching them continue to grow.
Jayden (13 years) returned to Boarding School at Rocky Grammar School to commence year 8, upon which he returned home shortly after due to our Worldwide Covid-19 Pandemic. Secretly, we all thoroughly enjoyed our family time together again and certainly appreciated the extra help of a very helpful young man around here. We were able to complete multiple new fencing projects and steel coolers, all finished with troughs and watering systems. Mustering is getting much easier with all the amazing fencing, laneways and gates that we don’t have to carry or drag anymore, we wish he was able to be home all the time!
Heidi (11 years) continued with Distance Education from home, year 6 and unfortunately this is her last year at home before heading off to Boarding at Rocky Grammar School next year also. So, we are definitely trying to make the most of our precious remaining time at home with Heidi, as it all goes too quickly. She’s such a character and loves her netball, touch football and still has a severe love and passion for all animals. She’s currently trying to make plans on how she can wrangle her dog, horse, budgies and cattle into school with her next year! She continues to be a great helper and a fantastic little ringer around here, with no task that is too difficult for her.
Naturally, we continue to complete various new improvements to Forest Hills with more paddocks being cleared and stick-raked, more new fencing and laneways implemented, extra articulated watering systems completed with solar pumps and many more plans for the coming months ahead.
Moving forward with our cattle, we plan to continue to maintain our commercial operation and
hopefully continue to increase our brangus stud at Forest Hills. We are very committed and focused on breeding and raising brangus cattle that will be successful in many environments from, stud and commercial paddocks, feedlots, saleyards through to carcase competitions, the showring and eventually on many dining plates around the world. We aspire to demonstrate, complement and enhance the many successful traits of our Brangus Breed. Particularly concentrating on fertility, adaptability, femininity and longevity of our females.
We have devoted a lot of time and energy into producing strong and adaptable Brangus cattle to date and now we are beginning to enjoy watching our seedstock come through with a commendable amount of genetic breeding consisting of great bone, length, depth and masculinity yet still maintaining softness in our cattle. We are constantly looking to expand the geographical presence of Brangus cattle across the country to market our great breed. Therefore, we are very confident that our Brangus Bulls will meet the genetic needs and requirements of many commercial or stud breeders, regardless of their future climate and environmental conditions.
So once again, we would like to sincerely welcome you to our sale, and we hope that you can make
confident selections with our Forest Hills Brangus Bulls. We are pleased to showcase our powerful genetics which are backed by some great pedigrees, performance data and the most current DNA technology, which presents buyers with greater information and confidence in their overall breeding values.
We have been very fortunate to have so many wonderful and positive influences in our lives and we would like to thank our Family, Friends and extended Brangus Family who continue to support us and our business endeavours. We would also like to acknowledge and express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the many businesses that have supported us throughout the year.
Police Remembrance Day this year, which is a special day for Kel, who served fourteen years as a sworn officer for the Queensland Police Service. Sadly, during this time, she lost some good colleagues and friends; men and women who faithfully served the QPS and are now truly missed. National Police Remembrance Day not only honours those who have lost their lives in the line of duty but also recognises the commitment, dedication and bravery of all past, present and future police officers. It also acknowledges their families, partners, friends and colleagues, who have also sacrificed and lost so much when their loved ones never returned home from work.
Lastly, thank you for your interest and for taking the time to review our annual Forest Hills Brangus Bull Sale catalogue and cattle. We are very proud and passionate about our cattle, property, livestock industry and we genuinely appreciate your support and effort in attending our sale and we look forward to catching up after the sale over lunch and drinks. If we can provide any additional information regarding sale lots or be of any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us or stay connected www.foresthillsbrangus.com.au
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