Succession planning is one of the biggest challenges facing any farming family. Nikki Mahony (nee Joyce) and her three siblings grew up on Gyranda, a 9,500-hectare cattle property in central Queensland and a foundation stud for the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle in Australia.
Nikki says it was a wonderful life working stock, learning about the environment and indigenous ways. But her parents Burnett and Louise, made it clear not all the children could come back to Gyranda. Instead, they encouraged the children to study and experience life away from the farm before deciding what they wanted to do with their lives.
Encouraged by Nikki and her husband Peter, the Joyce family started succession planning early.
It took 15 years of facilitated meetings, long discussions and plenty of tough conversations to develop a plan that all the family accepted.
Nikki recalls fondly one of her sisters thanking her for pushing the issue allowing their father’s last days to be a time to reflect and celebrate his life rather than worry about the future.
Month: December 2021
Jenny Underwood and No Name the amazing cow
You’ve heard the song Horse with No Name, well today we meet Queensland cattle producer Jenny Underwood who tells the story of the cow with no Name and a calf called Horse. Jenny brightened the lives of farmers during drought with #lifeinasong and #onedaycloser. The season is better in 2020 and No name has just dropped her 15th calf.
No Name is a wonderful cow who refuses to stop producing calves. Every time I visit the wonderful Jenny Underwood at Pine Hills near Roma we head out into the paddock to see if we can catch up with the old girl.
She must be approaching 20 years of age and her progeny continue to add quality to the Droughmaster breed. Many of the top stud bulls at Eversleigh have sired her calves. The male calves are always called ‘horse’, from the song ‘Horse with No Name’.
The picture in the podcast was taken when Jenny and her husband Roger lived further north and the region was in one of the worst droughts on record. But good old No Name, otherwise known as the Dolly Parton of the ‘bovine world’ still produced plenty of milk and her calf did well.
Award winner: Annabel Tully beating breast cancer
Wow, I am excited; my article in the Graziher magazine featuring Annabel Tully, a Western Queensland farmer, artist and breast cancer survivor, was highly commended in the 2021 Rural Press Club Awards.
Imagine this: you are 38 weeks pregnant, doctors tell you the lump you just found in your breast is cancerous. Your husband is at home, 1000 km away, looking after your 18-month-old toddler. This scenario is the situation that faced Annabel and Stephen Tully. Two days after diagnosis, your baby is born, and a couple of days later, you start the long journey for breast cancer treatment.
Annabel and her husband Stephen live on Bunginderry, an 80,000ha sheep, cattle and goat property near Quilpie. Annabel has always painted, and her art reflects the harshness and the beauty of the channel country in western Queensland.
The Tully family has grown to five children, and Annabel has survived a second bout of breath cancer.
For Annabel Tully, resilience is about adapting to the situation, whether it’s drought, a drop in livestock prices or breast cancer.
Annabel’s story is as inspirational as her art and her new enterprise Tully Textiles.
