AS THEY wait for news on a pending visa extension, Currabubula mixed-farmers Brian and Janet Filby (citizens of the UK) were left with no choice but to disperse their Angus/Simmental herd at the Tamworth store cattle sale last Friday.
Since moving to Australia seven years ago to support their son James and his Australian wife Veronica with their young family, including a son with cerebral palsy, Mr Filby had made the cattle "his project", while sons James and Tom ran the cropping enterprise on the family's Currabubula property, Grovelands.
But with the clock ticking on getting a visa extension and their boys flat out with a fantastic crop, Mr Filby made the tough decision that the cattle had to go.
The herd dispersal was eagerly snapped up by restockers in search of quality cattle and pushed one line of cows with calves to a new Tamworth saleyards record.
Sold by Nutrien Livestock the Filby family's lead pen of Angus/Simmental cows with May/June drop calves topped the sale at $3480 a unit. Their cows with August/September drop calves made $3000.
Nutrien Livestock agent Scott Simshauser said the Filbys had done a magnificent job and thanked them for their support.
With another 80 heifers at home waiting to calve, and potentially be sold during the coming weeks, Mr Filby said they were just waiting to get an answer on their future
"We may get an extension but, at this stage, we have to leave by October 14," he said.
"This is the best country in the world - we want to stay.
"But if we do have to leave, then get to come back, I'll be buying these calves back again."
- More results from the Tamworth store cattle sale in The Land print issue on Thursday.
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