Downloaded from the Central Tablelands LLS website is the 2016 activity report that outlines many of the achievements of the organisation, along with some topical stories and photos.

 A page of details of local achievements during 2015 may be of real interest as it lists:

ELDERS’ Mark Newnham retired from the agency game at the end of last week’s Hay special store sheep sale.

After 30 years at Elders Hay, he stepped down quietly and a few words from fellow agent Steve Grantham were important.

“You’ve shown plenty of passion and at the end of the day you were only ever interested in looking after your clients,” Steve said.  A nice tribute after many years in the trade.

QUOTE of the week: Dreaming is what we do when we go to sleep. Achieving is what we do when we go to work.

MELBOURNE Cup day usually brings us the first really hot weather for summer, ripening cereal crops and mature grass seeds that can cause lots of skin and eye problems in young animals.

Of particular concern this year are sheep and lambs that are carrying an inch or more of wool as they are grazing in grasses that are shoulder high to young sheep.

Some livestock managers are already spray topping dense swards of barley grass and many areas will be mowed to give stock a place to be away from some of the problem.

In a season as good as this one it will pay us all to look after animals that can produce very viable returns.

OUR five-year-old grandson saw three young bulls in a paddock.

“They’re not cattle, pop,” he said, “they’re Angus.”

I wonder where the wool men have gone.

THE wool market was slightly cheaper this week with the northern market indicator finishing on 1375c/kg, down 3c/kg.

The merino wools were a bit inconsistent with the 16 and 17 microns gaining around 5c/kg while the 18 and 19 microns lost around the same.

The 20 and 21 microns were virtually unchanged and the XBs lost around 15c/kg.

Next week will see the biggest offering of the season so far with 49,359 bales on offer. This will test the strength of the market.

THIS marriage announcement from The Times may be true: June 3, 1987 – Lord Blunt, 75, married the Lady Prue Vintor-Fleck, 29. The groom’s gift to the bride was an antique family pendant.

An army captain wrote long letters from Lebanon to his middle-aged wife in Cotswold. “There’s a shortage of books here dear one, but no shortage of lovely girls – Lebanese, Druse, Palestinians and many others.  I could fill my lonely hours playing an instrument if I had one.” A harmonica soon arrived by express mail.  A year later his wife met him at Heathrow airport and he rushed to embrace her. She baulked and said: “Before there’s too much passion, let’s hear how well you can play your harmonica.”