Herefords Australia National Youth Expo: Young cattle breeders find their feet at Parkes

School-age kids willingly working at 6am seems unlikely yet it’s exactly what happened at one Hereford event over the weekend.

A commitment to young cattle enthusiasts has seen one breeder take cattle on a massive road trip.

Richard Ogilvie from Te-Angie Poll Herefords at Wongwibinda, on the New England tablelands in northern NSW, trucked 24 heifers to Dalby on Queensland’s Western Downs for a youth show.

He returned home for just one day before he reloaded the heifers and took them south to Parkes in NSW’s Central West for the Herefords Australia national youth show over the weekend.

Richard Ogilvie from Te-Angie Herefords at Wongwibinda NSW brought 24 heifers to the Herefords Australia National Youth Expo at Parkes, NSW.

For Mr Ogilvie, it is about providing opportunities “for kids who wouldn’t get a go if they weren’t here”.

“I came from a family of seven growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, and we didn’t have the opportunities made that I can make available and it is a wonderful way to give a kid a chance,” he said.

Mr Ogilvie said the heifers had been broken in earlier in the year by a team of young locals from Armidale NSW.

“We usually break in up to 15, and I was asked to break in a few more to bring to Parkes, so we agreed to do it,” Mr Ogilvie said.

Watching the action at the Herefords Australia National Youth Expo at Parkes in NSW.

He said he was a supporter of showing to provide potential buyers with phenotype as well as figures.

“Structure is really important in cattle and you need structure, type and docility along with performance, and these things are judged in the show ring,” Mr Ogilvie said.

“You can think you have wonderful cattle with wonderful figures but no one wants to look at them because they don’t reach their expectations as far as phenotype.”

Richard Ogilvie, from Te-Angie Herefords at Wongwibinda NSW, with participant Oscar Feuerherdt from Gerogery at the Hereford Youth Show at Parkes. Oscar won the best novice competitor.

Mr Ogilvie, who concedes he is a “fanatical Hereford breeder”, said those who attended youth shows achieved things that helped them in their lives.

“It’s a whole heap of things like discipline as they have to be here at 6am to get the cattle ready,” he said.

“They have to work as a team, they have to do public speaking in the arena and they learn organisation as they need to get cattle out of beds and get those beds cleaned and the cattle are back in those beds.

“I let them do this themselves so they learn how to work as a team and they were getting all 24 heifers out and back in their beds and fed and watered in less than an hour which is pretty good.”

It is also about bridging the gap between city and country, with the Te-Angie team including a Sydney student who wants to become an agriculture teacher.

Deep down, Mr Ogilvie hopes some of his charges might want to become Hereford breeders themselves, yet that’s not the main goal.

“We have kids who come to me with no skills with cattle and after working with Te-Angie, can fully fit out an animal and show them themselves, and that’s a great satisfaction for me too,” he said.