Patience pays off for travel-hungry breeder

After the pandemic interfered with her initial travel plans, Matthew George Young Stockman Award recipient Lilli Stewart “struck gold” the second time around.

Lilli Stewart with Angus cattle at Dalebanks Ranch in the southern Flint Hills of Kansas.

A second attempt at a six-month North American study tour has been “incredible” for Lilli Stewart, a young cattle breeder from South West Victoria.

After receiving the Ballarat Foundation’s Matthew George Young Stockman Award in 2019, an award which provides an opportunity for young breeders to undertake an overseas study tour of beef cattle breeding programs, Lilli left her Birregurra home and took off to Canada.

But after one month her trip was cut short by the pandemic. While it wasn’t ideal, she made the most of her situation, taking up a job at Te Mania Angus for 19 months.

“It was such a blessing for me because I just did cow stuff all day every day, and absolutely loved it,” Lilli said.

Her time at Te Mania, followed by a stint in WA’s Pilbara as a station hand, taught her valuable skills that enhanced her experience when she decided to return to North America in 2023, for a second attempt at the study tour.

Lilli Stewart stayed with 16 different families across her study tour, including Brent Thiel at Isabel, South Dakota.

Over six months, Lilli stayed with 16 different families across the United States and Canada. From attending the National Angus Youth Show, studying feeder cattle, staying on ranches and connecting with networks across the industry, Lilli said the development she experienced was “priceless”.

“It was amazing, the places I ended up in. Just going week by week, seeing where the opportunities took me … it was just incredible,” she said.

Lilli is currently on another travel year, and is hoping to study agribusiness at Marcus Oldham College next year, but will first take up a three-month opportunity with a family in the sand hills in Nebraska, who run 3000 Angus stud cows and sell about 1200 bulls a year.

“I really struck gold with them … lots of people did open their doors (for me), but I really put myself out there to get these connections and for them to open their arms to me,” she said.

Applications for the Matthew George Young Stockman Award for 2024 are now open and close on July 5.