A stake in their future
284A5886
MARCH 2017 | Joanne Eisemann
THE LAST weekend in February saw the showgrounds in Deloraine hosting the first Tasmanian Junior Beef Expo. 56 young people between the ages of 8 and 25 attended for the 3 day extravaganza of everything beef.
The event was put on by the newly formed Tasmanian Junior Beef Expo Association who got together in May last year “It’s been a big effort to do everything we needed to do to put this event on,” explains president Rebecca Woodiwiss. Rebecca leads the 15 strong organising team who, mostly from the north/ northwest of Tasmania, are a mix of junior cattle handlers and more experienced cattle people wanting to ensure the quality and longevity of cattle handling and showing in Tasmania.
“They have expo’s like this all over the mainland, we wanted to provide one for kids in Tasmania,” shares Rebecca and adds “We chose the Deloraine Showgrounds as a venue, because it has all the facilities we need and is fairly central.”
Some partakers brought their own animals, others were provided with a ballot heifer organised by the committee. Amongst the participants were three young people who travelled from South Australia to attend the event.
The three-day event allowed organisers to present a full program of workshops, teaching expo attendees about both commercial and stud beef cattle industries.
“We set out to educate the participants at the expo on animal husbandry skills, in particular, cattle handling, whilst also giving them some background on artificial breeding methods used, how to assess cattle for structure, muscle and fertility,” said Rebecca of the Expo’s program.
Workshops were offered at three different skill levels, and delivered by leading professionals in the beef industry.
Skills learnt were then showcased through a Junior Handlers and Junior Judging competition.
Winner of the overall herdsperson award, 10 year old Jordan Hingston, took home the wonderful prize of a Red Angus Heifer donated by Pine Park Red Angus Stud.
Photo | Mike Moores
