The Angus Australia Foundation is pleased to announce the awarding of three scholarships to attend Beef Australia to Angus Australia members Georgia Laurie, Damien Thomson and Jock McGregor.
Beef Australia is held every three years in Rockhampton, Queensland and is a world class event that showcases more than 4,000 cattle along with hosting numerous seminars, property tours and conferences. Beef Australia will take place May 2nd to 8th.
Miss Laurie grew up on his family farm at Knowla Angus, Moppy, New South Wales and has a history with the breed dating back to her youth, having competed in her first Angus Youth Roundup at the age of eight. Since her first, Miss Laurie has competed in 10 Roundups, as well as assisting in several as a member of the organising committee.
Miss Laurie and her brother Jack started their own stud JRGV Angus in 2016, where they became more heavily involved in breeding and genetic selection of their herd, actively sourcing outcross genetics, purchasing a part share in a heifer located in Canada along with purchasing females they believe will be industry leaders.
Miss Laurie is currently studying a Bachelor of Rural Science at the University of New England and when studies permit is employed by Knowla Livestock, involved with day-to-day farm management along with more technical operations such as AI programs and genetic selection.
Miss Laurie looks forward to attending Beef Australia for the various learning experiences available through the event.
“The agricultural industry is becoming a highly technical and specialised field where producers must be innovative and abreast with the latest technologies to compete. Animal nutrition is an area that is of high interest to me, and I aspire on my career taking me there. I want to be able to help producers obtain higher fertility rates in their females by ensuring that they are in optimal condition and enhance the success rates of reproductive technologies such as embryo transfers and Artificial insemination through the use of supplements.
“The Beef Expo provides opportunities for entrepreneurs to display and market new and innovative technologies to producers. I believe that producers must continually adapt their methodologies to move with market trends, and I would hope to gain a better understanding on technologies that can be integrated into our programs.”
Damien Thomson, Berremangra, NSW, has a background in the agricultural industry through his family’s commercial and seedstock Angus operations, where he is involved within the management of the herds. Mr Thomson has studied a Bachelor of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
Mr Thomson has been involved with the Angus Youth program for a number of years, through which he has been awarded the ARCBA Young Breed Leaders Workshop Scholarships and selected for the 2020 GenAngus Future Leaders Program.
Mr Thomas looks forward to the various networks and opportunities afforded during Beef Australia, which he believes will be an excellent steppingstone in his career.
“I am particularly interested in the genetics and breeding side of Angus cattle. I am heavily involved in the breeding and performance data management for my family stud, Shacorrahdalu Angus, and see a long-term future in this area.”
“I am also interested and looking to build my knowledge around eating quality of meat, how it is graded and how we can breed better eating beef. I also believe carbon neutrality is an important consideration for the future. I would like to learn more about how smaller scale farmers can viably reduce their net emissions and help achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.”
Jock McGregor comes from a mixed livestock and cropping property near Young, NSW where he was involved in the business operations of his family’s enterprise. After acquiring an interest in the breed, Mr McGregor purchased a small herd of Angus cattle in 2016. Since 2016, he has actively explored options of marketing the cattle through selling cattle privately and through the sale yards.
Mr McGregor currently works for Rabobank in the Major Agri Clients team, which has exposed him to many different agricultural enterprises of which livestock and Angus cattle in particular have proved to be a key business function of many clients.
Mr McGregor looks to further his personal development and his understanding of the breeding and nutrition aspect of growing and marketing Angus cattle to benefit his self-replacing Angus herd and looks forward to a number of development opportunities available at Beef.
“I want to attend the Beef Australia as it will give me a great opportunity to increase my knowledge of the beef industry and the Angus breed in particular. The abundance of learning opportunities available throughout the week are all very exciting events that I would greatly benefit from.
“Being quite young and new to the beef industry I am eager to learn and expose myself to many knowledgeable and expert people that will be on show at the Beef Australia. Having exposure to different agricultural production systems will allow me to interpret and analyse different systems of which I will be able to then apply to my own personal farming enterprise and allow me to give insight to customers in my daily work.
“I am eager to meet new people within the industry and hopefully gain some connections at the event that I will be able to stay in touch with throughout my career.”
