RETIRED Angus breeder Lew Smit (OAM) is set to be sent off in style this month with a testimonial dinner in Bunbury.
Lew, one of the best known and respected cattle people in Australia, retired from stud breeding earlier this year with the sale of the Koojan Hills Angus herd and prefix to the Metcalfe family, Manypeaks.
The dinner, which is being organised by the WA Angus Committee, will recognise Lew's massive contribution over many years to the cattle industry in Australia.
It will be held on Thursday, July 28, at the Sanctuary Golf Resort in Bunbury, from 6.15pm. Recently elected Angus Society of Australia president Libby Creek will be attending the dinner.
Ms Creek was declared the first female president of the society at a meeting of its directors in May.
Hailing from Avenue Range in South Australia, Ms Creek has extensive experience within both the seedstock and commercial beef industry and has been a member of the South Australian Angus State Committee for 20 years.
Ms Creek and husband Bruce managed the well-known Angus stud, The Basin for 18 years.
After The Basin's dispersal, the Creeks took on the role of business managers for the Hillcrest Pastoral Company, a commercial cattle operation running 2500 Angus and Angus cross females in the south east of South Australia.
Most recently the Creeks managed the building of a large scale Angus herd in Kazakhstan from the ground up using Australian genetics.
After spending six years on the board, Ms Creek is thrilled to be taking on a new challenge in chairing the directors.
"It is such an exciting time to be in the beef industry and agriculture in general," she said
The Angus breed is in a strong position, but must work hard to maintain its status as Australia's leading beef breed."
Tickets for the dinner are $85 per head and bookings are being taken by the resort on 9725 2777 and close on Wednesday, July 20.
Prior to the dinner in the afternoon, Angus Australia will be holding one of its regional forums in Bunbury and all interested people are invited to attend.
This forum will be run by Angus Australia's chief executive officer Peter Parnell and Angus Australia breed development and extension manager Andrew Byrne.
Then the following morning at 9am, the WA Angus Committee will be meeting with an invitation to all Angus Australia members to join in.
There will be two guest speakers at the meeting: Paul Wynne-Houchin, who will give a presentation on the Bovine Herpes Virus (BHV) type 1 and Graham Nixon, who will give a Bovine Johnes Disease (BJD) update as far as WA is concerned (retaining to WA's BJD Free Zone).
The resort is also taking bookings for both of these events. Any enquiries to the subcommittee chairman Tony Sudlow 0428 362 032, or members Tony Golding 0408 956 985, Mark Hattingh 0419 399 557 or Pam McGregor 0417 942 326.