THE 11th instalment of 'Winston' the charity steer for Black Dog Ride is all set for this year's Perth Royal Show.
The charity steer fund and awareness raising initiative was started in 2011 by Peter and Judy Milton, Copplestone Charolais stud, Dardanup.
Mr Milton said with all their fundraising activities they estimate more than $200,000 has been raised for the Black Dog Ride.
"More importantly it's the raising of awareness of mental health issues that has been the greatest achievement," Mr Milton said.
"The work done by Black Dog Ride has seen a real change in people's attitude to speaking openly about depression - particularly among young people."
This year's charity steer has been generously donated by Darren and Jenny Manning,
D Manning Family Trust, Mardella.
Mr Manning said the family had no hesitation in donating the steer when approached earlier by Cameron Petricevich from S & C Livestock.
"For Jen and I, it was a no-brainer," Mr Manning said.
"The Black Dog Ride is a damn good cause and we were only too happy to put our best foot forward."
The steer is an Angus-Blonde d'Aquitaine cross, bred onfarm by the Manning family who have a long history of breeding quality cattle and the steer is no exception and should attract a premium when sold at this year's Perth Royal Show trade cattle sale auction.
All Black Dog charity steers have been sold at the Perth Royal Show with the exception of last year when the show was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions and Winston 10 was sold privately.
Local processors and butchers have strongly supported the cause and traditionally gone above and beyond market value for the steers.
The first two steers were purchased by Jim Goodchild, Goodchild Meats followed by Michael Borrello, Borrello Beef, for the next three years in memory of his late father and more recently Kim McDougall, Harvey Beef, has won the the bidding war to secure Winston for the past five years.
S & C Livestock manager Phil Petricevich said the company was honoured to auction the Black Dog Ride charity steer for the second year running.
"For some time now I have watched Peter and Judy Milton do an amazing job promoting awareness of mental health issues throughout Western Australia via the Black Dog Ride charity steer and we feel very fortunate to be afforded the opportunity to again sell Winston on their behalf," Mr Petricevich said.
"While last year was an incredible experience at Government House with all the pomp and ceremony, I think everyone is really excited about getting back to some normality and conducting the auction at the Perth Royal Show as part of the trade cattle sale.
"Hopefully we can get close to, or even break, the record price achieved for Winston which would be a fantastic result for Peter and Judy and the Black Dog Ride."
