AMANDA Cavenagh has been showing cattle since she was four-years-old.
Having grown up at the Elgin Park Charolais and Shorthorns stud run by her parents in Capel, Ms Cavenagh, 20, started off by participating in cattle parader competitions and then later became involved in WA Youth Cattle Handlers Camps, as well as cattle judging competitions.
"The process obviously starts months before you participate in a show," Ms Cavenagh said.
"You start by breaking in the cattle, which involves a lot of handling of the animals and getting them used to the halter.
"Then you promote their new hair growth by constantly brushing them every day.
"Once you get to the show, they are washed and blow-dried and prepped so that by the time they step into the ring, they look really good."
Having competed in numerous WA cattle showing competitions using her families own stud cattle, Ms Cavenagh won the State cattle parader competitions in 2018 and 2021 and competed in the national competition in Perth in 2019, but unfortunately was unable to attend the 2022 national competition, for which she qualified.
Forming bonds with the animals through the cattle showing process, Ms Cavenagh said she loved getting to know each of the cows individually.
"It's really nice after the shows to know the animals by name and to be able to go up to them in the yard and give them a pat, as you've spent a lot of time with them and formed that kind of relationship," Ms Cavenagh said.
After being named the Charolais Society of Australia's youth scholarship winner this year, Ms Cavenagh's love of cattle was only further fueled by her trip to the Charolais International Youth conference and show in Kansas, in the United States, in July.
As part of the trip she visited a broad range of Charolais enterprises and studs and heard from industry leaders at the conference, who covered a broad range of topics from cattle breeding and nutrition to various grazing systems and the cattle vaccination processes.
"I was also given the opportunity to have a go at grading embryos on the trip which was pretty amazing," Ms Cavenagh said.
Currently working as a casual livestock support officer for both Elders and Nutrien Ag Solutions where she drafts, assesses, pens and weighs cattle for stockyards sale, Ms Cavenagh said she had been impressed by the amenities and the larger size of the stockyards in the US, with some of the sites having more than 100 yard workers.
Visiting Joplin Regional Saleyards as well as the Springfield Livestock Marketing Centre in Missouri, Ms Cavenagh said another major difference of the Kansas saleyards was that their cattle were sold in the ring, not on the rail.
"Their rings are actually a set of scales, so they don't have to be weighed the same way that they are over here," Ms Cavenagh said.
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With the US cattle industry also quite big on encouraging and fostering the development of the younger generation within the sector, Ms Cavenagh said she would love to see the same amount of effort applied by Australia's own cattle industry.
"In America they hold breed specific, junior national shows and events as well as their general national and State shows," Ms Cavenagh said.
"I think that would be a great thing for us to do here as well, as it's quite challenging to get young people interested in breeding stud cattle and to be on the committees of the various groups involved.
"It can even be a struggle to find enough suitable people to work in our saleyards."
Also studying an associate degree in agribusiness at the Muresk Institute in Northam, once she completes her degree at the end of the year, Ms Cavenagh plans to travel to learn more about the industry's cattle operations in the Eastern States and is also considering heading back to the US to study teaching.
"In America they run a university course in agricultural communications and teaching and one of my main goals is to be an ag school teacher or teaching agriculture, in some way shape or form, so studying over there would help me to achieve that and I'd also like to check out Canada while I'm there," Ms Cavenagh said.
Also working in her family's Elgin Park stud business, more recently she was given the opportunity to operate her own smaller stud which is attached to the family's business, and for which she is solely responsible.
"Mum and dad look after all of our accounts and books and do a lot of the decision-making for our stud, but more recently I've had more input in what goes on at the farm and have been suggesting some new ideas and helping us to get some new genetics," Ms Cavenagh said.
"We run about 70 breeders and have a few commercial cattle on the side as well with the farm covering about 260 acres (105 hectares).
"My hope is to continue breeding cows with my own stud and then eventually combine that back into my family's stud in the future."
