With a passion for cattle that can't be matched, Imperial Bovine Breeding Services owner Billi Marshall is proof you don't need to be from a family farming background to have a successful livestock industry career.
Growing up in rural WA and attending the Catholic Agricultural College Bindoon, now rebranded as Edmund Rice College, sparked her enthusiasm for the livestock game, where she completed her Certificate II in Agriculture and attended multiple youth cattle handling camps, competing in almost every State in Australia.
Jumping at any opportunity to get her hands dirty, whether it be roustabouting, calf marking for local farmers, or helping father, Kevin who, at the time, was managing the Bindoon college, Ms Marshall soon learnt there was no other field worth exploring.
Fast forward to 2018, after spending two and a half years in broadacre cropping and putting in the hard work, she landed a job working alongside Dongara-based BOS Vet & Rural owner, Dr Matt Carrick.
During her time with Dr Carrick, Ms Marshall was trained to assist as a technician, doing artificial insemination (AI), semen and pregnancy testing, and specialising in embryo transfer.
"I was able to become an Accredited Bovine Pregnancy Tester within the State of WA," Ms Marshall said.
After three years of training, in 2021, she purchased the pregnancy testing side of the business from Dr Carrick, creating her own business, Imperial Bovine Breeding Services, which specialises in cattle reproduction.
"I aim to help my clients improve their breeding programs and deliver accurate and valuable data for herd management," Ms Marshall said.
Imperial Bovine Breeding Services offers a range of services, being pregnancy testing, including foetal aging and certification, freeze branding, semen testing, synchronisation programming and animal data collection, which all contribute to running a more efficient and profitable operation.
Although the business services from Albany to Port Hedland, its focus area is the Mid West.
"The Gascoyne and Pilbara are two places that have the least amount of access to these types of services," she said.
"There are very few people in my position who are willing to drive to Newman or Tom Price, which is great for me because it's where I love working and where I want to be working."
Assisting producers in the reproduction process is something Ms Marshall is proud to offer.
"It's exciting to be able to offer these services, especially to pastoralists who sometimes have never seen an ultrasound or pregnancy testing done before," she said.
"It's very rewarding to show them how they can better their business by pregnancy testing, and how selecting more profitable cows can help with cattle management.
"It comes back to helping them analyse their stocking rates so they can prioritise feed for pregnant cattle rather than feeding dry cattle they won't profit from in the long run."
In terms of changes in cattle production during her time, technology and data have been the highlight.
"A massive evolution of technology has come into the livestock game," Ms Marshall said.
"Having access to data, being able to record it and using it to make herds more profitable is a big one, recording everything from daily weight gain, feed conversion, joining time and conception rates.
"That is how you make money, by working out which animals are the best on the property and utilising how they are performing across the herd."
Ms Marshall has also noticed more young people making a career out of agriculture.
"It is so refreshing to see so many young vibrant people getting into the industry and giving everything a go, especially plenty of young women," she said.
"This is where utilising technology and data really comes into play, because the younger generation really take to using technology more easily and are utilising it well."
Between the 21,500 head Ms Marshall pregnancy tested in 2022, and the 34,000 in 2023, she said there had been a significant change in cattle types and welfare practices - for the better.
"Cattle types are constantly improving, with genetic data that is now available to producers, breeders can make more educated decisions on stock selection," she said.
"The industry standard of animal welfare is great, the way the beef industry is operating throughout WA is top-tier, and it is improving every year."
When it comes to the future of the beef industry, although there is some uncertainty about the current market and major political influence on the agricultural industry, Ms Marshall said farmers would continue to be resilient.
"At the end of the day, it's not only farmers that are affected by the uncertainty of the industry at the moment, it's truckies, livestock agents, my own business and so many more," she said.
"We as an industry need to continue telling our story to the public, about what agriculture is all about, what we do, who we are and what we are trying to achieve, together."
