Charles Darwin University Katherine farm and stud overseer Jess Beckhouse said the excursion to the Beef Expo in Rockhampton had been great for the students to pick up invaluable industry knowledge and skills.

“It was a successful trip on all accounts,” she said.

“There were no first prizes for us, but we did pick up some good placings against some tough competition in some very large classes.”

“The students did well making the finals in the commercial, individual and stud judging competitions.”

Staff at Katherine Rural Campus who attended the Beef Expo in Queensland recently are about to begin preparing a herd of Brahman cattle for the Northern Territory Show Circuit in July.

And six VSS (VET for Secondary Students) from Katherine Rural campus will soon begin training for shows in Katherine and Darwin. 

Ms Beckhouse said the preparation would entail breaking-in and educating the current herd of weaner cattle over a number of weeks.

“We plan to compete at the Tennant Creek Show in mid-July and then the Katherine and Darwin Shows in the following weeks,” Ms Beckhouse said.

“And we will loan a handful of cattle to the Education Department whose students will compete at the Alice Springs Show.”

Ms Beckhouse said CDU partnered with the Department of Education (Taminmin College) to enter 11 cattle in the Brahman section of the Landmark Stud Cattle Championships.

It was the first time CDU had competed in the triennial national beef expo, regarded as one of the world’s greatest beef cattle events. 

​The students were selected to represent the Northern Territory at Beef Week 2018 after winning the Cattle Handling and Junior Judging classes at the Darwin and Katherine Shows last year.