A Wongwibinda farmer entered the Royal Queensland Show for the first time – and won a championship: a happy moment in the midst of drought.
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Richard Ogilvie took a team of four cattle – two bulls and a heifer under 12 months, and a heifer 12 – 14 months – to the “Ekka”.
The bulls were awarded first and third prizes in the under-12 months section, and judges declared the winning bull, Te-angie Naidoo, Junior Champion Hereford.
“It’s the first time I’ve been to the Ekka,” Mr Ogilvie said. “It was a nice diversion from the drought we’re in at the moment!”
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Mr Ogilvie, his wife, and two sons settled in New England from the South Australian coastal town of Robe, five years ago. They have always been farmers.
They have 2000 head of cattle on their property, Te-angie, and run a 300 cow Poll Hereford stud in amongst them.
“The show cattle have to be fed a little bit extra to make them a little bit more bloomy for the show,” Mr Ogilvie said, “so they have more shine and polish to them. We add supplementary grain, oat, and chaff into their diet."
The cattle were taught to lead by Chloe and Emma Grey, from O’Connor Catholic College, and fitted (clipped and blow-dried) by Stephanie Murphy, at UNE.
The two bulls are up for sale, and the females will go into the stud as breeders.
Hitherto, Mr Ogilvie has only entered cattle in local shows around Armidale, Guyra, and Glen Innes.
He will return to Brisbane next year, with a bigger team.
In the meantime, he will take two cows with their calves, four bulls, and two heifers to the Tamworth show at the end of the month.
Like many on the land, the dry spell has hit his farm hard.
"The drought's slowly got worse over the last six to eight months,” Mr Ogilvie said.
“We've got cows dying. We have 300 bales of sileage coming at the end of the week, at $120 a bale. It's an expensive operation keeping cattle alive. There have been casualties, and there will be more casualties. You just soldier on."