Bosley is a Brahman-cross steer that has lived a long and colourful life at Tocal College.
He is not the best muscled, or the best looking, but he has been a great asset to the college.
He has been at the college for 12 years because of his amazing temperament and has made a major contribution to the college training program.
Bosley was born in 2006 from a heifer which came to Tocal from the DPI Grafton Research Station.
Bosley is three-quarter Braham and a quarter Hereford and is he not typical of the breeding program at the college.
He was selected for breaking in to lead, to provide an example of a poorly muscled steer to compare with other better muscled animals.
He has subsequently grown to weigh in at over a tonne today and has been used for a wide range of educational and show events.
Bolsey’s extraordinarily quiet temperament has made it possible to do live demonstrations with larger groups of people.
He has been confidently paraded in front of 100s of people, and had ‘beef cuts’ drawn all over him.
Bosley can be touched all over by friends and strangers alike without every showing aggression.
He’s ‘bombproof’.
Hundreds of Tocal students and 1000s of school students have come to know Bosley.
He started his public career visiting the Sydney Royal Show in 2008, and subsequently visited the Royal a number of times.
In recent years, Bosley has featured at Agvision at Sydney Showground, Homebush, where he has been used as a live ‘whiteboard’ to show where various cuts of beef are located.
Bosley has also visited a number of shows, demonstrations and talks in the Hunter Valley.
He has helped provide education and promote the opportunities for careers in agriculture to school students.
Bosley has been a feature at the Tocal Field Days for seven years.
He has again been used as a drawing board to show cuts of beef and provide a focus for talks on beef cattle production.
Bosley has also been the focus of the Guess the Weight of the Steer competition at the Tocal Field Days and has raised over $20,000 for the student scholarship fund.
More mundane aspects of Bosleys life at the college has been assisting with quietening down stock for halter training with students.
Bosley is often placed in a yard with young stock which are being halter trained and his quite nature has a major calming effect.
He has also been known to give an excitable steer or heifer a good shove if they are playing up.
Bosley is a good example of the value which should be placed on livestock temperament.
Bosley would never have set any records or won any competitions for his muscling or conformation.
But, over the years he has proved to be a very valuable example of quite temperament and the advantages of animals that are easy and safe for handling.
Thousands of people over the years have been able to safely handle Bosley and improve their knowledge of beef cattle as a result.
Bosley has been a good mate for the last 11 years since I halter trained him.
As I retire this year, my work mates have offered to serve him up at my retirement dinner.
I gratefully declined and hope he continues with his role and happily lives out his life in the bull paddock.
ABOUT TOCAL COLLEGE
Tocal College, CB Alexander Campus is situated in the picturesque Hunter Valley about 180km north of Sydney.
It provides a unique blend of agricultural training and practical experience for school leavers and other people who may be interested in rewarding careers in agriculture.
Year 10, 11 or 12 school leavers gain a practical pathway to careers in agriculture or gain credit in a variety of university degrees.
Tocal College also provides a diverse range of education products and services to farmers, landholders and rural industries through Tocal Skills Training.
