When one thinks of traditional Mothers Day gifts, flowers or a box of chocolates probably spring to mind.
Not, however, for the men of the Armitt family of Marulan.
Shaun Armitt, his brother Jeremy and father Barry decided, after a trip to the Moss Vale saleyards, to surprise the special women in their life with three Chianina calves.
“They are a bit of a novelty, you don’t see them that often so when they popped up for sale we thought we would buy them as a present for the girls,” Shaun Armitt said.
“If you factor in what we paid to feed the three bullocks the girls probably owe us some money.”
The Chianina breed, which originated in Italy, is one of the largest and oldest in the world.
The Armitts steers were purchased at just 150 kilograms, and grew to 1200kg in just 500 days of assisted feeding.
Shaun says the breed can grow as heavy as 1500kg in a relatively short period.
Despite the size of the breed, Mr Armitt says the cattle purchased were very calm and easy to handle.
“They were very placid animals, you were able to hand feed them.
“They are aware of their size however, which can be intimidating.”
Shaun stands at an imposing 190 centimetres (six foot three inches) and is dwarfed by the sheer size of the bullocks.
The family is planning to purchase and hand raise more of the breed in the future, with Shaun’s father Barry keen to test them out in a bullock team.
The three steers were recently sold on to processors, with the proceeds from one steer to be donated to the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.
The foundation runs a series of walking events called the 'Bloody Long Walk', held between August and November each year which raises money towards finding a cure for Mitochondrial disease, to which Shaun tragically lost his 8 year old son Archie two years ago.
In the past two years, Archie’s Angels, a team consisting of the Armitt family and members of the local community have raised over $60,000 for the foundation to combat the disease.
“It really can affect anyone, mainly children.
“We are trying to raise awareness, so that hopefully no one else has to suffer like my little fella did.”
In celebration of National Agriculture Day, Shaun says that farming has afforded him great opportunity throughout his life.
“It is something that we have grown up with on the land. I love the freedom and the open space and being able to work with animals everyday.
“There is lots of opportunity and always something new to do.”
