Sam Greenup has grown up in the beef industry and always wanted to work on farm.
His parents own and run the successful Rosevale Santa Gertrudis stud, based at Rosevale, near Jandowae.
The stud includes about 700 breeders, run alongside 700 commercial breeders on the 14,164-hectare property.
After school Mr Greenup attended Longreach Ag College, studying horsemanship under John Arnold, before spending five years working in the Northern Territory as a head stockman.
"i was only going to go for a year then go to America, but I made a bit of a stand for myself, and worked my way up to run a contract mustering crew," he said.
The 24-year-old is now looking after the family's commercial operation, but also helps with the stud breeders.
"Dad is still handling the stud, but I'm getting more involved with the genetic decisions," Mr Greenup said.
Mr Greenup is the sixth generation on Rosevale, and the fourth generation in Santa Gertrudis cattle.
"We were Shorthorn-based in the 1950s but my great granddad went into Santas, buying bulls from the King Ranch sale at Warwick.
"We're breeding an animal that suits the territory climate, but will also work for operators in colder climates and coastal areas."
The stud is one of the oldest in the country, being the 23rd registered herd in Australia, and holding 63 annual on-property sales.
The most recent sale in September was a huge success, despite ongoing drought conditions, with 138 bulls averaging $8500. There was plenty of demand for their bulls, which sold to Qld, NT, Western Australia, South Australia, NSW and Victoria.
"We were really worried this year but we had a lot of clients back us.
"It was an incredible result, especially considering most of our clients are in drought."
Mr Greenup plans to continue on the commercial side of the business, focusing on breeding commercial bulls for large scale operators in the NT and western Queensland.
"I want to breed commercial bulls and sell high quantities, but good quality."
Fertility the focus for Normanby
Fertile females are the future for Alastair Macarthur, who's improving herd quality in his stud and commercial cattle.
Mr Macarthur is a 10th generation beef producer based at Kalbar in south west Queensland.
He works full-time on farm, running the 200-breeder Normanby Santa Gertrudis stud herd, along with a 100-head commercial operation targeting weaner or feeder markets, depending on the season.
The Macarthur family also owns a veterinary pharmaceutical business, Plasvacc Australia, which manufactures and distributes hyperimmunised blood plasma for horses, dogs and camels.
The 28-year-old has grown up in the beef industry and has always been involved with the Santa Gertrudis breed, showing cattle for other studs for about 14 years, and working with professional fitters Scott and Wendy Ferguson.
The family has been breeding Santa cattle for many years, focusing on the breed's maternal side.
"We're working towards an entirely classified herd with no commercial females, targeting the stud heifer market," Mr Macarthur said.
"We're strict on fertility and structure. They need to have good doing ability and get a calf on the ground each year. All the males are sold as steers unless it's an exceptional animal. We don't buy in any heifers. We just use our replacements."
Mr Macarthur said there was good demand for high quality registered heifers.
"It's hard to buy classified Santa Gertrudis females in large numbers," he said.
"A lot of people are doing an outstanding job on bulls, so if I want a good bull I can buy one."
Mr Macarthur said the ARCBA conference was a valuable experience, particularly learning about corporate governance, as well as the session with Brahman breeder Alf Collins, Collins Belah Valley.
"It was good to meet people from different breeds, some that you wouldn't normally meet. I've been to a lot of workshops through university but this is the only one to cover corporate governance and the responsibilities of being on a board."