New beginnings in 2021

So many big things have happened this year like Trump being banned from Facebook and Twitter, to Kim and Kanye West breaking up. For me, things haven't been quite in the headlines but it is a year that has had plenty of great things to remember.

After having a property that was all dust and rock through the drought, this year had lush green grass! We went from feeding cattle each day to try and maintain condition, to not feeding anything and ended up needing to put some animals in a 'diet' paddock.

There was some normalcy after 2020 with some local and major shows being held. This meant I could get out and support small towns by exhibiting my animals. Some of the highlights for the year were; supreme exhibit at Dunedoo show, junior champion Limousin female at Dubbo show.

It was very touch and go if the Sydney Royal Easter show would go ahead or not but thankfully, it did.

The cattle sheds weren't the usual busy metropolis that I've come to know, it was a ghost town compared to pervious years but that didn't mean the quality of cattle was any less.

Since it was my last year being able to compete in the junior competitions, I thought I would have a final crack and see how I went.

This may sound very superstitious, but I think there is some form of curse over me in Sydney Royal paraders competitions. I have competed almost every year since 2012 and every time, I place third. When you look at it from the idea that every year is different, there's a different judge, and I am leading a different animal, to place third every time has to be more than a coincidence, right?

As the show went on, steer day rolled around. I had planned on having a casual day, watching the show, and relaxing but that didn't quite pan out. A local school asked for a hand to 'fit' one of their steers, so I helped out.

Now this is where the issue begins, I did my job, I got the steer ready, this meant putting cattle glue (extra strong hairspray) in legs and clipping the hair for a good shape, gluing the tail and tail head, and then adding a bit of oil for extra shine.

Can you see the issue yet?

They were so impressed with how I got the steer ready that they roped me into staying and getting the rest of their steers ready -15 steers, in four different categories, and I was buggered.

I finished the day with glue every where, on my hands, clothes, and in my eyelashes.

In saying this, I wouldn't have changed anything about that day. I had fun, worked on my skills, and even though some of the school students a thing or two.

Multiple lockdowns meant I spent a lot of time at home playing with the dogs. My darling sausage dog Florence, had her first litter of puppies in May and of course we had to keep one, a little dappled color boy named Cash. Our little sausage dog family now sits at three.

Throughout the year, my weekends were busy. I was the photographer and social media manager for one of the local rugby union clubs, which meant I was at almost every game taking hundreds of photos.

The boys loved having someone there to document the days and somehow they always knew exactly where I was so they could do a good smile for them to plaster on Facebook and Instagram.

As the season went on, the teams were winning more and more which meant we were becoming the underdogs of the competition. Two of the three teams made it to the grand final and just before they went to play, another outbreak of Covid-19 occurred and the season was over, it was absolutely heartbreaking.

I can safely say, after all the time I have spent with those boys, I gained about 80 older and younger brothers.

As much as I loved watching sport, I couldn't play. I had pain in my ankle every day so it was usually strapped. After finally seeing a doctor, there were ultrasounds, CT scans, and MRIs to work out what the issue was.

It turns out there was about a golf ball sized ganglion in my subtalar joint and if you look at a photo of ankle anatomy, there isn't much room in there for a golf ball.

So the surgery date was set for October 21 in Sydney. Mum and I made the trip to Sydney and snuck in some shopping at Westfield before the operation.

After surgery, I was in a boot for two weeks, with crutches for the first little while to maintain minimal weightbearing. I couldn't get any of the dressings wet either so it meant putting on a garbage bag and tape before every shower and then a quick little baby wipe to the exposed parts that were in the bag for the shower.

Back to cattle, on December 3, I sold my first females through AuctionsPlus as a female reduction. After interest from all over Australia, I sold five females to a top of $13,800. Two went to Victoria and three went up to Queensland.

In October, I go the call for a job offer with The Land, as a livestock writer, starting in November.

The transition into a journalism position has been an eye-opening experience but it has been great.

In my month with The Land, there has been so many new experiences, I attended my first stud goat sale where many records were broken including the top prices for a buck and a doe.

There have been so many opportunities to interview and write about my fellow breeders and friends in the livestock industry as well as learning so much about animals I haven't had a lot to do with.

Time for 2022 to begin!

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