CONTINUING to build up her own stud is Katie Kirby's main goal after taking a heifer home with her from Herefords Australia National Youth Expo at Wodonga, Victoria.
Katie, 17, was awarded as the most potential breeder and her prize was a heifer donated by Andrew and Serena Klippel, Sugarloaf Creek Herefords, Towong, Vic.
Katie received the 11-month-old Sugarloaf Caroway S140, a daughter of Mawarra Hi Time P155 and out of Sugarloaf Caroway L136.
The young breeder from Glenmaggie in Victoria, started her own stud, Karinya Herefords, when she was 12-years-old and with this new addition is up to 14 animals.
At her second Hereford Youth Expo, after attending Parkes in 2019, Katie said it was very exciting to win the award and had plans for what is next.
"Hopefully I can keep breeding up my stud and eventually I'll end up doing across with my parents Speckles [Cora Balla Speckle Parks] so we can get good quality steers and heifers for the grass fed market," she said.
Katie won the award for showing her passion for the breed which she said she admires.
"I love their temperament and I personally think they're good quality cattle," she said.
Katie said she thinks the breed is in a very positive position within the Australian cattle industry.
"The current prices are doing well and the sales this year have had some of the studs see really exciting top prices and the Wodonga national sale had great results and so did Dubbo," she said.
As a sixth generation farmer on the property Katie had grown up around cattle and agriculture.
"We've been more commercials but we went to a cattle station a few years ago and came back and got into stud cattle," she said.
As well as running her stud Katie is currently a trainee at Mawarra Genetics, Longford, Vic, and is studying a Cert 4 in agriculture at Longerenong Ag College.
Katie said attending the expo was a great experience where she learnt a lot.
"I loved working with the younger kids - that was good fun," she said.
"They gave us talks on how to do junior judging and we went on a farm tour to a commercial property and that was really interesting to see what they did."
Katie said she is grateful to Hereford youth for the experience.
"I think it's great what Hereford youth are doing for the youth and really grateful for what they do," she said.
"I'm really grateful for the people that donated the heifer to me - I can't thank them enough for that."
Alexandra Bernard
Journalist based in Wagga Wagga covering all things agriculture in southern NSW.
Journalist based in Wagga Wagga covering all things agriculture in southern NSW.
