FOR Mike, Vicki, Dustin and Fraser Bradshaw, Fairhaven, Banana the Baralaba show was pretty close to a clean sweep.
The family took home the vast majority of prizes in the prime cattle section, something Mr Bradshaw said meant a lot to him.
After entering his first beast at the Baralaba show at age 10, he said his goal as a youngster was only to beat his grandfather.
”It took me years and years, but eventually I ended up beating him,” he said.
Mr and Mrs Bradshaw took 30 cattle to the show and his sons took seven, which also received a few places.
“They’ve got their own herd that’s how I started as well,” Mr Bradshaw said.
“When I was one, my grandfather and father gave me three breeders and I ended up with my grandfather’s herd.
“I have kept the two herds separate to this day.”
Despite moving out of the Baralaba region to Banana, Mr Bradshaw said his love and passion for the show would never dim.
“We have moved away, but it’s there in your heart isn’t it?” he said.
“It’s something I’ve always done and it’s a great time to come and catch-up with everyone as well.
“And you’ve got to keep these things going. We did bring a lot of cattle with us just trying to support it.”
Chief steward of the section Andrew Bauer, Tristleigh Hills, Kokotungo said it was great to see the ex-locals clean up, but the current locals were also in on the action.
“This year we have a new award, the Local Prime Beast of the Show, which has to be from a Baralaba address,” Mr Bauer said.
“That was won by Darren and Kirsten Sainsbury, which was great.”
He said until Cyclone Debbie hit the region, there were doubts over how many head would be entered.
“Up until the cyclone we had had no rain around here, the country was looking fairly ordinary and most people had sold their young cattle,” he said.
“We still had a good line up of young cattle entered, which was good to see.
“The cattle looked very good, considering they have only had grass for a few months.”
Mr Bradshaw said over his 2025 hectares, things had been very dry.
“We’ve got some oats planted and we’re going to try to hurry up and plant some more before it rains,” he said.
“We’ll have 700 acres (283ha) in hopefully before the rain comes.
“Things can just look terrible and then turn around and look the complete opposite I guess.”
Mr Bradshaw runs a Droughtmaster-based herd with some Charolais and Red Angus.
He said the Red Angus bull went in over maiden heifers and he was very happy with the results.
The Grand Champion Beast of the Show was a Charolais/Droughtmaster.