Sixteen-year-old Riley Gibbs says he could not pass up an opportunity to take a week off school and exhibit a bull and two heifers he broke in himself at his family's Muan Brahmans cattle stud.
The Biggenden youngster said the opportunity to take part on his first Beef Australia was a "no-brainer", and his family and teachers encouraged him to make the most of the opportunity.
It was a momentous occasion for the Gibbs family on Tuesday, marking the first time the stud has shown cattle in almost four decades.
"My family has bred Brahmans for the last 40-odd years and now it's good to step into a showring for the first time," Riley said.
"It's the first time in about 40 years our family has exhibited cattle, the last time was when my father was about my age so it's been a long time."
Riley has recently started his own stud, RPG Brahmans, but opted to exhibit a bull and two heifers bred by his grandfather, Len Gibbs of Muan Brahmans.
The three animals were broken in by Riley and took "about a day" to get used to the halter.
"Brett Nobbs was the owner of NCC Brahmans and they've sold it now, but he was a lovely man who I've learnt a lot from," Riley said.
"He held a course about breaking cattle in and he was freakish... showing he could break cattle in within a few days."
Riley said he used lessons learned from Mr Nobbs to prepare his own animals for Beef.
The Isis District State High School student said his family runs 600 cows in the stud operation, spread across two properties.
"Our main place is at Muan which is just outside of Biggenden and it's 3500 acres," Riley said.
"Twenty minutes from that we've got another thousand acres where we run heifers and first heifer calves with the bull.
"We sell a majority of bulls during Brahman Week in Rockhampton and Big Country up at Charters Towns in the multi-vendor sales."
Riley hopes to pursue a bachelor of agribusiness once he completes school, but said his focus would remain tightly on expanding his stud.
"My teachers were pretty happy for me to have the week off," he said.
"I think they're pretty happy to see a young fella having a crack because I broke them in myself so they were pretty open to the fact I should attend Beef."
Bryce Eishold
Bryce is a senior journalist with Australian Community Media's Stock & Land where he reports on all aspects of agriculture. Bryce is also the president of the Rural Press Club of Victoria. Email Bryce at bryce.eishold@stockandland.com.au.
Bryce is a senior journalist with Australian Community Media's Stock & Land where he reports on all aspects of agriculture. Bryce is also the president of the Rural Press Club of Victoria. Email Bryce at bryce.eishold@stockandland.com.au.
