Central Australian Droughtmaster enthusiast Steve Hayes, The Garden Station, via Alice springs, said he was caught off-guard when he got the call from the Beef Australia 2018 committee to see if he’d like to be the associate judge for the Droughtmaster stud cattle section at the event.
Steve said despite the surprise, he’s now eagerly counting down the days until he heads to Rockhampton for the event.
“I’ve mainly participated in junior judging at the Alice Springs Show and the Adelaide Heifer Show, where they teach you what to look for, so I’m looking forward to bolstering my knowledge at Beef 2018,” he said.
He said for this reason he’s excited to have the opportunity to shadow lead Droughtmaster judge Rob Sinnamon, and soak up as much information as he can about what he looks for when judging cattle.
Steve works full-time with his parents Andy and Jane Hayes at The Garden, which the family has owned since 1995. The Garden is 130 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs, in the East McDonnell Ranges, Northern Territory.
Until recently the Hayes’ commercial breeding program was split between two herds, Poll Herefords and Droughtmasters, but they decided to make the switch to a predominantly Droughmaster herd in recent years.
The family currently run about 5000 head in total, which are mostly Droughtie and Droughtie-cross, while a handful of Poll Herefords remain.
Separate from the main herd, Steve is striving to produce a line of pure Droughtmaster bulls.
“It started as a hobby for me. Dad got it going when I was still in high school and I’ve been managing the program for the past five years.”
The Hayes bought a large contingent of heifers out of Queensland in 2017 to restock the property, which Steve took a wedge of to use in the stud program.
“I have 55 females and two bulls in the paddock at present, with the aim being to produce bulls for use in our own commercial herd and produce replacement heifers for both stud and commercial purposes.”
Steve really enjoys the work as it uses his passion for cattle.
“I love trying to outdo myself, by putting the females with different bulls to see if I can achieve better results with the calves each time.”
This will be Steve’s first trip to Beef Australia, and as far as he can recall it’ll be his first visit to Queensland.
“I’ve heard great things about the show, especially the pure volume of things to see and do, and I’m especially excited to see all the different breeds of cattle being exhibited in one place.”