Young beef enthusiasts from all states and territories travelled to Toowoomba last week for the 2020 Angus Youth National Roundup.
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More than 130 participants, aged from eight to 25, packed into the Toowoomba Showgrounds for the opportunity to expand their cattle handling and presentation knowledge, learn about the commercial side of the beef industry, and try their hand at meat judging.
Roundup coordinator Steph Frankham said this was the first time in Roundup history that all states had been represented.
"We had 147 nominations, but with continuing drought conditions and bushfires down south, we ended up getting 134 competitors and 150-odd head (of cattle) here," she said.
"Organising throughout 2019, we knew it was going to be a hard year, so to pull the number of competitors that we did, I was ecstatic about it and I think that's a massive credit to our committee and the program that we've put together here.
"We stepped away from the traditional junior show and changed our educational demonstrations to include meat judging and commercial assessment to make the show more commercially relevant and focused.
"I felt that were going too left just into the showing side of it, so we brought it back to focus on what we're actually doing and that end product, which is producing beef."
This focus on the end product saw the older competitors take a tour of the Oakey Beef Exports abattoir facility.
"It was about exposing them to something that traditionally you don't get to see," Ms Frankham said.
"We all know that we send our cows to the abattoir in the end, but to see it as primal cuts, hanging carcases and quarters and all of that, to actually see a full scale abattoir, it's unreal out there so we were extremely fortunate.
"The commercial judging too is just showing kids something that they don't normally get to see. We're breeding Angus, but we're breeding Angus for certain markets, so we demonstrated a number of those markets by bringing in cattle that are suitable or not suitable."
Meat & Livestock Australia managing director Jason Strong said the event was a great way to connect people in the industry.
"A lot of the time they're seen as breed based events but they're really not," he said.
"They're largely organised by breed societies, which is tremendous, and some of them are multi-breed activities, but any of these sort of heifer show, junior show, junior judging type activities are a fantastic opportunity to connect people in agriculture and particularly in the cattle industry.
"And more importantly, give people experiences that they wouldn't normally get."
Mr Strong said it was great to see such a strong turnout of participants, regardless of what has been going on.
"It also highlights for us the need to keep moving forward; it's so easy to be dragged down by the events that are around us; events like this give people the opportunity to get out and share their stories and engage with others who share similar experiences."
