For Lachlan Trustum, the Brangus breed has been a major part of his family for three generations.
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It started with his grandparents Warren and Robyn Bulmer, who started the family's Brangus stud near Casino in NSW's Northern Rivers region nearly half a century ago.
From there the affiliation passed onto his parents before he took the reins of the family's Weona Brangus stud.
So it was only fitting he was awarded with the first Robert Barlow Scholarship to help set up his future with the breed.
Named after one of the breed's most beloved operators and funded by the Barlow family of Triple B Brangus, the scholarship will help pay for a trip abroad for Lachlan, which in turn will also help set up a youth committee within the Brangus association.
"It means a lot to be the first recipient of this scholarship, especially when you consider that my grandfather and Robert did a lot for the society in its early days," he said.
"I'm intending to use it to go over to the United States in early February next year, visit a few different ranches and go to the Houston Livestock Show in early March to meet a few breeders.
"During the trip I will be looking for some new genetics to try and bring home as well as some tips to try and get our Brangus youth organisation up and running.
"They have a fantastic Brangus youth group over in the United States, so I will be looking to bring that sort of information back with me to try and help the breed here in Australia."
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For as long as he can remember, the Brangus breed has been a passion for Lachlan and he hopes to eventually leave his mark on the breed that has done so much for him.
"My grandparents are both life members and have been breeding Brangus for almost 50 years," he said.
"Both of them were on the board of the Brangus association and I have every intention of eventually doing that myself as well.
"From that perspective, I guess you could say that the Brangus breed does run in my family's blood."
As well as eventually serving on the board, Lachlan is hopeful he can help solidify the breed's future in Australia by introducing a youth committee.
"I think it massive for the Brangus breed to set up a youth organisation because we want to ensure the good work that is being done by the current board members is carried on," he said.
"The best way to do that is to help those young people aged around 25 to 30, who want to be on the board, the chance to get that bit of experience before stepping onto the board.
"It is such a big task to step onto the board of a breed society like this, so if they can get that level of exposure beforehand through a youth organisation, then it will help shore up our breed's future."
Having claimed a piece of Brangus history, Lachlan said he was dedicated to helping the breed continue to grow.
"What I like about the Brangus breed is that it is always building and getting better all the time," he said.
"There is a lot of quality people, quality genetics and quality animals in the sector at the moment and it shows no signs of slowing down.
"Brangus is such a commercially-relevant breed and I think it is only going to keep growing in the future.
"I'm just so grateful to the Barlow family for giving me this opportunity via this scholarship because it means so much not just to me but all of the young people coming through our breed."
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
