Maureen Olive, former owner of Apis Creek Brahman stud, would have to be the only person that could say she sashed the interbreed champion bull at the inaugural Beef event in 1988 and went on to win it the following Beef.
Whilst she is humble to the core, Mrs Olive has achieved some incredible accolades in the show ring with her award-winning Brahman cattle under the Apis Creek stud prefix - a stud first started by her father that has since passed on to one of her sons.
Mrs Olive said her father named the stud after the Apis Creek property situated near Marlborough which was eventually sold to her and her husband, Andrew.
When Mr Olive died of a massive heart attack at just 49 years old, the decision was made to continue carrying on their pursuits with the family's Brahman stud and commercial operation.
It seems that a passion for breeding quality grey Brahmans passed on to not only Mrs Olive and her husband, but also their children - of which five out of six continue with their own Brahman stud and commercial operations to this day.
The Olive family first took to the show circuit in 1986 and continued to do so under the Apis Creek umbrella until Mrs Olive's retirement in 2005.
"We showed from Townsville through to Sydney and also took a team up to the Northern Territory," Mrs Olive said.
With a team of typically 12 to 15 grey Brahmans, she explained that they had a western team and a northern team and would select the best from those teams to exhibit at Beef.
"We were quite happy with our showing and had a bit of success with it," she said.
The success that Mrs Olive speaks modestly of include two Beef interbreed champion bulls as well as countless other broad ribbon winnings throughout the years.
"We exhibited at the first Beef event in 1988 and got placements at best, but I remember Ken Coombe [inaugural Beef chairman] invited me to sash the champion interbreed bull which was a great honour. He was a big Simmental and he seemed massive next to me," she said.
"In 1991, we won champion interbreed bull with Apis Creek Godfrey and champion interbreed exhibitors group.
"Godfrey was selected out of the paddock as a two-year-old by Andrew and his wife, Roxanne, because we didn't have a senior bull for the Ekka in 1990.
"Godfrey had won a lot of shows, so my family might have expected it, but I certainly didn't. It was just so exciting because it was a really big thing to win."
Following that, in 2000, the Olive family secured another Beef interbreed champion bull title with Kabala Lauriate.
"We had a friend who had a Brahman stud that we had the pick of the flush with, and we bred Kabala Lauriate from our bull over their cow," she said.
"2003 was the last beef that we exhibited at with my cattle."
Nowadays, Mrs Olive enjoys the social outing that Beef provides, using it as a chance to catch up with international friends and watch both her children and grandchildren in the show ring.
