Liam Quirke – Intermediate Ambassador Report
On the 9th of January 2020, I was lucky enough to leave Wellington and embark on a great trip down south, where I would learn new, innovative things about the Beef Industry in NZ. For the four days, I was based at Marie Timperley’s house, which was situated near Oxford (about 2 hours west of Christchurch city) alongside her neat Angus stud. During the four days, I got to see vast breeds of cattle ranging from the normal Angus to the tropical breed Santa Gertrudis – yes a tropical breed in the south island of NZ. I got to go and have a look around Hakatere station thanks to managers Ryan and Sarah Hussey which was spectacular. The 40,000 acre farm had a mix of everything, from flats to retired ‘hills’ which us north islanders would consider a mountain! I also got to go to a Hereford stud nearby and help break in some Hereford heifers. On the last day I got to go to Xcell breeding centre where I got to see how semen straws are manufactured right from selecting worthy bulls to putting the straws in liquid nitrogen, big thanks to the xcell team. I also got to see Lincoln university which was pretty interesting and also got to have a look around the city centre of Christchurch itself. After all this, I got dropped off at the airport and flew back to Wellington to return home to Gladstone.
This would not have been possible if it wasn’t for Coadette Low, who gave me the opportunity to enter the Future Beef Expo and also organised my funded trip. Special thanks to Peter and Sue McWilliam, Lauren and Richie Cameron who taught our whole Rathkeale college and St Matthew Collegiate team the ins and outs of showing cattle. Another big thanks to Marie Timperley and her husband Andrew who had me stay and ran me to, from and everywhere down south. Thanks for this experience