Attending your first Roundup with Abigail and Thomas
When it comes to Roundup, one of the most important parts of the event is the range of ages of the participants involved, and how this lends itself to people of all different development stages working together, learning from each other, and building connections from the ground up.
At the 2024 NH Foods Angus Youth National Roundup, which took place in Tamworth January 10th to 13th, there were over 160 participants from all different ages, locations and backgrounds, bookended by the youngest and eldest attendees, Abigail Tucker and Thomas Febey.
Eight-year-old Abigail joined Roundup for the first time in 2024, travelling four hours from Dubbo, NSW to attend the event.
Taking part with a ballot heifer named Zanni, supplied by the Frecklington Family, Hollywood Angus, Abigail was fully immersed in her first Roundup experience, enjoying the variety of activities that peewees took part in over the three days.
Being responsible for her heifer, Abigail shared about what it had been like taking care of her animal, “We’ve been working with her and clipping her and doing stuff like that.”
When asked what she had been up to and enjoying the most, Abigail said, “We’ve been doing workshops, so we made rope halters, we looked at people that speak and sell stuff, and we did some fun painting and games. Yesterday, we did a couple of workshops about meat, like steak and beef cheeks.”
She also noted paraders as another stand out activity from the event.
When asked why she would encourage friends to come along to Roundups in the future, Abigail said, “They can watch what the friends are doing so they can properly join in.”
For Thomas Febey, the event marked his first time Roundup, but also saw him compete in his final heifer show.
Making the trek from his home in Sheffield, Tasmania where he works as an agent for Elders, for his first Angus Youth Roundup experience, Thomas shared that while it was his final chance to compete, he had been looking forward to being able to take part in a Roundup for a while.
“We’ve only got one youth camp at home in Tassie, which I’m a part of the organisation of,” said Thomas.
“This is a camp that I’ve always wanted to do, and I have just never had the opportunity or the time to put it together to make it work.
He continued, “As you can probably tell by the number I’ve got on my chest, I’m the oldest competitor here and it’s actually the end of my competing career as I’ll be too old to compete as of next week.
“So, it’s good to come up and just give it a good final finish off.”
Reflecting on the couple of days of Roundup, Thomas had definitely enjoyed his inaugural experience.
“It’s been a really good week, I’ve been lucky enough to be on a really good team of cattle with a good team of people to work with.
“We’ve had some incredible workshops and events over the weekend, and I managed to get into the final of the junior judging and came away Reserve Champion Senior Junior Judge.
“So, it’s been worthwhile. We also had our cattle classes this morning and came first in the class and while I didn’t place in the final, it’s been a great time.”
Not only was Thomas Reserve Champion Senior Junior Judge, he also was awarded the Merridale Angus Aspiring Breed Award, sponsored by the Collins Family, Merridale Angus, VIC.
When asked about the key takeaways that he had collected from his couple of days at Roundup, Thomas highlighted in particular the exposure provided about the various areas of the beef supply chain, displayed through the workshop activities.
“It’s been great to see the way that the workshops have been run and all of the different opportunities that there are, which goes right across the country.
“It’s great to see the variety of opportunities that there are here on the mainland compared to what we’ve got at home with the way that all the feedlots and meatworks work and just the variety of being able to work with different types of cattle and different people in different country.”
Looking to his future involvement with youth related events in the industry, Thomas hopes that while his competitive days may be behind him, that he can continue supporting the industry and events that develop the younger generations.
“Now I’ve finished competing, I’d really like to be able to help out,” he said.
“I really enjoy helping out the youth. I got a little buddy that’s been working with me for the last three days and he’s been great.
“He’s never showed before in his life, so it’s been good to help him out and start from scratch and I really enjoy doing that.
“We do all of the shows at home anyway. We’ve got our own stud and go around with a few heifers and bulls that we play with and it’s good to be there, be involved and try and help out at our local shows as well.”
– Cheyne Twist, Senior Marketing and Communications Officer
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