Producers Dig Deep for the Angus Foundation
The final on property sale for Dulverton Angus proved the perfect afternoon for a fund-raising effort, following the generosity of Greg and Sally Chappell and their pledge to donate the proceeds of a heifer at sale to the Angus Foundation.
Long time supporters of the Angus Youth Program, Greg and Sally donated the proceeds of Dulverton Dell S135 (NGC21S135) to the Angus Foundation, a foundation that provides a mechanism for members and other beef industry stakeholders to support youth development, education and research programs conducted by Angus Australia.
The heifer, which sold on Wednesday May 24th during what was the last on property sale Dulverton will host, was auctioned for $16,000 to the partnership of the Laurie Family of Knowla Livestock, Moppy, NSW and Jason Strong, both of whom have had long affiliations with the Angus Youth program themselves.
“We’re very proud to have been able to offer a heifer and we’re even more excited that she’s gone to a home like Knowla and with Jason Strong involved as well,” said Greg.
“We’ve known those guys since they were little fellas, jumping around the show rings, judging in the junior judging, and it’s an honour for us to have been able to sell to them what we believe is one of our foundation family heifers.”
Of their purchase of the Foundation heifer, James Laurie of Knowla Livestock was very happy with the heifer and the backing she can bring to their program.
“She comes out of a really good program that we’ve known for a long time, and she’s got data we can use,” said James.
“Her pedigree is strong and she’s a really nice heifer to look at. She just ticked all the boxes there but essentially, at the end of the day, the Dulverton program is one we have been involved with in the past and we know that she’ll produce the goods.”
With the proceeds from the heifer, the Angus Foundation will look to re-establish an overseas scholarship to provide the opportunity to a young member of the beef industry to travel abroad and experience global beef production. This initiative is one particularly close to vendor Greg and purchaser Jason Strong, both of whom were recipients of the University of Illinois scholarship (1982 and 1990 respectively), that was previously offered by Angus Australia to the winner of the Angus National Judging Competition, which both attribute as a very formative experience in their lives.
Knowing the proceeds go to the Angus Foundation and to establish such a scholarship, James highlighted that hopefully this heifer may find a way to again support the Angus Foundation.
“It’s been a great thing and if you talk to Jason Strong, and I’ve known him a long time, he was keen to get back and support it because he was a recipient of the Illinois scholarship back in the day. We’ve got young people coming through at the moment that are really benefiting from the Angus Foundation, so we are really proud to get behind and support it.”
“When Jason mentioned to me a few weeks ago that he was interested in buying a heifer, I said, well, why don’t we do a deal and buy together, and we can run her and maybe market a progeny under our stud program. It’ll be a bit of fun and hopefully in a year or two, the inaugural foundation heifer might produce a heifer that keeps the foundation going.”
– Cheyne Twist, Senior Marketing and Communications Officer
