As part of a weekend-long celebration of youth, two scholarships were awarded at this year’s show for emerging leaders who are making a positive contribution to the future of Australian agriculture.
Matt Cooney, 24, has been awarded the Melbourne Royal Emerging Leader Award, which recognises an individual who is making a significant contribution to their field over 12 months.
Prize money of $5000 to further their development is awarded to the winner.
Mr Cooney, who is the principal of Cann Valley Lowline Stud, started life as a self-described city kid but found his calling breeding Australian Lowline cattle, the feature breed at the 2022 Melbourne Royal Beef Competition.
“The award is open to such a vast range of eligible people, so it’s nice to be seen to be making an impact on the industry,” Mr Cooney said.
He is part of the committee working to showcase the breed originally developed in a trial in Trangie, NSW.
“We’ve got so many dedicated breeders, we’re all like a family and we’re really looking forward to getting back to Melbourne,” he said.
“Most of us come from small farms too, and we work off the farm, so even though it’s a lot of time and effort, we all love it.”
His interest in the breed was piqued as a 13-year-old during a Christmas visit to his aunt Vicki Gilbert’s Rotherwood Lowline Stud in East Gippsland.
Mr Cooney said “something clicked” and before long the teenager from Melbourne’s busy eastern suburbs moved in with Ms Gilbert and enrolled in Cann River College.
With just 46 students, it was a far cry from his former school of 1600.
It’s a change of path that’s seen Mr Cooney exhibit at the Melbourne Royal Show since 2014, and take home supreme exhibit in 2018 with the first animal he’d ever bred himself.
While previous years have seen Mr Cooney and Ms Gilbert exhibit a maximum of seven Lowlines at Melbourne Royal Show, this year the pair went big.
“We had 20 head there this year; we haven’t had a feature breed in 22 years, so we’re looking forward to showcasing this breed for everyone to see,” he said.
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