Art of livestock handling at heart of cup

The inaugural Pilbara Livestock Handling Cup will be held at Yarrie Station this weekend, giving pastroralists a chance to demonstrate their stock handling skills.

The event will kick off with an information sharing field day on Friday, before a competition aimed at fostering the idea that stockmanship is a profession and an art on Saturday.

It’s the first of its kind in Australia and probably the world, according to Boyd Holden from Holden Agricultural Management Services.

Mr Holden, who has delivered stock handling training throughout Australia and overseas, said as far as stockmanship events went, others had invariably included horses and dogs.

“This event focuses purely on the direct relationship between humans and cattle”, he said.

Teams of three will compete against each other to demonstrate a number of livestock handling activities similar to typical cattle handling situations during mustering, yarding and loading cattle on pastoral stations.

Yarrie Station owner Annabelle Coppin said how pastoralists handle, train or educate livestock was an intrinsic part of how cattle and people interacted.

“As producers we always should be practicing and improving good solid stockmanship as it is strongly correlated to high animal welfare outcomes for cattle,” she said.

“We also hope this cup will build a sense of pride in stations teams to high stockmanship and also encourage new skills and ideas to be shared amongst each other.”

The inaugural Pilbara Livestock Handling Cup will comprise of four main components including droving and holding a mob up, drafting or sorting cattle, obstacle courses and communication.

Rangelands NRM Pilbara Program Manager Chris Curnow said the event would enable the sharing of experiences and knowledges amongst peers and stockhandlers.

“It’s a great networking opportunity and a chance to discuss ideas about how to work together better,” he said.

The Cup will be held at Yarrie Station in the Pilbara from July 29-30, and is run by the De Grey LCDC with support from Rangelands NRM.

Overnight camping is encouraged.

Catering will be provided for main meals from the Friday lunch to Sunday breakfast.

For more information, contact: Bill Currans 0488 383 449, Annabelle Coppin 0428 956 692 or Boyd Holden 0429 653 280.

For more information you can also visit https://www.facebook.com/De-Grey-LCDC-361872487351333/?fref=ts.