When Philip Worthington told his wife, Kay, he wanted to link with Rangiora High School to have students train and lead their cattle at A&P shows, she was sceptical.
‘‘You want to take someone else’s children and young cattle into a public space?
‘‘What could possibly go wrong?’’ asked Kay.
At the recent NZ Agricultural Show in Christchurch they were recognised for their encouragement of youth, and commitment to the showing movement.
Each received a Royal Agricultural Society Medal presented in the cattle ring by the RAS president, Rachel Walker, during the show’s premier beef cattle event, the Meat and Wool Cup.
The Worthingtons were themselves helped to learn the craft by other New Zealand and Australian exhibitors.
The transtasman link is still strong, with young Queenslander Meggie Riethmuller also helping with their team of kids and cattle.
They met Meggie when she was a 15-year-old winner of an exchange scholarship and spent a week staying with them and judging at the then Christchurch Show.
She has returned to assist at the shows and teach her young audience the craft of clipping and presenting cattle for the last seven years.
Philip said, on receiving the surprise medal, that he definitely gets more back from working with the young people than he puts in.
Their enthusiasm and passion keep him young, he says.
Kay says the most rewarding part is seeing the handlers grow in confidence and knowledge as they gain experience.
The stud does four shows each season — Rangiora, Christchurch (NZ Agricultural), Malvern and Oxford – opening doors into careers in agriculture for their young charges.
‘Quite a few have gone on to jobs in the industry – dairy farming, with firms such as Ravensdown, Balance or Gallaghers as sale and field representatives, vet technicians, and associated primary produce roles such as in honey and beeswax, and contracting.
‘‘Some would have gone down those paths anyway, but for others cattle handling introduced them to those opportunities, and that’s a neat outcome.
‘‘For some it’s the team experience, and respect and knowledge for animals.’’
Philip learned of Queensland and New South Wales schools’ use of Lowlines in the curriculum, and regular outings on the show circuit there, and wanted to replicate that here. Hence the approach to the Rangiora High School’s Rural Studies department.
For the last 12 years teacher Gillian Koster has been a stalwart supporter of the cattle handling programme, and some students have been awarded their school colours for cattle handling.
The Woolstone stud gave Rangiora High a dozen heifers last year and the school – which now has the first registered school Lowline stud outside Australia – got nine calves this year.
‘‘Who knows –hopefully the school might break in those calves and start its own showing programme. That would be the perfect result,’’ says Philip.
He has been a great advocate for the NZ AG Show developing youth competition and competitors, including a school teams paraders class – and, at 75, is probably the oldest member of a youth sub-committee anywhere in the country.
He is also on the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s general committee and cattle committee, the finance and show committees of the Northern A&P Association in Rangiora, and is a Central Districts councillor for the Royal Agricultural Society.
