THE Angus breed is in a strong position, but Angus Australia’s new chairperson Libby Creek says it must work hard to maintain its status as the nation’s leading beef breed.
Last week the South Australian became the first woman to be appointed to the role, after six years on the board.
Mrs Creek says Angus Australia is committed to providing new tools and knowledge to support its 3600 members and finding new marketing opportunities for Angus cattle.
She is delighted to be chairing the breed society’s board of directors and engaging with the management team at Angus Australia.
“It will be an interesting challenge, but one that I am pleased to take on, with Angus cattle and their marketing opportunities being a long-time interest of mine,” she said.
“It is such an exciting time to be in the beef industry and agriculture in general.”
Mrs Creek says Angus Australia has many valuable projects in progress, including exploring the opportunities to build stronger communication links between producers and feedlotters/processors.
The Angus Sire Benchmarking program is in its seventh cohort, and is playing a major role in the validation of Breedplan and DNA technologies.
Ongoing research and development to maximise the benefits of genomic technologies is also giving better and more accurate systems.
“Education and extension are always a focus too, with annual Angus forums held across the country to engage with members, along with education programs and scholarships for youth," she said.
Mrs Creek has extensive experience in the seedstock and commercial industry, including 18 years managing her family’s highly-successful The Basin stud with her husband Bruce.
After the stud’s dispersal, the Creeks became business managers for the Bainger family’s Hillcrest Pastoral Company – a commercial beef operation in the South East of about 2500 Angus and Angus-cross females.
In the past few years they have also been the driving force behind building a large-scale Angus herd from Australian genetics in Kazakhstan.
Mrs Creek, who has been on the state committee for more than 20 years, succeeds previous chair Hugh Munro, Booroomooka Angus stud, Bingara, NSW, who has retired.
"The willingness of Angus producers to embrace performance recording and new technology has lead to the breed being a premium product in both the domestic and international marketplace," she said.
The elected board comprises Brad Gilmour and Michael Gadd, Vic; Laurence Denholm, Sam White and Dean Fredricksen from NSW; Lindsay Wolrige, WA; Brett Piraner, Qld; Samantha Dobson, Tas; and Mrs Creek and Perry Gunner, Stoney Point Angus stud, Meningie.
In 2015, Angus Australia had 72,260 registrations.