31 July 2026. Michael Penna, AgForce North Regional Director.
It's time to give a shout out to AgForce's younger members in the North Region, whose hard work, time and effort over the past four years has created something extremely special.
Their aim was to bring cattle back to the shows in the area. They went about it by taking over the show cattle sections of their local shows and even donating their own stud cattle to the schools.
The students then feed, break and handle the cattle, before showing them in competition for the AgForce Schools Shield and Young Handler's series.
The competition now runs across four shows at Charters Towers, Winton, Hughenden and Ingham.
It's growing year on year and this year's winners were Blackheath & Thornburgh College in Charters Towers, who've now taken the honours two years in a row. The AgForce Schools Shield is a perpetual shield, so we expect it to be hotly contested for years to come.
All of the students have become very friendly across the different schools and are a lovely bunch of young people.
The Young Handler series is becoming a hotly contested series, where the participating students accumulate points over the four shows to win trophy buckles.
It has obviously struck a chord because some students - and their families - have travelled as far as from Winton to Ingham to accumulate points in the series.
We've also had three huge family BBQs this year, with 140 people of all ages at Hughenden, 100 at Ingham and 180 at Charters Towers - that's three generations from some families and our extended AgForce community.
These BBQs have become a not-to-be missed event on the calendar.
It's really something special and it's so rewarding to be part of the community that is being created, all thanks to the collaboration of our younger members in different parts of the North Region.
We're grateful to those younger members who began this initiative and for allowing us to become a trusted part of the community in this way, to give back.
