CEO Update November

November was a particularly busy month for Herefords Australia, and I would sincerely like to thank the team for the huge effort that they have put in to ensure we stay on top of member services while we have been short staffed.

That is why we are excited to be able to announce that we have two new staff members joining the Herefords Australia team over the next couple of weeks. The great news is that both of them will be able to join us before Christmas and will be able to hit the ground running with significant member services experience under their belts using the same systems that we use here at Herefords Australia.

Samantha de Ruiter will be joining the team as the Member Services Manager. Sam has most recently been working as the Breed Secretariat Team Leader and Red Angus Executive Officer at ABRI. Sam has previously worked as the Registry Manager at Performance Beef Breeders NZ helping support a number of breeds including New Zealand Herefords.

Dimity Evans will be joining us as the Member Services Officer. Dimity recently graduated from a Bachelor of Agriculture Degree and has been working as Registrar for 13 different breed associations at ABRI. Dimity has also previously worked at JBS Prime City Feedlot.

We are thrilled to have two people with these skills and experiences joining us and look forward to welcoming them to the team over the next couple of weeks.

Over the past few months we have continued to focus on communicating the message of how well Hereford cattle meet and exceed industry specifications and drive profitability in grazing businesses. We have not only been communicating this message through our normal channels but also in a way that means the message is likely to be picked up and amplified by others, both through the press and social media.

Early in November we hosted the Future Leaders and Breeders study tour. The event was a great success with tickets sold out and really great feedback from attendees who toured Windy Station, Killara Feedlot and the Teys Australia plant in Tamworth. The event also gave us the opportunity to engage with our corporate partners, event sponsors and other media to get the key messages from the forum communicated much more widely. We particularly saw AuctionsPlus and The Land sharing stories widely as well as others on social media.

We have also seen other good news stories over the last few weeks with Hereford breeders Glen and Maree Gray winning the Most Outstanding MSA Non-feedlot Band 2 award for Queensland.

David Meikle’s team of steers in the Lardner Park Steer Trial finished the trial with the highest overall weight gain.

The team has been putting the finishing touches on the Herefords Australia 2026 Magazine, and it is now at the printers (keep your eye out for it in your mailbox over the next week or so) with a wide range of articles that outline the benefits of Hereford cattle to the broader beef industry.

All of these are things that members can get behind and share more widely with others to help grow market share for the Hereford breed. Your voice is an important part of the wider Hereford marketing strategy. I encourage you to keep sharing positive stories about the breed widely.

For those of you who will be taking bulls to the National Show and Sale entries will be opening 15 December 2025. Yes, the National Show and Sale as well as the breed forum and AGM will be held in Wodonga from the 12^th to the 14^th of May 2026.

As always if there is anything that you would like to discuss please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Warm regards,

Hamish Chandler

CEO Herefords Australia