A Hereford steer donated by Tim and Jemma Reid has raised $12,259 for anti-bullying and cyber safety programs for Australian youth after being auctioned at the Royal Canberra Show.
The 18-month-old steer, JTR Speak Up, was bought for $6250 by Royal Canberra Show President Rick Jones, who re-offered the steer back to auction, with a syndicate of Crookwell businesses paying the successful bid of $6000 to raise a total of $12,250 for the charity, Dolly’s Dream.
The businesses were Southern Livestock Agencies, McGeechan Farm Supplies, Crookwell Veterinary Hospital, Crookwell Tyre Service, Hewitt’s Ag and Plant Repairs, Melon Pastoral and Davies Newsagency.
The steer had been raised on Quayle Milling pellets for almost 100 days and named Speak Up in line with the charity’s aim to stamp out bullying.
“The result the steer achieved at Canberra blew our minds and was a pleasing result. Tim had worked hard to get together the group of buyers from Crookwell and for the president of Canberra Royal to come through as well,” Jemma said.
Speak Up was sired by Maildaburra Jarrah J2 and out of JTR Cherry Ripe L17, and the beef will be distributed among the Crookwell syndicate.
Jemma praised the Hereford community for its camaraderie, support networks, mentoring and family atmosphere.
She and Tim now support young people coming through Hereford Youth, mentoring a team of young boys at the 2023 Herefords Australia National Youth Expo at Parkes.
“The boys have accompanied us to every show we have exhibited at this year – that is really cool to support those young boys in their journey. We also take animals to the heifer show as ballot animals and will have up to 10 this year at Cootamundra, especially to assist young people who didn’t have the opportunities Tim and I did when we were young,” Jemma said.
“It is nice to give back. We are proud that after all the hard work we have put into the industry, to see other young people succeed and watch them develop.
“Our six-year-old son Harry is old enough to attend the heifer shows now and to see the friendships he has created with the kids is exciting for us. To see them work as part of a team is really nice.”
In a year of giving back for the couple, they are donating the heifer for the most potential breeder at the 2024 Herefords Australia National Youth Expo at Cootamundra in July.
The weaner heifer, JTR Golden Vanity, was sired by a Canadian bull Harvie OVHF Medcalfe 55J and out of Wirruna Golden Vanity M261, the 2021 Miss World Hereford silver medallist.
“This will give a younger person at the heifer show an opportunity to either start their stud or take their stud forward with a heifer of high calibre breeding,” Jemma said.
“This is the year of giving back for all the opportunities that were given to us.”
About Dollys Dream:
Dolly’s Dream pays tribute to a Northern Territory teenager, Dolly Everett, who lost her life in 2018 at the hands of online bullying.
In 2023, Dolly’s Dream delivered anti-bullying and cyber safety workshops to students, parents, and teachers in schools across Australia and enabled young people and families who have been affected by bullying to call the Dolly’s Dream Support line 24 hours a day, seven days a week for free counselling.
Additionally, the program offers free mental health first aid training to strengthen the capacity of regional, rural and remote communities.
Dolly’s Dream has partnered with the Telethon Kids Institute to make Beacon, a free cyber safety app for parents and carers across the nation with practical resources to help them confidently navigate children’s technology use and reduce associated harms. It has been downloaded over 25,000 times since being launched in 2020.
Last year Dolly’s Dream delivered 120 workshops to over 7600 students in 32 schools in almost every state and territory with 72 per cent of the workshops delivered in rural Australia.
In 2023, a total of $802,625 was raised for Dolly’s Dream allowing 5000 students to attend kindness workshops, an 809 per cent increase on 2022, a community sports club program was launched, and 60 building structures were lit in blue lights to build awareness.
JTR Speak Up was donated by Tim and Jemma Reid, JTR Cattle Company, Roslyn, to raise funds for anti-bullying and cyber safety programs run by Dolly’s Dream.
