WA YOUTH
CATTLE CAMP

Since its commencement in 2005, the WA Youth Cattle Handlers Camp has not only grown in numbers, but has evolved rapidly with the evolution of exhibiting cattle. The WA Youth Cattle Camp is proud to offer numerous prizes and Scholarships to its Highest Achieving entrants each year, including the Christopher Ferguson Memorial award. 

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Christopher Ferguson Memorial Award

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Hi my name is Deborah Ferguson and my son Christopher Ferguson was honoured with this memorial award as dedication to his love of life, cattle and friendships’ that came about from his short time at this great camp.

The camp was developed after many discussions at various homes, meetings and a trip to the South Australian Junior Heifer Expo to spot ideas and garnish any hints and tips we could find to run a camp here in WA.

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Chris loved all and everything outdoorsy. He loved working and playing with animals – cattle, sheep, goats, the dogs and horses. He also loved and played many sports. Hockey was one his favorite sports along with tennis and cricket, but his

most favorite outdoor fun was hooning on his quad bike in the dunes and fishing. If there was a chance, he could drop a line

in any water you could be rest assured he would end up with a fish on the line in no time.

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Chris fought so hard to be involved in everything, he inspired so many of his friends to never give up.

He showed tremendous courage and love to his family and friends. He never gave up despite being very ill at times, he

had many days and then months in hospital with an unexplainable compromised immune system that took him from us all.

This award is for hard work, dedication to the task, encouragement, the love of cattle and the respect for knowledge and learning. This was truly what Chris strived for and inspired others to do the same.

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As a long time member of the cattle showing community, there were many discussions as to “how do we get more young people involved in the cattle industry” as a whole. There was a huge gap opening up where we, the showing community, were worried that the many talents and vast amounts of knowledge would be lost to the younger generation, as the aging show community unfortunately had to move on. Something needed to be done to get more of the younger generation involved with showing. The idea was also to included exhibiting cattle, presentation for sales, general cattle knowledge, husbandry, animal selection for breeding and the list goes on.

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South Australia Heifer Expo at that time had been holding a cattle camp with the emphasis on a heifer show and sale for the better part of 15 years and was extremely successful at educating the youth in many aspects of the cattle industry. Showing was the main draw card but the rewards were fantastic. From entering into major shows, further education in the cattle breeding programs, scholarships to farms and stations for jackaroo or jillaroo positions and more scholarships to other shows and states, New Zealand and connections to the USA and Canada cattle enterprises. I travelled to South Australia armed with pen and paper to pick up any hints, tips and ideas on how we could hold a camp for the youth here in WA. With the help of the very dedicated and enthusiastic committee we started planning our very own West Australian Youth Camp.

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Lesley Millner, my mum, Chris’s nana, was patron and a major sponsor, creating the position for the winner to attend the Charolais Youth Muster, with her ties as co- Principle with Rob Millner of the Downunder Charolais Stud. The sponsorship was created to encourage the youth to further their showing and cattle skills and to gain knowledge in the cattle industry to gain employment in a field of dedicated cattle enthusiasts.

It was a great honour for Chris, his brother Mat and sister Issy and myself to be involved with the first of many camps and then to be involved with the development of the many camps after Chris’s passing. This is and will always be a great avenue for our youth to be involved in the cattle industry, to learn new skills, gain employment and become future cattle enthusiasts and most importantly develop friendships that last the test of time. Chris love his time at the camp and the many friendships he made along the way, friendship’s  that he cherished and looked forward to each year.