Kerri McKenzie honoured for Droughtmaster passion

18 Nov 2024

 

You could say when Kerri McKenzie met her husband Andrew, she found not one but two great loves in her life.

Kerri had spent plenty of time around cattle, but when Andrew introduced her to Droughtmasters, she found her true calling. 

“He’s (Andrew) the one that got me into Droughties, and now it is a massive passion of mine, I absolutely love the Droughtmaster breed,” Kerri said. 

“They are beautiful animals to deal with, I just love looking at them, they have so many traits I love, such as softness and doing ability.” 

Kerri was this year’s recipient of the Neil Donaldson Memorial Award, named in honour of former Droughtmaster Australia CEO Neil Donaldson. 

Neil dedicated half of his working life to building Droughtmaster Australia and promoting the Droughtmaster breed, and the award is presented in recognition of exceptional leadership and contribution to the breed. 

“Neil did a lot for the breed, he was there for over 20 years, he was a great man, he did so much and was so dedicated to the breed.” 

Kerri is the co-principal of K-Team Droughtmasters, a 25-head stud herd at Biloela in Queensland, which she runs with her sister and brother-in-law, Kelli and Mark Smith. 

While she now works a fly-in fly-out roster to help build the operation as her sole focus, Kerri has spent many years dedicating much of her time to the Droughtmaster breed, in particular the next generation of breeders. 

This has included being Beef Australia breed shed captain, being part of the Droughtmaster show committee and penning up bulls at the Droughtmaster National Bull Sale for more than a decade. 

Kerri and Andrew have also attended countless youth cattle camps, volunteering themselves and their animals to help others. 

“Anyone that is interested in the industry, doesn’t have to do with Droughtmaster, but just the cattle industry – the young ones need mentoring and people to help them out,” Kerri said. 

“I’d love to see more young people step up and do more…we need to train the younger people a lot more to get involved, there are so many passionate young cattle breeders out there who want to make a difference.” 

Kerri said winning this award, and having it be presented by Neil’s brother Gary Donaldson, meant “everything” to her. 

“You don’t do things to receive awards but I am so grateful they picked me,” she said. 

“There are so many people that do so much for the breed that could win this award and I hope they get their chance.

“If people just give that little bit of time, it doesn’t take much at all to make someone else’s job so much easier – the Society does so much, so if we can help in any way it might lighten the load for them. 

Kerri says she herself has been fortunate enough to learn a lot over the years, firstly from husband Andrew, and then from many “wonderful people and mentors within the breed…too many to thank them all”. 

Kerri hopes to spend all her time with her Droughtmasters in the future, and thinks the outlook for the breed is very positive. 

“The promotion and marketing from the Society has seen cattle breeders looking to Droughtmasters for the first time in recent years – I can see the change with the new board, it has gone in leaps and bounds and I am so proud of what they have achieved.”