Big prizes for revamped cattle section

VISITORS to the Brunswick Show will find a whole new cattle section this year with major changes inside and outside the pavilion.

Trade cattle chief steward Rodney Galati said the whole section has had a revamp ahead of the 2017 show.

“It was just a general consensus among the committee and the industry that maybe it was a bit tired,” he said.

This year will see six categories in the section, down from 10 previously, due in part to the increase in sponsors giving much bigger prizes.

“A lot of the reasoning behind that was we got some fairly major sponsorship this year as far as prize money and vouchers go,” Mr Galati said.

He said the total value of the prizes this year amounted to about $15,000.

“We’ve never seen anything like that before,” he said.

“We’ve attracted people from Gingin to Pemberton which we’re pretty excited about because it just brings new people in.”

Mr Galati said the number of categories was reduced to have more competing in each for the more substantial prizes.

A number of upgrades have also been made to the cattle pavilion including fans above the seating, safety marking for the stairs and rubber matting in the cattle yards.

“The complex is 25 years old and it was just time to have some upgrades,” Mr Galati said.

This year will also see four auctioneers from different stock companies taking part in the cattle auction to give attendees a better insight into the industry.

“It was an opportunity to show the public, if we can get enough in here on show day, how auctioneers work,” Mr Galati said.

“It’s about everybody promoting the industry.”