Beef studs skipping royal shows amid labour struggles and rising costs

For Australia's royal shows, the COVID-19 pandemic was a watershed moment.

For the Ekka and the Sydney Royal, it was the first time since World War II that the show didn't go on.

But as cost of living and production issues pressure producers, some are questioning the role of royal shows in Australia's studstock industry.

Crunching the numbers

At the Ekka, stud beef entries in 2023 stabilised at around 950 to 1000 head of cattle - down from the approximately 1100 head seen before the pandemic.

RNA cattle chair Gary Noller said years of disruption and cancelled shows prompted some exhibitors to reassess whether to take part in 2022 and 2023.

The number of stud beef exhibits in 2024 showed a further slip to just 915 head of cattle battling for stud beef ribbons, though the Santa Gertrudis breed picked up numbers on the previous year, from 106 to 134 head.

The Royal Canberra Show has also struggled with consistent numbers, though stud attendance has seen a slight improvement over the past five or six years, from 350 head in 2020 to 415 in 2024 - and Adelaide, too, has been faced with a small, if not yet alarming, decline to 270 entries in 2024.

The falls might not be fatal, but some breed societies confirmed the trend.

"There's still a presence at the shows, but it's certainly declined since COVID," Charolais Society of Australia general manager Colin Rex said.

Santa Gertrudis, Hereford and Shorthorn entries at the Sydney Royal only returned to par three years after returning from the pandemic, while Ayrshires have struggled to reclaim their ground.

Bucking the trends

Not all shows have struggled to get back on the horse.

At Sydney, overall numbers have been firmly on the upswing since shows resumed, seeing around 1560 cattle entries in 2023.

While that number fell to 1400 in 2024, organisers believed the fall was largely due to close timing with the Beef Australia 2024 event in Rockhampton, Qld.

The fall in participation at the Adelaide Show hasn't been cause for alarm, with organisers confident the strong participation in youth and school entries will soon offset any serious loss of older exhibitors.

Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of SA marketing manager Jordan Philp said it was common for numbers to fluctuate.

Some breeds have weathered the storm better than others.

Angus Australia CEO Scott Wright said the breed had a "strong nucleus" of studs committed to the royal shows, and felt numbers were strong in recent years despite talk of a long-term decline.

"Angus has always been a very performance-driven breed, but we've got a core of breeders that are very keen on shows," he said.

"They enjoy doing that and it's part of their business program."

Santa Gertrudis general manager Brad Cooper said a recent improvement in numbers was impressive given the timing with Beef 2024.

"I think the amount of cattle being shown this year [at the Ekka] is a real shot in the arm," he said.

"It shows the strength of our breed, and the confidence I think that our members in their animals and the confidence they have in the season moving forward."

Putting pressure on breeders

Mr Wright said rising costs of fees and feed were a source of anxiety for members in what was already an "expensive exercise".

The cost and time associated with transporting and accommodating both staff and cattle in Brisbane has been a headache the Ekka has acknowledged.

RNA cattle chair Gary Noller said long-term staff retention was also impacting exhibitors' eagerness to make the trip.

While the Canberra Show has seen small increases in entries over the past five or six years, factors such as cost-of-living issues and natural disasters have influenced attendance.

According to cattle section head Peter Frater, there has been a shift towards a "more effective cost return on individual breeds."

Tattykeel Angus director Graham Gilmore described the Oberon, NSW stud as "quite new to showing cattle", but has had success at the Sydney Royal with both sheep and beef.

He, too, can sympathise with studs who have tried to cut corners to cope with the soaring cost of living in "everything we do".

"As a family for Sydney Royal, [when] we would stay in motels, we now stay in a unit, because it's much cheaper," Mr Gilmore said.

"You've certainly got to peel your costs back."

Widespread workforce shortages have also had consequences for showing, with studs struggling to find hands to both help prepare cattle and keep an eye on things at home.

Charolais Society of Australia general manager Colin Rex said showing cattle was a "labour-intensive exercise", compounded by current difficulties in sourcing workers.

"I used to show cattle 30 or 40 years ago, and there was a lot of people that just helped studs show cattle," he said.

"A lot of studs had stud managers, they had stud grooms, and that has reduced quite substantially.

"There may be a stud manager, but not so much stud grooms, and so there's not that pool of labour that used to exist, that people can call on to go to shows. And that may mean that people are still showing, but showing less cattle."

Tim Bell is a director at Speckle Park International and has also claimed top ribbons at the royal shows in his own right, formerly involved with Six Star Speckle Park, Bundanoon, NSW until 2019, and today as an owner of Pemberton Speckle Park, Glenquarry, NSW.

The struggle to find quality workers has been sorely felt.

"I'm in a couple of different businesses and labour is always a very, very hard thing to find the right people and people you can trust to do it," Mr Bell said.

"That does impact on a lot of people not being able to leave the farm if they can't find the right people to look after it while they're gone."

Studs go digital

With high costs, labour issues and little time to spare, studs are more frequently skipping the show ring and relying on the digital marketplace.

Charolais Society of Australia general manager Colin Rex said the issue came down to "value in marketing".

"With what COVID did do - and Australia was already well down the line of pushing people towards buying cattle online and trusting videos - when we look at the number of sales on AuctionsPlus and StockLive, compared to some other countries, we're well ahead of the pack," Mr Rex said.

"We've got great platforms for selling cattle online.

"People are using other sources of information rather than attending the royal shows as they may have done 30 or 40 years ago, when obviously videos and online sales weren't available."

Tattykeel Angus director Graham Gilmore is a firm believer in the benefits of showing, but said COVID was an escape route for some breeders from the show system.

"I don't think COVID's changed people showing," he said.

"It's allowed people to think, 'oh, well, it didn't make any difference to the way our animals sold'."