Clarence River cattleman's memorial fills the front garden with hundreds of mourners

A Clarence River cattleman with a sharp eye for type and a memory to match, Michael Fahey from Nettle Creek was sent off in a grand memorial on Friday, after dying at home, June 16, aged 78.

It was a big send off, with perhaps 500 people from the Dorrigo Plateau to Queensland's western Downs all crowding the Fahey family's front garden.

The view of the river and its tributary on which the respected breeder will lay, provided a picture perfect backdrop on a quiet and windless day.

Loved for his cheeky sense of humour and the genuine interest he had for everyone he met, Mr Fahey was also a sound judge of commercial cattle and respected breeder of stud Brahmans. He dabbled in racehorses too, with one winning the South Grafton Cup.

As a young man working with Hugh Innes of Walla Station, on the Burnett River near Gin Gin, Qld, he met and married Mr Innes' youngest daughter Elizabeth or "Bizzy" and the new pair came home to Nettle Creek to start the Bizzy Brahman stud.

This was a decisive time for the emerging breed in the Northern Rivers. Mr Fahey had seen the potential of the indicus cattle to survive while droving stock for Sinclair Hill at Moree during a drought in the 1960s and that experience led to his pursuit of better-doing genetics.

But first the newly married couple had to come to terms with the realities of station life.

Here was a property, formerly part of Gordonbrook Station, owned by Mr Fahey and his brother Terry, but the house presented to the bride full of hay and molasses, with accompanying wildlife.

The cattle crash and subsequent soft market right through the 1970s nearly crushed the young enterprise with the brothers working off farm - Michael on the RED Scheme or cutting sleepers and Terry taking work with the Morgan family, Arubial in the Condamine district.

Bizzy took everything in her stride and continued to do so through 51 years of their marriage, half of that time caring closely for her husband.

Diagnosed with a pituitary gland brain tumour aged just 50, Mr Fahey with the help of his family survived ensuing strokes and degenerating physical ability. And yet his witty brain remained clear to the finish. Less than a fortnight before passing he attended the Brahman feature show at Farmfest Field Days, Toowoomba, Qld where he commented on good types and recognised other breeders' stud cattle from back home.

In the ring at Farmfest were Mr Fahey's 10 grandchildren - each one indebted to their grandfather for teaching the skills of life and learning and they said so at Friday's memorial.

His impact was felt across a wide circle of friends.

"Michael taught me respect, good manners, the judging of cattle and a love of kids," quipped Casino show society stalwart Sue Serone.

And it wasn't just their own children.

Dorrigo livestock agent and judge at multiple Royal shows Tim Bayliss said he was invited to Nettle Creek for work experience as a Tocal student back in the mid 1980s. He lived in the house with the family for a month, rode their horses, broke in a new one, and learned from Mr Fahey the value a sharp eye for stock.

Stratheden Braford breeder Doug Bennett, Little Valley Grazing Co, recalled Mr Fahey applying for a job as head classifier with his breed society and as part of a phenotype test the organisers put a cull bull back in the race, but this time all covered with muck. Mr Fahey was the only contender to spot the repeated animal.

"He was out last time he came through," he said, "send him away!" And the job was his.

Yulgilbar manager Brett Ellem said Mr Fahey had a gut instinct for growing out cattle in a tough coastal climate, calving late enough that offspring still on their mothers could cope with a flush of new summer feed.

"I use his advice to this day," he said.

Fellow Brahman breeder and close associate Max Johnson, Jomanda at Clarenza, grew up two farms from Mr Fahey, their families then running dairy cattle, and both boys went to Copmanhurst Primary School where a tough headmaster had a particularly critical eye for the cheeky one.

Later in life Michael loaned Max a Brahman bull and bought back his first heifer, with bull calf at foot.

"He was a great help to us," said Mr Johnson. "We used his advice a lot."

Mr Fahey's coffin was delivered from his home, on his favourite horse, to rest beneath a spreading tree where Nettle Creek joins the mighty Clarence.

"He knew what he liked and was not influenced by fad or trends and passed his skills onto future generations," said Mr Fahey's third child Innes, who with wife Jeck and family have carried on the stud brand.

"To the end he knew what to look for. He was a father figure to the end and he was my hero."

Mr Fahey is survived by his wife Elizabeth or Bizzy, and his four children Margaretta, Burnett, Innes and Alice.