How this Ekka enthusiast's love for Herefords started with a wedding present

When Eunice McIndoe married Angus Vivers in 2001, the wedding present from her family was two stud Hereford heifers.

At this year's Royal Queensland Show, a team of seven Hereford cattle and two calves, harking back to that wedding present, bought home six ribbons for the Vivers family's Jindalee Hereford stud, Kings Plains, NSW.

Mrs Vivers' family migrated to Australia from Ayrshire, south west of Glasgow, Scotland, in November 1988.

"I was here (in Australia) doing a 12-month spell in that time anyway, and I actually had to go back home and do all the paperwork, and I came here in November 89," she said.

"We were living southwest of Glasgow, right on the coast. If you looked over (the sea) you could see Ireland on a clear day.

This year's RNA was another trip north of the border for Jindalee, and the Ekka is back on the agenda for 2026; bookings are being made, and plans are being made.

Mrs Vivers, her son Will, his partner Mel, her brother's wife Bec McIndoe and their three daughters, Skye, Isla and Kirsty, made the pilgrimage to the Royal Queensland Show, a trip that was partly educational, strongly social and a great break on the cusp of spring in the Northern Tablelands on NSW.

Mrs Vivers and her cattle team have been coming to the Ekka since 2010, with a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We got a ribbon with everything, apart from one, which was in sick bay. So I cannot complain," she said.

The candidate for the sick bay was, perhaps, a bit homesick as the heifer wouldn't drink or eat.

"Nothing was drastically wrong, but the vets were fabulous and gave her some Epsom salts."

The McIndoe sisters had a whale of a time, entering the strong series of programs for school students with Skye being placed sixth and earning a ribbon in the school paraders competition at her first Ekka.

Mrs Vivers said accompanying her son Will, when he was a student at McIntyre High School, Inverell, NSW, as part of the school's agriculture team was the reasoning behind that first trip to Brisbane.

"We then thought, if we're going up, we might as well take some cattle.

The Vivers' Jindalee Herefords belong to the Northern NSW Hereford group, and their 'raid' over the border this year took home all the major broad ribbons on the breed showing.

The bonus was Te-Angie Poll Herefords, Wongwibinda, east of Armidale, NSW, showing Truro, the winner of the interbreed bull sash.

"Our Herefords Northern Group is strong, and we all get on."

She said every evening, members of the group take turns hosting the nibbles at about 5.30pm every night.

"So you can come to the Hereford Hall and chat. It's all quite sociable.

"Well, there's no Cattleman's Bar anymore. You see the little BWS van pulling up at the gate, and everyone gets their supplies."

She said her nieces were already planning for next year's Ekka and they were looking at booking accommodation while still in Brisbane.

"Unfortunately, we can't stay where we were this year. I think the World Charolais conference will be held at the Ekka next year," she said.

She said the Jindalee herd has grown in 'bits and pieces', including a handy draft from the Yarram Park, Victoria, dispersal last year.

She said Queensland cattle producers' interest in Herefords seemed to be on the increase.

"The recent Glen Innes, NSW, multi-vendor sale attracted a number seeking whiteface bulls.

"They told us, 'we just can't find them in Queensland'."