12 minute read
The Quiet Achiever - Kay Geddes
Extract from 'Cattlemen in Pearls' published in 2018. Written by Amanda Salisbury.
Kay Geddes (1949-2023)
Photo: Amanda Salisbury
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It’s fair to say this Capricornia cattlewoman doesn’t seek the limelight.
Kay Geddes is hardworking, she’s deeply knowledgeable and she’s visionary—but this successful Central Queensland seedstock breeder, well-known in Brangus, Brahman and Braford circles, is far more comfortable in her many behind-the-scenes roles. Kay has somehow managed to avoid being in front of a camera (or the focus of a story) for the majority of her working life, which is probably why very little has been written about her and few photos exist of her work, until now.
Kay was born in October 1949 to Bill and Mavis Tennent, of Doonside, north of Rockhampton. Almost seven decades later, she lives in the very same house she grew up in, with her devoted husband and partner-in-all-things, Bill.
Doonside is a 14,500 hectare world unto itself, tucked in amongst the ironbark hills, between the Byfield ranges and The Caves township. Much more than just a cattle property, it has cast a magic spell that has held this quiet achiever in its thrall for almost 70 years. Winding dirt roads take you through this pretty coastal country, past picturesque billabongs and through trickling creeks between heavily timbered ridges, skirting giant fig trees before arriving at the sprawling homestead and expansive timber yards.
The few times Kay has been lured away from Doonside include her schooling years in Rockhampton, a decision made by her parents thanks to the treacherous white soil flats isolating the property whenever it rained. She stayed with her grandmother during the week while attending primary school, before going on to board at the Rockhampton Girls’ Grammar School until the end of Year 10.
Kay was the middle child of three, with brothers Bobby and Barry providing lots of rough and tumble early memories around the Doonside paddocks. One of the most pivotal days in her life story occurred when Kay was just eight years of age. The Tennents owned a beach house at Yeppoon, which they would visit throughout the year for some well-earned downtime. While the family was preparing to return to Doonside after a visit in March 1957, Kay’s older brother, Bobby, insisted they have just one more swim in the ocean.
‘It was terrible—he was the first to be stung by the box jellyfish and he died before we could get him to hospital. My dad had sting welts all over his chest from carrying him out of the water.
‘He was only two years older than me, but Bobby was my idol—I still think of him often and his loss has probably spurred me on a bit, made me more determined in what I do. His death was an event that almost wrecked my parents’ lives and after that we went travelling every year in March.’
Soon afterwards, Kay’s parents became interested in stud cattle, with their energies keenly focussed on building their own Braford stud. Kay headed straight home to Doonside after school and her passion for stud cattle was kindled too.
Kay aged 18, in 1967 at Rockhampton Show with Dexter.
‘I always loved the outside work, but there were a lot of home duties which I wasn’t so keen on. Right from the start, it was the stud work that I enjoyed: one of my main roles was doing the registrations and bookwork’, Kay recalls. ‘Doonside Brafords were successful at sales and shows when I was young; I really loved looking after the cattle.’
The side-benefit for this quiet, shy teenager was the social life that came with the show circuit; and a chance to spend time with her future husband. It was a young Bill Geddes, whose family bred and showed Brangus cattle, who would steal her heart and become her life-long soulmate.
‘He loved cattle and country as much as I did: we became best friends and married in 1971.’
Bill and Kay on their wedding day in 1971.
The couple initially lived on his home property, Couti Outi, near Shoalwater Bay, for ten months. They also worked a lease block called Stanage Bay, 40 kilometres further north and right on the coast, where they ran an additional 400 breeders.
‘We rode our horses from Couti Outi to muster and dip. This was rather rough country and we had some rather rough rides’, Kay recalls with a wry grin.
The couple also got the chance to run cattle at the Tennant family property, The Springs.
‘We packed up our breeders and drove them from Stanage Bay to The Springs. Bill had his Brangus cows and I had my Brafords. We set up two studs, Springs Brangus and Springs Brafords, which we both ran. That was a great time of our lives.’
The couple moved back to Doonside in 1974 with the retirement of Kay’s parents, right in the infamous cattle depression. They knuckled down together, worked on their herd and weathered this major challenge.
‘Because Doonside was a well-known Braford stud, we concentrated fully on our Braford herd. At that time, they were very popular; the annual Braford sale at Gracemere was a three-day sale’, says Kay.
Daughter Jane was born by emergency caesarian in November 1975 on the day before such a sale, where Bill was busy preparing to sell a line of 50 bulls.
‘It was also Melbourne Cup Day, so my father, who was chairman of the Rockhampton Jockey Club, and Mum who was hostess for the race meet, were also otherwise occupied. It was drama personified!’ Jane explains.
Son Billy arrived the following year in slightly less adventurous fashion, and both children grew up in a happily cattle-mad household.
Jane, now a successful seedstock producer in her own right with Charlevue Brangus, recalls some of her earliest memories of Kay painstakingly photographing dozens of Braford bulls in the Doonside sale ring, with (a mostly patient) Bill standing them up correctly.
‘Billy and I would be with playing with the poddies, while Mum and Dad spent days taking photos of those bulls! They were first in the region to put together a full-colour brochure with individual bull photos for a sale, back in the day when rolls of film had to be sent off to be developed.
‘She has an amazing eye, and probably should have been a show judge, but she was always happy to be in the background, always taking photos of bulls and us, while avoiding the camera herself!’
Juggling the tasks of motherhood, studmaster and beef producer seemed to come naturally, with Kay marketing Doonside bulls, helping organise the on-property sale itself, and cooking all the food.
‘She did a fantastic job managing it all’, says Jane.
In 1983 Kay found herself bidding for the unique cattle block, Casuarina Island, while Bill was away showing cattle. Situated at the mouth of the Fitzroy River, the island is 8000 hectares and rich in marine couch grass.
‘We really thought it would make a lot of money. Bidding was very slow and when it got to $270,000 I owned an island’, she says, recalling her sense of disbelief and cautious excitement.
The couple ran 700 breeders on the island, and enjoyed a cherished annual ritual of mustering, branding, drafting and moving animals off the island on a barge.
A visit from a long-time friend who had begun importing the high-marbling Japanese breed, Wagyu, prompted an experimental change in breeding direction for the Geddes. They took their Braford herd, and inseminated the females to Wagyu bulls. It was a move that would prove both financially rewarding and image-eroding for the couple.
‘I think cross-breeding with Wagyu was a bit ahead of its time. Some people in the stud world really lost respect for us during that period’, Kay says sadly. ‘The thing was, the money we made from our Wagyu-cross really allowed us to buy our fattening blocks at Wandoan and Taroom.’
Son Billy and wife Jo continue to oversee the very successful Wagyu herd at these southern blocks, while also running separate quarry and trucking businesses with Billy also pursuing a successful career in off-road racing.
‘He gets that from you!’ Bill exclaims, referring to Kay’s love of motor vehicles and feel for an accelerator.
‘We are proud of our independence; it’s something that Mum and Dad instilled in us at a young age’, Billy says. He recalls early adventures with his mother on the often flood-prone creek systems of Doonside. ‘She and I would climb into a boat and just row for kilometres to get through floodwaters so we could get supplies. She had no qualms and was a pretty good swimmer!’
In the early ‘90s, Kay and Bill decided to focus their work on the Brangus herd, a breed that had begun growing strongly in popularity.
Trips to the United States convinced the pair that adding American genetics to their herd would provide the vigour and point of difference they were seeking.
‘In 1999 we went to Camp Cooley, a Texan seedstock operation, and selected out our favourite bulls: every single one was by a bull called Transformer of Brinks. That’s how we started adding to the Australian Brangus genepool.’
All of this vision, of course, translated into hard work and very long hours back at the Doonside yards. ‘We had two bulls and 1000 cows to inseminate’, Bill says, recalling the enormous workload.
In the days before heat detector stickers, while Bill was out working in the paddocks, Kay would spend hours watching the cows to identify which were cycling, and the family would work into the night by torchlight to complete the inseminations.
‘Mum has such an eye; she could easily pick out the cows coming on. That’s not an easy job in a mob of black cattle. It could come down to the way the hair lay on their heads’, says daughter Jane. ‘I think cattle are really individuals to her, rather than a mob.’
Husband Bill recalls the commitment Kay showed to the process, regardless of weather conditions. ‘She’s never been frightened to muck in. The yards were six kilometres from the house, on the other side of the creek, and there were times when it rained that she had to swim that creek and walk home when the AI was done!’
All of this tireless work and vision were soon repaid. Initially offering Braford bulls, the Doonside Sale soon became better known for great lines of red and black Brangus bulls, run annually in the impressive timber complex sprawled beside the homestead. In its heyday, it was the nation’s most successful on-property Brangus sale, only stopping in 2013 as the organisational side of the event became too much.
Tough times and tough markets have seen Kay’s instincts for a bovine bargain, and sharp eye for a lucrative business opportunity, come in very handy.
‘During the slump just a few years ago, while Bill was working in the paddocks, I’d head to the weekly Gracemere Sale to see what bargains there were’, she recalls. ‘I’d pick up the odds and sods—the ones that others didn’t want—and take them home to feed them up. The agents didn’t take me seriously at first, but soon realised I knew my stuff. Bill tried it once and brought home a line of softer heifers, which didn’t do nearly so well financially’, she smiles.
Since 2000, red and grey Brahmans have become more prevalent in Doonside stud paddocks, a clean-coated influence that can be seen through the Brangus herd as well. A line of Grey Brangus has been identified within the herd and marketed to Brangus and Brahman operations. This new ‘breed within a breed’ once again sees the Geddes family pushing the boundaries and thinking outside the square.
Recent health problems have restricted Kay’s ability to be as hands-on with the stud, a situation which clearly frustrates her. Her passion for each stud breed she has been involved with is illustrated as she talks about specific animals whose temperament and success have made them most memorable.
‘Oh, I love all sorts of animals really: I have some great memories of dogs and horses as a child. Dexter was an early favourite, a Braford bull that I owned and showed before I got married.’
The Geddes’ enthusiasm for the sport of rugby league has been reflected in more recently chosen bull names, with Wendell the Grey Brangus bull and the puppy-dog quiet red Brahman bull known as JT, named after Jonathon Thurston. Kay lights up when she visits this two-yearold, 900kg bull in the Doonside house yards, and her delight in being able to rub him down transforms her.
This close affinity for her bovine friends has made aspects of being a seedstock and beef producer very difficult. ‘I get a bit emotional about them, especially when they go, and that makes this job hard sometimes.’
As for the future, Kay cannot see anything changing while she has her best mate, husband Bill, by her side, and cattle grazing out the window.
‘I know I am slowing down now but I still love it here at Doonside: I just can’t imagine being anywhere else.’
Kay and Bill at Doonside yards.
Photo: Amanda Salisbury.
