Allen and Lizette Snaith

Even before they met, both of them had an interest in animals and they each have fond memories of seeing the animals at the Melbourne Royal Show when they attended as children. Allen remembers:

"I’ve always been interested in animals and particularly cattle … it was all Mum and Grandma could do to keep me out of the stalls."

The Snaiths’ involvement in the Show began decades later, after they had married and bought their property, when Allen’s daughter Tai was asked by another breeder to lead a Belted Galloway calf at the Show. Allen and Lizette ended up buying that calf and then more Belted Galloways, which they exhibited at the Show for roughly 20 years. When they started out, Belted Galloways were a relatively little-known breed, but Lizette says, ‘we like to think we really helped to put them on the map’.

The work involved in exhibiting at the Show required a lot of preparation and even sometimes a bit of stealth. The cows’ long hair would be clipped before the judging, to show their muscle and structure. Allen and the children would first do a ‘decoy clip’ in the days leading up to the event, before clipping again in a different style just before the judging, in order to prevent competitors from copying their style.

Exhibiting cattle also required contributions from the whole family. The children would help with everything from mucking out to clipping the cattle and even doing ‘the show ring work’. Lizette reflects: ‘one of the great things for young teenage children … was the whole showing thing gave them huge responsibility’.

In the lead-up to competition days, the Snaiths would stay at the Showgrounds for a week. They stayed in the same locker every year, and were able to customise the inside of it. Allen remembers it being an ‘extremely tight’ fit, with no window, one lightbulb, no heating or cooling, and a door that didn’t totally seal. Nevertheless, the Snaiths enjoyed staying at the Showgrounds, especially the children, who treated the locker like ‘a big cubbyhouse’.

Allen and Lizette were involved in several other areas of the Show. Allen was asked to represent Stud Beef Victoria on the Show’s Beef Cattle Committee, on which he continues to serve. For several years, Allen and Lizette also ran the Cattle Handlers’ Camp, which provides hands-on training for people interested in learning how to work with cattle. Allen remembers ‘it was about country kids connecting with other country kids once a year and learning the skills that would keep the agricultural shows going’.

Allen and Lizette’s last year exhibiting at the Show was in 2009, the year that Belted Galloways were the featured breed. Allen and Lizette worked with then-CEO Mark Sullivan to organise a featured breed dinner, which included Belted Galloway meat on the menu. The Snaiths had started selling beef in 2005 and used the featured breed dinner to display their ‘nose to tail’ and ‘paddock to plate’ approach towards cattle at the Show. Lizette recollects:

"...that side of it was really integral to our business … our passions [were] the food side of things and it just made sense to be selling meat."

Allen was awarded the President’s Medal in 2005 in recognition of his contributions to the Show. Allen and Lizette also recognise and appreciate the ways the Show has helped them and their business. Allen concludes:

"...the show as a venue is fantastic and the people there are passionate about it and we owe them a lot because people would ring up and say 'we’ve heard about this Belted Galloway meat' … because it was a ‘go to’ place."