THE winner of the hotly contest Grand Champion Led Steer will be awarded the Rodney and Janelle Freeman Perpetual Shield, this year.
The chance to be the first to have their name on a plaque on the Perpetual Shield has been made possible by the donation of the trophy by the Freemans.
“When we were asked to consider making the donation we felt honoured to be given the opportunity,” said Rod Freeman, who with his wife, Janelle, are long time supporters of the Rosewood Show.
The Led Steer competition forms part of the Stud Beef section where Rod, and his father, Bill, before him, accumulated around 35 years of service as Chief Stewards. Janelle was also a long serving steward in that section.
Both were awarded Life Membership of the Rosewood Agricultural and Horticultural Society and retired around the time of the Covid pandemic.
Their property outside Rosewood is a former dairy farm, however, the Freemans used the land to establish their successful RNJ’s Charolais Stud. They also ran a herd of Charolais X for the feedlot market.
“We sold the stud to a property at Theodore in 2018 and now we buy steers around the 240 to 250kg mark and grow them on to 400kg before selling them to a feedlot,” said Rod, who at 70-years-old is thinking about slowing his workload “maybe at some time in the future”.
And while the Freeman name may not be as closely associated with the Show as it was in the past, Rod and Janelle are proud that the family’s association will be perpetuated with the Shield.
The Freeman name can be found in records of the Show right back to the beginning when it was run by the local farmer’s group. Newspaper articles at the time list Wilhelm, Charles and John Freeman as prize winners in both the produce, cattle and draught horse sections.
And the couple’s decision to donate the Perpetual Shield was serendipitous, as Rod’s first entry into showing cattle (around 1984), was in the Led Steer competition.
“I couldn’t afford stud cattle back then. In the Led Steer section the cattle can be from a stud line or cross breeds,” he explained.
Three years later, he won the section at the Brisbane Royal Show from a field of approximately 200 entries.
It was around that time that they began the work, and the expense, of establishing their stud.
It too met with success.
The most memorable win for Rod came in the early 1990s.
“Dad was Chief Steward of the Stud Beef section at the Rosewood Show at the time the judge chose our three head as winner of the grand champion ribbon in the All Breeds Exhibitors Group.”
It was at a time when there were many cattle studs in the surrounding districts.
“Back then, it wasn’t unusual for around 220 Stud Beef entries at the Show – nowadays a good showing is around 60 to 80 head.
“I remember that one year in Rosewood in the 1990s, there were 14 teams competing in the All Breeds Exhibitors Group – we could hardly fit them all in the ring.”
Both Rod and Janelle say they are proud of what the Rosewood Show committee has achieved and continue to achieve.
