BEING A LIVESTOCK LEADER “CHALLENGING BUT REWARDING!”

FarmGate Auctions Client Relationship Manager, Kate Gooden, participated in the January series of The Livestock Collective nationwide leadership development program called “Livestock Leaders”. 

Livestock Leaders is a professional development program that focuses on developing advocates in the red meat industry. 

In partnership with Meat & Livestock Australia, the objective of the workshops is to promote a collaborative, united livestock sector by providing opportunities for industry stakeholders to represent themselves through positive and effective community engagement. It explores a wide range of industry-based topics (many challenging and confronting), including consumer insights, power of shared values, empowering and value-based messages plus media and social media training. Participants learn skills in communication, social media, content creation and media engagement. 

Kate said the intensive three-day program, which was delivered online instead of face to face due to COVID restrictions, was a “challenging yet rewarding” experience. 

Kate said, “It was full on and we were certainly challenged by those difficult industry conversations that no one wants to talk about.” 

“We heard from a variety of industry experts which included representatives from Wright Social, MLA and LiveCorp to name a few.”

“I had done a bit of public speaking through cattle judging but the presenters really made you think how you approach certain topics, your choice of words and keeping the discussion on topic and succinct.” 

“The role play scenes were extremely valuable.  It gave you a chance to play out all sides of the story and how to respond in an effective, yet respectful and factual manner,” said Kate.

Kate said the program presenters provided some powerful insight and useful information.  

“I was surprised to learn that 34% of the Australian population simply don’t know anyone from the agricultural industry. This sort of figure means that collectively we, in the livestock industry, have a lot more work to do to share our story with the broader population.” 

Kate said the livestock supply chain was well represented with participants in the program coming from a range of backgrounds including producers, abattoirs, wool brokers, veterinarians, animal research scientists, live export as well as online livestock auctions. 

“The diversity of backgrounds of the participants gave everyone a chance to share what was important to their sector of the livestock industry as well as share some common values and challenges.”

“I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with the participants and staying connected.”

“I can highly recommend the program!” said Kate. 

FarmGate Auctions is genuinely committed to ‘setting our team up for success’ both now and into the future. 

FarmGate Auctions commitment to reliability goes beyond just the technology and functionality of our online livestock auction platform. We aim to ensure our entire team of livestock professionals stay ahead of the game, are innovative in their thinking and have the right tools to deliver the best online experience to Australian livestock producers and stock agents.

In addition to Kate’s participation, FarmGate Auction’s National Livestock Manager, Jock Gosse has also participated in the Livestock Leaders program but as an industry expert in one of the earlier programs. Jock said, “It was good to be able to give something back to industry, to share my experiences and learn from others.”

FarmGate Auctions is pleased Kate found the program rewarding and we look forward to her advocating for the livestock industry and those who use the FarmGate Auctions online livestock platform.