General News
9 April, 2023
Beloved cattleman remembered
THE Far Northern grazier community recently farewelled one of the “most dedicated and passionate beefos” in the industry, Joe Rolfe, who sadly passed away at the beginning of March.
Joseph William Rolfe, affectionately known as Joe, was the go-to man when it came to cattle, with graziers and cattlemen admiring his deep knowledge on just about everything beef.
His long successful career began in 1989, when he finished his degree in Sydney and began working with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF).
In 1990, he made the move to Mareeba where he worked as a Land Management Extension Officer, transferring to Charters Towers later that year.
He worked for 14 years in Charters Towers, across land management projects and the FutureProfit initiative, which engaged many beef producers across the region who, still to this day, highly regard his knowledge and compassion.
Joe’s next move as team leader was to combine the Mareeba beef extension team with the Walkamin pasture seed research unit into the “Northern Beef and Feed base team” which increased funding opportunities and projects and allowed the team to focus on whole of business type producer assistance that also widened skills of the staff.
He also secured funding to allow the appointment of DAF staff into the Richmond and Cloncurry districts in western Queensland.
In his final years, Joe worked on management of a state-wide drought project that stretches from Mareeba to Charleville and includes three regional DAF teams and four Natural Resource Management bodies.
His work will forever be ap-preciated and remembered by those he met and worked with, including Senior Extension Officer (Beef) Bernie English.
“I hope Joe understood how much he was appreciated but also the good that he did, and example he set for others,” he said.
“Joe continued to study while working to gain extra knowledge of northern beef production systems and had list of qualifications, publications and awards longer than your arm.
“Joe was always keen to influence future beef research di-rection in the northern dry tropics and was a long term member of the NQBRC and in recent years the secretary as well, plus in 2019, Joe was awarded the prestigious NQBRC ‘Communication and Extension medal’.
“Joe would be one of the all-time, best known, highly regarded beefos across Queens-land’s beef industry, DAF staff and agribusiness. Everyone has a few special people in their lives, and to many of us, Joe was one of those people.”
