General News
19 August, 2025
First-timers excited for Beef Day
FOUR stud farms will be joining the Tablelands Better Beef Open Day for the first time as the popular annual event comes around for the seventh year.
The event will have 14 studs opening up their properties and showcasing a record 13 breeds, three of which are new – Brahckles, Angus and Red Angus.
The four newcomers to the event include Lynton Livestock, AK Brahams, Barrine Brahckles & Brahmans, and Eastlake Santa Gertrudis.
Open Day president Nick Trompf said this year was the ideal time for commercial breeders to visit the properties and upgrade their bulls, as the industry enjoyed an export boom.
“With the increasingly strong overseas demand and improved seasonal conditions in southern Australia, a range of experts are tipping cattle prices to soar in 2026 and remain strong for several years,” he said.
For Linda and Scott McCahon, owners of Lynton Livestock in Evelyn, being part of the 2025 Better Beef Open Day made them “nervous and excited”, but it was an important step in the growth of their business, which they began in 2019.
Linda, a nurse, and Scott, a pharmacist, ran the award-winning Weipa pharmacy for 15 years but made the dramatic lifestyle shift because it “made sense”.
“The move just ticked a lot of boxes,” Scott said.
“Living in a location that has cassowaries, tree kangaroos, and yellow-bellied gliders just makes it all the more special.
“Watching calves frolicking while platypus duck and dive in the creek makes you appreciate what a wonderful part of the country we live in.”
It was also a good family arrangement, with their children able to study at JCU, and with both of their parents living in the Cairns area.
They applied their pharmacy business mindset to the cattle project – “establish goals, aim high, don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone, embrace innovation, surround yourself with good people and never be afraid to ask questions”.
Their mantra has worked, with many “wonderful and helpful people” providing support, especially the Pearce family from Telpara Hills Brangus & Ultrablacks.
“Their cattle knowledge is seemingly unending and the fact that they are happy to share this knowledge speaks volumes for their character,” Scott said.
Doug and Katelyn Cross of Cross Custom Meats also provided advice and guidance for them to build their Brangus and Ultrablack herd, which they have become “pretty fond of”.
Now the McCahons are proud to share their results alongside their fellow studs.
“This event allows buyers and sellers to meet in a relaxed manner and showcases the depth and quality of beef production on the Tablelands,” Scott said.
“So many of the studs do a fabulous job of showcasing their particular breed and we want to ensure that we do likewise.”
With the theme, ‘From our Family to Yours’, Lynton will have a line-up of more than 50 stud cattle for sale or display, but the McCahons are also keen to see families visiting, who “might just want a steer to be a ‘pet lawnmower’, or perhaps just want a very quiet line of commercial heifers to be future breeders”.
And fun is also on the menu, with a free (Lynton) sausage sizzle – from 11.30am to 1pm. There’s “great merchandise”, prizes and giveaways, and a special carved Brangus Bull made by a local artist as the prize for the winner of a “cow trivia” contest. The family’s baby Nigerian Dwarf Goats (Billy Ray & Billy Joel) will also be around to say hello.
Lynton is located at 70 Chilverton Rd, Evelyn.
Other studs included in the Tablelands Better Beef Open Day include: AK Brahmans at Malanda Showgrounds; Beki Speckle Park together with Barrine Brahmans and Brahckles, Kairi; Cherryburn GelbVeihs, Malanda Showgrounds; Eastlake Santa Gertrudis, Barrine; Figtree Grey Poll Brahmans, Tarzali; Gadgarra Murray Greys, Lake Eacham; Lynton Livestock, Evelyn; Reedybrook B Brahmans, Mareeba Saleyards; Riverland Droughtmasters, Millaa Millaa; Tallangalook Santa Gertrudis, Angus and Shorthorns, Barrine; Telpara Hills Brangus and Ultra Blacks, Tolga; Yantee Creek Brahmans, Jaggan; and Warrina Droughtmasters, Malanda Showgrounds.
