September 28, 2025 • 6 mins
We catch up with a Wairarapa farmer who’s just been inducted into the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I wonder if they were playing a wee bit of
wagon wheel at the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame. When
our next guest is Awards, the Xander McDonald Awards were inducted.
Shane mcmanaway, you're in rare company. Also inducted into the
Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame. R. M. Williams and Queen
(00:21):
Elizabeth Good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, good afternoon, Jamie. Ye, they were inducted a fair
while ago, but the Xander Award now sits alongside RM
or Reach Williams, Arim Williams. You know if you and
there's only about four or five people in that part
of the Stockholm Hall of Fame. So it was a
very very special moment on Friday when it was the
trophy was inducted.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And it's at a place called long Reach.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah. Longreach is about thirteen hundred cliques from Brisbane out west.
We actually went a bit further. We went to Devon Concurry,
which is where McDonald's one of the many many stations,
stayed the night there. That's about eighteen hundred kilometers Jamie.
So as they sort of talking thousands of kilometers over there,
(01:09):
it takes a fairwell to get there, even in a
fast plane.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, well, I was saying you were literally jet setting
your way around Australia, had some of the Zanda McDonald
Award winners with you as well. You sent me, well,
you actually sent me, Shane, the longest text I've ever
ever received in thirty years in this job. And I
think we even had texts way back when I started.
This must be all of a thousand words. You didn't
write this on your phone, did.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You, Jamie. I didn't. I put it together on my computer.
I cut and pasted it. I thought when I send
it that you'll either hit the lead button straight off
the bat or you might have a bit of a
gout reading it. But it was a bit of a
summary of the trip, and it's on my Shane mcmanaway
Facebook page that sort of tells you where we went
and how it went. Jaane, it was a magnificent trip.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Well. I have a rule here at the country, and
Michelle has to abide by it. She's learned the hard way.
If it's more than one page of a four I
don't read it. So I don't think you would have.
I don't think you would have squeezed yours in, but
I wasn't thrilled by your writing. You also sent me
a lovely picture, and I hope you don't mind me
repeating this. Two of the biggest land owner owners and
(02:15):
cattle barons of Australia, Don McDonald, who's Sander's.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Dad, right, correct, yep?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
And Peter Hughes, and you write undoubtedly the two most influential,
important and wealthiest cattlemen in Australia. And you look at
the price of beef at the moment. These guys have
had and have always had tremendous wealth, but gee, their
fortune must have exploded, Jamie.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
They go pretty good, these two blokes. Don McDonald obviously
the head of MDH. They are running three point six
million hectares up in that neck of the woods, a
couple hundred probably about one hundred and ninety thousand cattle.
Peter Hughes is not far from there. He's probably only
about eight or nine hundred kilometers, but he's got heaps
(03:00):
of stations up there as well. He's running three point
nine million hectares and he's the world's largest wag you
breeder and farmer. Yeah, these guys go really, really good. Jamie.
They understand the bush, they understand what makes it tick,
and they are at the top of their game. And
two the finest men you'd ever meet.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Indeed, I've had the good pleasure of meeting Don Now.
Three point nine million hectares through the rough sums on
that that's ten million a because that is a big farm.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, you leave, you leave the house and head out
to one of the paddocks. We went out for a
bit of a run and the paddock you drive for
about two hours and you haven't even hit you know,
you hardly got out of the house paddock, Jamie. It's
unbelievable to quite honest. But the cattle are and good
and nick sort of. It's very very tough country compared
to what we've got you back here. It's a different
type of farming, and they know how it works. They
(03:48):
know the seasons, they know the cattle, they know when
to pull the levers. And at the moment, the prices
over there are extraordinary as they are here, and I
think everybody's going pretty well. We got into Long Long
Reach for the Hall of Fame event on the Friday
night and I think there was four pc twelve pilartises
and all of them were cattle breeders had flown in
(04:09):
for the night to come to the event.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Entries opened for the twenty twenty sixth Zanda McDonald Awards.
I got that right, didn't I on Wednesday? And they
run throughout the month of October, finishing on the thirty first.
You had some of the twenty twenty five winners with you.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, we did. We had Jack O'Connor, Meghan blom Jack
from Australia, Megan from newsud now to Blendham, and also
the past winners Mitch heat and MATCHI Crashaw with us
and it was great. They'd had a fair few days
before I caught up with them on the Thursday. They'd
been down New South Wales and in fact right down
into Victoria Jamie. So they've had a great week before
(04:48):
and it finished off sort of culminated in the stockhamh
Hall of Fame event on Friday night and we all
got back into Brisbane or Archerfield Airport on Sunday, yes
Saturday morning, and so it was great. And look, if
I encourage anybody between twenty ages of twenty one and
thirty five that are associated with agriculture. Certainly go and
have a look at applying and apply because look it
(05:09):
can be life changing, as these the people that have
gone before us will tell you it's a magnificent award
to win.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And Mitch Haigh it's the other half of Cleia Taylor
who was on the show this week or was it
last week? The days are all merging into one. Okay, Shane,
before I let you go, when you're not jet setting
around Australia, you got your a reasonable size farming operation
yourself and the wider wrapper. You're getting a bit dry, Jamie.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I got home yesterday and our manager was just getting
some cattle and to go to the works yesterday, some
big fat cattle and we one of them didn't make
it to the yards. He decided to get bloat and
unfortunately he will be getting buried this afternoon. But we've
had a bit of rain here under the hills, so yeah,
no we're flatstick, just shifting cattle around. And also this
morning I shifted a mob of velvet stags and they
(05:53):
are only probably another two three weeks away before that
I start dealing with them.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Hey, Shane mcmanaway, congrat Shalls on the Zander McDonald Awards,
being inducted into the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame. It's
a real feather in your cap.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well done mate, Thanks very much, Jamie
I wonder if they were playing a wee bit of
wagon wheel at the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame. When
our next guest is Awards, the Xander McDonald Awards were inducted.
Shane mcmanaway, you're in rare company. Also inducted into the
Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame. R. M. Williams and Queen
(00:21):
Elizabeth Good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, good afternoon, Jamie. Ye, they were inducted a fair
while ago, but the Xander Award now sits alongside RM
or Reach Williams, Arim Williams. You know if you and
there's only about four or five people in that part
of the Stockholm Hall of Fame. So it was a
very very special moment on Friday when it was the
trophy was inducted.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And it's at a place called long Reach.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah. Longreach is about thirteen hundred cliques from Brisbane out west.
We actually went a bit further. We went to Devon Concurry,
which is where McDonald's one of the many many stations,
stayed the night there. That's about eighteen hundred kilometers Jamie.
So as they sort of talking thousands of kilometers over there,
(01:09):
it takes a fairwell to get there, even in a
fast plane.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, well, I was saying you were literally jet setting
your way around Australia, had some of the Zanda McDonald
Award winners with you as well. You sent me, well,
you actually sent me, Shane, the longest text I've ever
ever received in thirty years in this job. And I
think we even had texts way back when I started.
This must be all of a thousand words. You didn't
write this on your phone, did.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You, Jamie. I didn't. I put it together on my computer.
I cut and pasted it. I thought when I send
it that you'll either hit the lead button straight off
the bat or you might have a bit of a
gout reading it. But it was a bit of a
summary of the trip, and it's on my Shane mcmanaway
Facebook page that sort of tells you where we went
and how it went. Jaane, it was a magnificent trip.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Well. I have a rule here at the country, and
Michelle has to abide by it. She's learned the hard way.
If it's more than one page of a four I
don't read it. So I don't think you would have.
I don't think you would have squeezed yours in, but
I wasn't thrilled by your writing. You also sent me
a lovely picture, and I hope you don't mind me
repeating this. Two of the biggest land owner owners and
(02:15):
cattle barons of Australia, Don McDonald, who's Sander's.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Dad, right, correct, yep?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
And Peter Hughes, and you write undoubtedly the two most influential,
important and wealthiest cattlemen in Australia. And you look at
the price of beef at the moment. These guys have
had and have always had tremendous wealth, but gee, their
fortune must have exploded, Jamie.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
They go pretty good, these two blokes. Don McDonald obviously
the head of MDH. They are running three point six
million hectares up in that neck of the woods, a
couple hundred probably about one hundred and ninety thousand cattle.
Peter Hughes is not far from there. He's probably only
about eight or nine hundred kilometers, but he's got heaps
(03:00):
of stations up there as well. He's running three point
nine million hectares and he's the world's largest wag you
breeder and farmer. Yeah, these guys go really, really good. Jamie.
They understand the bush, they understand what makes it tick,
and they are at the top of their game. And
two the finest men you'd ever meet.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Indeed, I've had the good pleasure of meeting Don Now.
Three point nine million hectares through the rough sums on
that that's ten million a because that is a big farm.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, you leave, you leave the house and head out
to one of the paddocks. We went out for a
bit of a run and the paddock you drive for
about two hours and you haven't even hit you know,
you hardly got out of the house paddock, Jamie. It's
unbelievable to quite honest. But the cattle are and good
and nick sort of. It's very very tough country compared
to what we've got you back here. It's a different
type of farming, and they know how it works. They
(03:48):
know the seasons, they know the cattle, they know when
to pull the levers. And at the moment, the prices
over there are extraordinary as they are here, and I
think everybody's going pretty well. We got into Long Long
Reach for the Hall of Fame event on the Friday
night and I think there was four pc twelve pilartises
and all of them were cattle breeders had flown in
(04:09):
for the night to come to the event.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Entries opened for the twenty twenty sixth Zanda McDonald Awards.
I got that right, didn't I on Wednesday? And they
run throughout the month of October, finishing on the thirty first.
You had some of the twenty twenty five winners with you.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, we did. We had Jack O'Connor, Meghan blom Jack
from Australia, Megan from newsud now to Blendham, and also
the past winners Mitch heat and MATCHI Crashaw with us
and it was great. They'd had a fair few days
before I caught up with them on the Thursday. They'd
been down New South Wales and in fact right down
into Victoria Jamie. So they've had a great week before
(04:48):
and it finished off sort of culminated in the stockhamh
Hall of Fame event on Friday night and we all
got back into Brisbane or Archerfield Airport on Sunday, yes
Saturday morning, and so it was great. And look, if
I encourage anybody between twenty ages of twenty one and
thirty five that are associated with agriculture. Certainly go and
have a look at applying and apply because look it
(05:09):
can be life changing, as these the people that have
gone before us will tell you it's a magnificent award
to win.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And Mitch Haigh it's the other half of Cleia Taylor
who was on the show this week or was it
last week? The days are all merging into one. Okay, Shane,
before I let you go, when you're not jet setting
around Australia, you got your a reasonable size farming operation
yourself and the wider wrapper. You're getting a bit dry, Jamie.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I got home yesterday and our manager was just getting
some cattle and to go to the works yesterday, some
big fat cattle and we one of them didn't make
it to the yards. He decided to get bloat and
unfortunately he will be getting buried this afternoon. But we've
had a bit of rain here under the hills, so yeah,
no we're flatstick, just shifting cattle around. And also this
morning I shifted a mob of velvet stags and they
(05:53):
are only probably another two three weeks away before that
I start dealing with them.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Hey, Shane mcmanaway, congrat Shalls on the Zander McDonald Awards,
being inducted into the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame. It's
a real feather in your cap.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well done mate, Thanks very much, Jamie
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