Neil Donaldson Awarded Life Membership

from Droughtmaster Magazine August 2021

Gatt on Futurity Report

FORMER CEO NEIL DONALDSON AWARDED LIFE MEMBERSHIP

President Todd Heyman presented former CEO Neil Donaldson with his Life Membership at the National Female Sale in Gympie, with former President Rob Atkinson, Glen Ruth.

By Jenny Underwood – Eversleigh & Wallace Vale Droughtmasters

IN March 2021, Neil Donaldson was awarded Life Membership of the Droughtmaster Stud Breeders’ Society.

From late 1997 until early 2019, Neil served the Society as the National Operations Manager/CEO which included a period as Company Secretary at the same time. During those two decades, Neil dedicated his time to raising the profile of the breed to such an extent that his name became synonymous with Droughtmaster. Neil Donaldson is well-respected within the livestock industry, other breed societies, key industry players and other organisations including the media. The breed and its members were like family to him and Neil spent countless hours on the road covering most areas of Australia visiting (and often staying with) stud and commercial breeders on their properties as well as attending Field Days, and local shows and events. In the early days, Neil identified “gaps in postcodes”, particularly in the Northern Territory where Droughtmasters were only being run on a couple of the larger operations. Nowadays, Droughtmasters are found throughout Australia. During the late 90s, the Society was experiencing severe financial difficulties. Life Member, John Bowler, was a Board Director during this time and was involved in Neil’s appointment.

John reflects upon Neil’s time with the Society.

“Droughtmasters owe a great debt of gratitude to former CEO Neil Donaldson. I was privileged to be a Director of the Society when Neil was appointed as Operations Manager to the Society in 1997. As a society we had come through a difficult financial period, held together by the personal commitment of the previous Secretary, John Boydell. Neil’s appointment was a leap of faith under the then President Bruce Campbell AM MBE, with the deal that we could only pay him very limited salary and he would have to find additional income and a vehicle. Neil delivered, demonstrating his financial management ability and his skills in persuading our members and the wider industry in contributing to our breed and the Society. He was able to increase our membership and the breed inventory over critical years in the stud industry when many breed Societies lost membership and registrations, to see the Droughtmaster breed become the second strongest in Queensland and fourth strongest in Australia at one stage. Neil’s ability to look past the immediate issues and plan for the long term has been instrumental in ensuring that the Society is in a sound financial situation today with its own premises.

“Any organisation does have a range of personalities, with individual members sometimes having personal objectives at odds with those of the organisation. Neil’s ability to talk with and assist all our members, whilst being conscious of the Directors’ and Society’s objectives, was a great skill, and this was recognised and appreciated by many members and those associated with the wider industry. Our breed is recognised across a number of forums such as ARCBA (Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association) and TBTS (Tropical Beef Technology Services) for the inclusive work of Neil in promoting our breed while supporting the wider beef industry at the same time. Neil was able to move past the parochial nature of many breed societies and see benefits in supporting industry projects which assisted the whole industry and which,

ultimately, benefi ted the fi nancial viability of all our members. “Neil is an excellent communicator and as a jack-of-all-trades with the Society in the early years, contributed at most Field Days, sales and promotional activities of the various zones, as well as providing much of the breed publicity in the rural press. His travels across Australia, his contacts and knowledge of the industry, and his interest in you as an individual, made him a great companion on long car trips and in conversation in the social scene.”

Former President, Life Member and current Droughtmaster Society Patron, John Gardner, worked alongside Neil for many years. “I had not long been on the board when Neil was employed and shortly afterwards, I became acting President so Neil and I prett y much started together and spent the next 9-10 years working closely together with a very supportive board behind us. “In the early days we had very limited funds, so Neil had to bring in some income in the form of working outside the society as well as fi nding a sponsor to provide him with a work car. He went on to obtain several sponsors to ensure the membership remained aff ordable. “Neil quickly moved into the role that saw him recognized as Mr Droughtmaster and we shared similar values and aims for the breed. From the early days Neil easily built a good relationship with the membership, often choosing to stay with members when travelling to the many events held Australiawide. Neil was dedicated to the breed and his recent life member status is very well deserved.” During Neil Donaldson’s tenure as CEO, Droughtmasters worked alongside the AACV (Australian Association of Catt le Veterinarians) to lead the way in developing soundness evaluation guidelines in the seedstock industry. Accepted as an integral part of bull sales these days, Droughtmaster were the fi rst to introduce BBSE (Bull Breeding Soundness Examination) standards at Society Sponsored Sales. Neil’s infl uence was not only confi ned to the Droughtmaster breed. John Croaker, former General Manager of the Australian Brahman Breeders’ Association worked alongside Neil on many projects. “In addition to his loyalty and dedication to the Droughtmaster breed, Neil is highly respected as an industry contributor. He played an important role as a member of the Executive Committ ee of ARCBA for 11 years, including 3 years as Vice President. His broad industry knowledge and deep understanding of the seedstock industry made a valuable contribution to ARCBA’s work as the peak industry body for the seed stock sector.

“Neil and I worked closely together in developing and managing the Northern steer Beef Information Nucleus (BIN) project, commercialising genomic technologies for the Droughtmaster, Brahman and Santa Gertrudis breeds. His understanding of what the project could achieve and his leadership in helping to pull it together were invaluable. “It was also a pleasure to have worked with Neil in the organisation of the Roma Tropical Breeds Sale involving both the Droughtmaster and Brahman breeds for 20 years. Congratulations to Neil on being awarded Life Membership of the Droughtmaster Society after a long career as CEO.” Neil Donaldson dedicated his working life to Droughtmaster and the beef catt le industry. His infl uence upon the breed and its members will be long remembered.