Ben Kingston, 14, lives on Queensland's Capricorn Coast but feels most at home 250 kilometres away in a shed full of cattle.
Tending to stock before breakfast is not his usual routine, but today he is in the paddock at dawn.
"Feeding, mucking out, so picking up all the poo from the beds, refilling hay nets and giving them a water," he said.
The morning chores are all part of the activities at the Brangus Youth Camp in Theodore, where more than 90 young people from across the country travelled to take part last month.
"It's a good education, it's like a once-in-a-lifetime experience, you don't get it a lot," he said.
Industry experts donated their time to teach young people all things handling, breeding, showing and judging cattle but it was also a chance for rural families to connect with friends, old and new.
Making new friends
Brangus Youth Camp secretary and grazier Bonni Geddes said while the annual event is held for children five years and up, it benefits all ages.
"Even the big kids, the adults, get to make and meet new friends and make new connections," Ms Geddes said.
Her youngest daughter Lucy, 9, said it was great to catch up with her distance education classmates in person.
"That's why it seems really good, just to see your friends because heaps of them come here," Lucy said.
For older sister Ella, 11, building confidence and learning cattle work tips are vital to her future.
"I can't see myself doing anything else, I want to stay with cattle," she said.
Keira Campagnolo and her dad, one of the instructors, travelled to the camp from South Australia.
"Since I didn't know anybody, it's been good because I've found new friends," Keira said.
"It's just different breeds of animals and different ways to do stuff, so I like it."
Next generation cattle industry
Having worked with cattle for as long as she has walked, Keira sees herself in the industry "forever".
"The cattle don't judge you, so you can tell them all your feelings and they're comforting even though they don't really know what they are doing when they're with you," she said.
The young farmhand said it was important people outside the industry understood it too.
"If they knew more about cattle it would just help them get to know stuff, even like where their cuts of meat come from and how they're treated," Keira said.
Judge Lachlan Trustum travelled to the event from Casino, New South Wales, as the Brangus Australia Robert Barlow Scholarship recipient.
"I was looking for kids who could go out and work for someone and parade stock at a very experienced level," Mr Trustum said.
"In the senior classes I was judging, there was a lot of them who could work for anyone across the east coast.
"They're doing a really good job and parading the animals fantastic."
The third-generation breeder will travel to the United States this year and look at setting up an Australian Brangus youth committee.
"At the moment we have a lot of the older generation running the boards and things, but we don't have that stepping stone for the younger people to come into those kind of roles," he said.
Giving back to the community
Contract musterers and graziers Prue and Tim Flynn donated their time and expertise to the camp by explaining how they work with dogs and horses to help people on the land.
"We don't have kids ourselves, but [we're] just giving back to the community," Mr Flynn said.
"We don't have as many kids from town coming out and seeing what goes on in the rural industry anymore, and I think it's great that we've got so many kids here."
Ms Flynn said it was great to see the next generation eager to try something different.
"They've opened their eyes to so many different aspects of being able to work dogs and actually lead cattle and brush them and show them," she said.
President Brad Hanson said it was the third annual event, but COVID-19 restrictions had stopped it from going ahead last year.
"Even though it's a Brangus Youth Camp, we've got charbrays, brafords, santas, we've got whatever the kids are comfortable to lead," he said.
"Doesn't matter whether they're a tiny poddy or a 600-kilogram bull."
When the participants were asked how long they want to work with cattle, seven-year-old Hunter answered, "until I'm dead probably".
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