Jack didn’t grow up on a farm. He grew up in town, where cattle were something you passed on the highway and steak came wrapped in a container. School never quite clicked for him, but the first time he set foot on a cattle property as a teenager, something did.
“I didn’t know what I was doing,” he laughs. “I couldn’t back a trailer, didn’t know one end of a beast from the other, and thought I’d made a huge mistake.”
That first year was tough. Early mornings. Dust. Sunburn. Making mistakes in front of blokes who’d been doing this longer than he’d been alive. But someone took the time to show him how to do things properly. How to move cattle calmly. How to read an animal. How to work safely and pull your weight.
“The best lesson I learned was that no one expects you to know everything,” Jack says. “They just expect you to listen and have a go.”
Working on a beef cattle farm taught him skills he felt he never got from a classroom. Responsibility, teamwork, resilience, and pride in doing a job well. He learned that mateship isn’t just about having a laugh; it’s about watching out for each other and getting the job done together.
Now 20, Jack is confident, capable, and proud of what he does. He talks about farming with respect, not as a job you fall into, but one you grow into.
“If kids got to experience farming early, even just for a day, I reckon more of them would find their place,” he says. “It gives you direction.”
At Six Keys Cattle Co, stories like Jack’s begin with exposure, giving young people a chance to see what farming is really about.
