For some, Christmas holidays imprint fond memories and maybe a few extra kilograms. For 13-year-old Matt Cooney, it showed him the future he wanted.
Today the 24-year-old is the principal of Cann Valley Lowline Stud near Shepparton, Victoria. He’s been successful in exporting the sustainable, feed efficient Lowline genetics overseas, and won a prestigious leadership award at the 2022 Melbourne Royal Show.
Matt Cooney with supreme exhibit at the 2022 Melbourne Royal Show, Rotherwood Precious Girl. Credit: BA Showcase.
While he’s already achieved much in the agricultural sector in his 24 years, Matt wasn’t born into it. There’s no generational farming stories to share, no properties rich in history and assets to be inherited.
Instead, Matt grew up in Melbourne’s busy eastern suburbs and attended a school of 1600 students. His knowledge of cattle was limited to categorising them into “black and white and that’s about it” and his interest in farm life was minimal. But a fortuitous Christmas holiday changed his path.
“I visited my Aunty’s stud in East Gippsland and something just clicked,” Matt recalls.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for her.”
The teenager moved in with aunt Vicki Gilbert and tentatively enrolled in Cann River College. With just 46 students, it was about as far removed from Matt’s former school, and life, as you could get. He was hooked.
Driven and passionate about helping others in the agricultural sector, Matt’s a strong advocate for providing mentorship and leadership for young people, particularly those who’ve come to the industry the long way round.
“We often think you have to have come from a farming background to be in it, but you don’t,” Matt says.
“If a kid originally from the city, on just 30 acres today can do it, nothing’s impossible.”