Kate’s storied CV is ideal for The Livestock Collective

Sharing stories is important for Kate Bishop.

The fifth-generation farmer was born into the family’s Lake Grace wool and grain enterprise and developed what has become a lifelong love of agriculture.

“I love animals and care about animals,” the 34-year-old said.

“I see myself as part of a new generation that doesn’t think that good animal welfare and good business are mutually exclusive.”

After graduating from WA College of Agriculture — Narrogin and completing an agriculture business degree at Muresk Institute, Ms Bishop worked at multiple saleyards for Meat and Livestock Australia.

She then had a marketing and communications position at the Kondinin Group and also worked for three Wheatbelt local governments between stints back at the family farm.

Last year, Ms Bishop took the corporate communications co-ordinator reins at Racing and Wagering WA.

Through the role, the animal welfare supporter promoted the State’s three racing codes.

I got quite interested working for RWWA with their animal welfare issues. . . all industries are under the microscope as far as animal welfare,

“RWWA has done some great work, particularly in the greyhound industry, so I was able to get really involved in that.”

The time spent at RWWA, in addition to farming, has proven instrumental in crafting the skills needed for her new challenge.

In August, she was announced as the project manager at The Livestock Collective, a not-for-profit established to oversee existing brand The Sheep Collective and new brand The Cattle Collective.

Ms Bishop said she was inspired to join the group to shine a positive light on agriculture and share untold stories along the live sheep and cattle trades supply chains.

“It is one of those dream roles that combines everything I’ve learnt in my other jobs,” she said.

“It also includes talking to grassroots producers and farmers, something I love doing, especially after spending three years in the saleyards.

“Storytelling is very important and I’ve learnt that from the previous roles, how to tailor key messages to get the facts out in a nice, clear and concise way.”

The Cattle Collective will officially be unveiled at next week’s LIVEXchange conference in Townsville from October 30-31.

Kate said the upcoming annual LiveCorp and Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council event would be an ideal platform to launch the co-brand, which aims at outline the live cattle industry’s importance to northern Australia.

“The storytelling and the message definitely resonates, especially with the younger generations,” she said.

“There are a lot of young people coming through the industry and we want to be able to share their stories through our Cattle Collective videos.”