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Home > Our History > Larry Cutler
 

Gippsland Rural News article 12/09/2005
Featured Story
“LARRY CUTLER”
Familyman, Sportsman, Cattleman, Horseman

FAMILY MAN
A fifth generation Cattleman and Horseman Larry  grew up in the northern NSW town of Inverell and was the second born of five. Larry married  Glenda in 1986, the second daughter of dairy farmers  from Warragul, they have three sons . The eldest Cameron born in 1990 , Jarryd in 1992  and Riley in 1996.

Apart from Sport ,Cattle and Horses the boys all share a love of fishing when the snapper are biting in Western Port or Port Phillip bay or fishing with Poppy at Evans Heads. With a brother in Vancouver Canada and sisters in Eltham , Yeurong Creek and Inverell treasured times are when they can all get together at Christmas time and reminisce about early days of growing up on the QLD property “Karraba” where the Glenlyon dam is now situated before moving to Inverell.


SPORTSMAN

After moving to town Larry had an abundance of energy which was wisely directed into sport where he soon excelled in a number of sports from Cricket, Rugby League , Tennis , Swimming and Athletics particularly long distance running. Larry captained his school teams in cricket and rugby league and represented the North West NSW  on numerous occasions and making the NSW schoolboy cricket side in 1975. In the same year and at only 17 years of age he took 4 for 16 against a touring New Zealand 21year old colts side.

At Tocal Agricultural College Larry was awarded the Sportsman of the Year trophy both years he was there. To win this Larry gained points in Swimming , Athletics , Rugby Union , Tennis , Cricket and Basketball. He was the only student up until then to win the award twice and the only student to win the cross country twice.

Moving to Victoria to manage cattle properties Larry continued to play representative level cricket and was a member of the Warragul Provincial side that conquered numerous titles in the late 70’s and early 80’s. “A very quick opening bowler with a menacing attitude” was how the Melbourne Newspapers described Larry as he played in three provincial finals.

Larry met his future wife whilst playing Badminton with the local Lardner Club who told him it would only take him a couple of years to learn the game. Two years after starting Larry won the B grade pennant for singles and won the B grade club award with partner Glenda.

 

As coach of cricket and rugby league sides Larry led from the front and let his on field achievements speak for themselves. There are numerous Premiership Medallions to prove his better than average abilities both as a player and as a leader.

Larry’s personal motto during his sporting career “DON’T  DIE  WONDERING” has left him relaxed and with very few regrets. I also think that this motto has continued to be applied to the rest of Larry’s life as well.

CATTLEMAN
A National and International judge and widely recognised as one of Australia’s leading beef cattle judges. The demand for Larry’s services has seen him judge at almost every Royal Show in Australia and twice at the New Zealand Royal and numerous feature shows and at the Beef Expo in Rockhampton , Australia’s largest beef cattle show.

A fifth generation cattleman Larry grew up with a strong commercial background in the beef cattle industry. This is evident when you watch him judge and comment on the cattle. He has never been carried along by trends and has always kept a solid commercial attitude to breeding and judging. Something we don’t see enough of in the show ring. Larry has bred , prepared and exhibited Champion Stud animals at Sydney , Canberra and Melbourne Royals across 5 breeds and sold cattle  into all States of Australia and exported live cattle , embryos and semen . You would need a small truck to fit in all of the sashes and trophies that Larry’s cattle have won since he started showing in 1976. A quick look through some of the sashes reveals “Best Maintained Team Sydney Royal 1977” and lots of “Most Successful Exhibitor” sashes as well as  numerous Interbreed Trophies and sashes from all over the country.

More than a breeder and judge of stud cattle Larry is also an accomplished judge of steers and carcase cattle. Testament to this is the many awards he has won with steers entered into major steer trials and carcase competitions. More often than not his live judging results mirror those on the hooks.

It is Larry’s simplistic approach to breeding cattle that seems to reap the biggest rewards. A cow must produce a calf as good or better than herself every year. If she doesn’t she is not progressing your breeding program and may not be as good as you think she is. It is pointless having a paddock full of beautiful looking cows if the calves are not better performers than their parents.  

Bulls need to be structurally sound from their feet to their top lines. Breeding cattle is like building houses “If you don’t get the foundations right what you build on top won’t stay there very long.” Bulls need to excel in the areas that produce money for the commercial cattleman including easy calving and lots of meat in the right places where the major cuts of meat are.

Reflecting on the stud industry as a whole Larry says that sometimes studs forget what their responsibilities to the commercial industry is and it is only through feedback from commercial breeders and abattoirs that corrections to breeding programs take place. In my opinion says Larry the stud industry exists to supply  leading genetics to the commercial industry and the real challenge to the stud industry is to be able to continually improve their own genetic performance.

New genetics for the Ebony Lodge herd are sourced from all over Australia and Around the World in a quest to be able to supply superior performance genetics to their customers. Ebony Lodge uses Breedplan but as Larry says they are only one management tool available to producers and should always be used in conjunction with visual appraisal of the cattle.

It is pointless having cattle with Breed Leading EBV’s if they have bad feet or twisted testicles or undershot jaws all of which Larry has seen whilst judging and talking to the breeders later they replied “Don’t worry the figures will sell them”.


HORSEMAN

Coming from a strong family background of horsemen and women Larry has a real affinity with horses. He has been breeding his beloved Australian Stock Horses since 1979 and campdrafting since 1976. Larry has been a long time classifier with the Stock Horse Society and has been called upon to judge horses all over Australia. Judging at Royals , State Championships and Regional and Branch Shows. A level 1 judge with the ASH Larry has been called upon to judge Led, Ridden , Working , Futurities Challenges and Campdrafts. Not only does Larry have a very good eye for horses but is always willing to help those in need of some experienced advice whether buying , training or competing .

As a competitor Larry has amassed an enviable record of Championships and High Point awards with different horses over the years in a number of disciplines from the Show ring to Campdrafting and Polocrosse. National ,Royal and State Championship ribbons decorate the walls of his office along with photographs of his favourite horses.

Taking pride of place is the photo of his current stallion “BEAU POLO” a magnificent black stallion that has won two “chaff bags” of ribbons in numerous disciplines. The love Larry has for this horse is evident when he speaks of the many enjoyable times he has spent with the horse and not always competing but rather relaxing riding on the property doing stock work. 

In talking to Larry he is humble about his achievements and always quick to point out how talented all of his horses have been and how lucky he has been but I remember my own parents saying “The harder you work the luckier you get” and after spending time with Larry he is certainly no stranger to hard work or discipline.


Beau Polo wins again

Over the years Larry has had many mentors from his father Bob Cutler and uncle Mick Cutler to Barry Sawyer and more recently Steve Brady who Larry has the utmost respect for. Steve changed my whole approach to training horses and I now enjoy educating my horses with a clear program . My only regret is not meeting Steve earlier in my life so as to bring out the best from some of the horses I have had in the past.

Larry has held a number of offices over the years including West Gippsland ASH Branch President on three occasions for a total of 12 years and Willow Grove Pony Club President for 3 years as well as President of the Trafalgar Equestrian Park for 19 years which runs Campdrafts , Stock Horse shows , Rodeos , Pony Club , Adult Riding and Polocrosse.

I am sure we will continue to see Larry and his horses around the Shows and Campdraft arenas for quite some time to come as the passion and love of his horses is as strong as ever. Whether it be judging in the ring or sitting on a horse judging a draft his knowledge and likeable personality will see him continually in demand. If you are lucky enough to have him judge make sure you catch up with him after the show for a chat as I can tell you he is a very knowledgeable and enjoyable person to talk to.

Claire Reynolds  Gippsland Rural News  12/09/2005

 


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