Tully's Maya Threlfall places third in the national young beef cattle paraders titles

In 2019, the former Tully High School student won the Queensland state title at the Royal Queensland Show.

After the national judging was postponed twice due to the global pandemic, Ms Threlfall finally fulfilled a life-long dream of competing at the top level last Friday.

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Despite the nerves, she said it was huge honour to represent her state.

"I was extremely excited to place third at the nationals and it is a memory I will cherish forever," she said.

"I was so excited to finally be back in the show ring as it is something I'm very passionate about.

"It was very wet on the day however, I come from Tully, which is the wettest town in Australia, so it made me feel right at home."

Balloted a JTR Hereford heifer, Ms Threlfall said the animal led well, considering the wet conditions. Chloe Plowman from Kingaroy won the 2022 national title.

"An hour before my event I was balloted a JTR Hereford heifer and I had an hour to prepare the animal as well as myself for showing," she said.

"This also meant getting to know the animal as much as possible.

"Once in the show ring, the judge directed each of us to swap animals and also removed our show canes to see how well we handled different animals and how well we could square them up without a show cane."

Ms Threlfall attributes her cattle handling success to being a part of the Tully State High School cattle show team from year 9.

"My career aspirations are to one day own and parade my own cattle," she said.

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