BARB Madden's start in lotfeeding began at a young age, with her first role drafting cattle and cleaning troughs in her school holidays.
Her parents Robert and Sandra Smith began lotfeeding more than 30 years ago, establishing the well-regarded Smithfield Feedlot near Proston, Queensland.
The Smithfield Group has grown to include Sapphire Feedlot at Goondiwindi, with Mrs Madden as chief financial officer, her husband Don and her three siblings - Jason, Andrew and Margot Shearer-Smith - also working in the business.
Following her accounting degree, she returned home to assist with upgrading the feedlot's bookkeeping, from a handwritten cashbook journal to a computerised system.
"Many of the processes, reconciliations, and software we adopted in 1999 with 5000 head on feed have stood the test of time over 20 years and many are still used today with 40,000 head on feed across two feedlots," she said.
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Mrs Madden's leadership journey began when she had small children, and wanted to ensure children growing up in small rural communities had access to opportunities similar to those growing up in cities.
"At the time, our community was experiencing a rise in unemployment along with a spike in negative social issues impacting the town and these concerns were feeding through and affecting the culture at the local school.
"In an effort to combat these negative social concerns, I promoted a program called Pathways to Peace, which had simple caring values that a school, family, and community could embrace.
"We created a community conversation around the values we wanted people to be mindful of and over time this conversation created real cultural change."
Following the success of the program, in 2008 Mrs Madden was accepted into the Australian Rural Leadership Program, where she met inspirational people who were strong, courageous, and bold in their vision for rural and regional Australia, she said.
"Receiving a spot on the ARLP prompted me to become active in creating alliances with indigenous cattle producers so we could both work together for common commercial goals, while gaining a greater understanding of the Australian beef supply chain and the critical role feedlots play.
"In 2009 I created the Beef Industry Indigenous Alliance, where I partnered with local and national indigenous land owners to create a paddock to plate style program, whereby cattle sourced from indigenous land along with their key workmen travelled to our property to gain an insight into what feedlots were all about.
"It was the perfect alliance - we needed the supply of quality cattle and they appreciated gaining an understanding of their cattle market options.
"We followed a line of cattle through to slaughter at Kilcoy Pastoral Company and then onto Cha Cha Char for a celebratory lunch."
This work led to one of Mrs Madden's career highlights, receiving the 2009 Qld Rural Woman of the Year award.
The same year she was invited to become an external ALFA events committee member, and she was elected to the ALFA Council in 2015.
"I have the privilege of working alongside industry colleagues to ensure the lotfeeding sector remains an exciting and sustainable industry into the future," Mrs Madden sad.
"I am also incredibly humbled knowing grain-fed cattle are feeding families around the world wholesome and nutritious meals, and every person working in the lotfeeding industry, whether they are a pen rider, truck driver, water trough cleaner, or accountant, is playing a part in feeding the world."