Mark Patullo named 2023 Lex Bunn Award recipient

Mr Patullo, who received the award at the 2023 International Dairy Week, said it was a great honour to be considered worthy of the award.

"I'm over the moon and very humbled," he said.

"I'm very proud. Lex Bunn was a well known breeder of Ayrshire cattle throughout his lifetime and I was heavily involved in the Ayrshires back in the 1990s and 2000s," he said.

"Even though I stopped, there are still Ayrshires around that hold my breeding right behind them.

"There are a lot of great people who have been in the industry for a long time in the group and to be selected and be on the same stage is incredible."

Mr Patullo said he continued to work in the industry.

He said that while he no longer had cows himself his granddaughter was "very keen and we'll probably start up again".

"She's only 14 but she is keen as," he said.

Presenting the award, Brian Leslie, said Mr Patullo was "pretty much a carbon copy of Lex Bunn".

"There can't be a person in the country in the past 30 years as passionate about showing cows as this person," Mr Leslie said.

"When he started he had tremendous young cattle and had shown his own cattle at Royal Shows throughout Australia and many other people's."

Mr Patullo had bred champion cows at every Royal Show in Australia and had for many years the most famous show string in the Ayrshire breed, Mr Leslie said.

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