Heartfelt tributes have flowed for respected Victorian stud cattle producer and agricultural advocate Don Lawson after he passed away peacefully in Victoria on the weekend, aged 85.
Mr Lawson was a nationally renowned pioneer of performance-recorded livestock breeding, a passionate champion of agricultural education and a fierce advocate for science-based policy and producer welfare across six decades in the Australian beef industry.
Don Lawson. Image courtesty of Paringa Livestock Genetics.
Born in Melbourne in 1940, Donald Bruce Lawson grew up in a family connected to both city and country – his father, a gynaecologist, had farming roots in Tasmania, while his mother’s family farmed near St Arnaud.
His grandfather was Sir Harry Lawson, Premier of Victoria from 1918 to 1924, and later a Federal Senator for Victoria from 1929 to 1935, and minister in the Lyons government. Among Sir Harry’s achievements as Premier was laying the foundation stone for the construction of the Great Ocean Road – which in fact is the world’s largest War Memorial, built in honour of those lost in the First World War.
Don attended Caulfield Grammar School and studied agricultural science at the University of Melbourne before completing a Masters in Farm Management at Lincoln University in New Zealand.
He was also a tremendous athlete. He was captain of athletics at Caulfield Grammar, and used to train for the mile at the famous Caulfield Racecourse with his good friend and then-future Olympian John Landy. He also played Australian Rules football at a high level – handy enough to transfer his skills to the rugby field at a competitive level while studying in New Zealand – and was also an outstanding batsman.
In 1969, a year after buying a “rabbit infested farm” with his father at Yea in central Victoria, he founded Ythanbrae Angus Stud, which grew to national prominence, with a reputation for producing well-balanced, moderate, functional cattle with strong carcase traits and high reliability for commercial producers.
Ythanbrae Angus bulls were sold collectively for many years with bulls from PERT Angus (PERT was an acronym for ‘Performance Evaluated Reviewed Tested’) and the Smibert and Grimwade families’ Angus Studs.
Don Lawson pictured in 1964-65 as a member of the Lincoln College Students’ Association Executive. Source: Lincoln University, NZ.
In the 1970s Don was also instrumental in advocating for the introduction of livestock selling by kilograms rather than on a per head basis at Newmarket Saleyards in Melbourne, which became the first saleyard to make the significant change. Selling by weight was seen as allowing for more transparency and fairer pricing based on actual meat yield, incentivising the production of cattle with better conformation and weight gain.
A rare combination of disciplined scientific thinker and practical, pragmatic cattle producer, he was among the early farmers to pioneer soil conservation, water management, drought resilience and pasture improvement with multi-species pastures in the 1950s and 1960s and also worked in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea helping to set up farming systems there.
Don’s colourful life experiences also included paving the way for a live export trade in the 1970s shipping Cormo sheep, Illawarra Red dairy cattle and beef cattle from Australia to Iran, during the final tumultuous years in Tehran under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
But it was the contribution he made toward laying the foundation for objective measurement and the transformation toward marbling and meat quality of Angus cattle in the 1970s that perhaps stands out as one of his most powerful legacies.
Don was an early adopter of artificial insemination, embryo transfer and performance recording at a time when such tools were not widely accepted by traditional cattle producers and helped to pioneer the BreedPlan genetic evaluation system in the 1980s.
He was a foundation director and active member of the Beef Improvement Association and the Australian Business Research Institute (ABRI).
In 1992 Don was awarded the Howard Yelland Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Australian Beef Industry.
He received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2002 for service to the beef industry in Australia through the development and application of genetic selection and breeding techniques, performance testing and objective measurement of cattle.
In 2013 he was made an Honorary Life Member of Angus Australia.
Agricultural education was a central passion. Along with founding principal Ivo Dean, Don was a foundation lecturer at Marcus Oldham College near Geelong. He was also a foundation director of the Australian Beef Industry Foundation, and has mentored countless young producers, students and breeders across Australia.
He also served as a councillor of the Shire of Yea.
He was never one to shy from a fight, particularly when he saw producers being unfairly impacted by policy.
Throughout the 2000s and 2010s he led the fight against government eradication of Johne’s Disease in sheep and cattle, arguing that an attempted control policy when there was no reliable test or cure was causing substantial financial losses, forcing the unnecessary slaughter of high-value seedstock and costly periods of prolonged quarantine, which was pushing impacted producers to anxiety, depression and suicide.
He was an outspoken advocate for assisting industry to manage the disease as it does with a number of other diseases and for the development of freely available vaccine.
Tributes have flowed widely from across the industry in recent days.
On Facebook Don Nicol described him as a “true performance pioneer and contributor for the Angus breed”.
Angus Australia chief executive Scott Wright said in all his pursuits – from breeding cattle to mentoring students and challenging policymakers – Don Lawson was known for his formidable intellect, quick wit, deep integrity and enormous heart.
Don was a genuine leader but also very humble – a lot of what he did was not recognised.
In all his pursuits, from breeding cattle to mentoring students and challenging policymakers, he was deeply respected and valued for his formidable intellect, quick wit, unswerving integrity and enormous heart.
A service celebrating the life of Don Lawson will take place at 1:30pm this Thursday, August 7, at the Yea Shire Hall. For those unable to attend in person the service will be livestreamed by McCormack Funerals.
Don would often call me to say he was ‘checking in on his illegitimate Son’. He would have a message he was promoting.
I told him once his multi-recipient emails in capital letters made him read like he was shouting. He then said ‘that’s because I AM SHOUTING’
A man that took me under his wing, challenged me to always do better and barracked for me right from when I met him in 20’s. He also got me in a lot of trouble :)
Many a new challenge the beef industry faced was met with Don creating an urgency to ‘ turn a liability into an asset’
Thank you Don
Don was a great advocate for the concept of "What you cannot measure, you cannot control". Agricultural education has benefitted from Don's contribution. The MCC Balcony has lost another familiar face.
Remembering our former professional, insightful and delightful neighbour who cared so much for his friends and the industry in whch we operated. How grateful we are that our pathes have crossedin life. Rest peacefully dear friend.
Jean and Andrew Miller
Don was fresh out of Lincoln and only a few years older than his students when he lectured us at Marcus in the 1960s.
When Don and his father, Dr Lawson a true gentleman set up their property at Yea, I became the first manager at Ythanbrae during the complex development stage and the creation of PertAngus.
Don was an energetic and enthusiastic boss and a big left field thinker which proved to be very challenging at times. However,
also inspiring.
Rip Don
Don was our a lecturer at Marcus Oldham for our year group 1969/70.
He was a very positive, thought provoking person, and we all gained much, to be used in our farming pursuits in later life.
You will missed from our reunions.
I didn't realise all his amzing achievements but when I was Head Vet, amongst a lot of other roles, for AMP Stanbroke Pastoral Co from 1997 until it was sold in 2003, Don Lawson and his Ythanbrea Angus Stud was our 'go to' person to introduce Angus bulls into northern Australia. He grasped the situation readily and was very easy to discuss things with. He will be sorely missed in the industry but has great children to take hos legacy forward.
Great bloke; innovative and a lively lecturer at MOFAC. Called a spade a D9; we need more of his kind. You were never in doubt as to what he thought of you and your policies.
His memory is a blessing. Rest peacefully good friend.
Always remember Don from the day inspecting bulls when one of the boys pointed out a really high figured bull and Don quipped "a bull's still got to look like a bull".
Don was a larger than life character with a big heart, quick wit and a man of his word. Sympathy to Tom, Harry and families.
Don earned the greatest respect for his tireless advocacy for objective measurement in all fields of the beef industry, his desire to leave students and producers better educated and his wry humour. Never a dull moment was spent in his company.
A good man was Don - I'll remember him for encouraging people to think outside the box, to challenge conventional thinking and to always be looking to drive production.
RIP Don.
He was also a founding member of The Australian Beef Assiciation as a Director for The Gippsland Region.
it was through his connection with the ABA he and John Carter formed the Group the Johnes Alliance. He and John saved many farmers lives facing horrendous social and political pressure for many to contemplate suicide.
A great person, he will be sorely missed.
A great contributor to the Livestock Industry. Enjoyed a number of enjoyable and beneficial 'discussions' with Don over the years. RIP Don.
Don covered so many fields with enthusiasm. It was a privilege to work with him