A LOVE of agriculture began early for Tamara Pabst, who this month won the National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia (NCWSBA) Wool Broker Award for 2024.
She credits her late grandfather and Barjarg farmer Bill Thompson, who called her a "natural," from two years of age.
This prestigious award was presented to Tamara, a wool technical officer at AWN (Australian Wool Network) for more than two and half years, on July 19 at the NCWSBA's annual general meeting in Melbourne during Wool Week.
The passionate young woman from Lurg impressed judges with her "personal and industry skillset", seeing her win an all-expenses paid trip to the 2025 IWTO (International Wool Textile Organisation) Congress in France.
Established in 2012, the award aims to encourage younger members of the industry and promote excellence in all aspects of wool broking.
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Despite growing up on the edge of Melbourne in Pakenham, she always loved the country and spent as much time as possible on her grandfather's property near Mansfield.
Her parents, Sue and Graeme Pabst moved to the Mansfield district after Bill died so Tamara's mum could take over the farm that her father had run at Barjarg for many years.
An incredibly proud parent, Sue recalls Tamara's special bond with her grandfather as the oldest granddaughter.
"He doted on her and she listened to everything he had to say.
"Dad would keep telling me she would go into agriculture someday," said Sue.
"He would always reference a day she was feeding cattle and 'she wasn't scared, she is a natural'."
This love of agriculture continued into Tamara's teens with the support of her grandfather, who was also her biggest fan and recognised her passion and inate skills.
Bill told Sue to take Tam to a meeting with Mansfield's Don Lawson (Lawson Angus) to help teenager Tamara decide what she wanted to do.
The story continues, and Donnie asks, "What is your passion, Tamara?" in his loud bellowing voice.
She shyly responded, "sheep", to which Don said let us get you organised and equipped Tamara with lots of information.
To further this quest, her Pa, as she fondly called him, got his neighbours Bill and the late Joy Forrest on board with opportunities for Tamara to work with sheep.
Her path into agriculture, especially the wool industry, was set.
Tamara graduated with a Bachelor of Agriculture from Melbourne University's Dookie campus, where she stayed after graduation to work at Dookie College farm for a year.
Her next move was to a Merino stud near Benalla, where she honed her knowledge of stud stock for the next three and a half years before joining the team at AWN as a wool technical officer.
During that time, Tamara has built relationships with clients across North-East Victoria and the Riverina in NSW.
Outside of working on the farm with various clients or attending the weekly wool sales in Melbourne, Tamara can be found at home on her property, where she and her partner Stuart run 500 merinos.
The Courier caught up with Tamara on her way home from a wool sale, feeling satisfied with the day's results.
Her role expanded to include that of auctioneer 18 months ago at the wool sales.
Tamara is enthusiastic about the support she receives from AWN.
"What I love about the company is that it is close-knit and passionate about helping the younger generation," she said.
"I am the only female broker in the southern region which covers Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia with one in the northern team".
Tamara is grateful for the mentors within the company who support a younger demographic of brokers and exporters.
"My technical skills include typing samples with Australian Wool Exchange-IDs, preparing and valuing catalogues each week, as well as auctioneering on sale day.
"My background working on a sheep stud has provided me with a good foundation and knowledge of sheep genetics and ram selection, and I'm confident in the ins and outs of breeding values and assisting clients in using them to their advantage,' she said.
She also manages the audits and accreditations for the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) in the southern region through New Zealand Merino (NZM) and the G Schneider Authentico RWS program.
Tamara's interpersonal skills in assisting clients in improving aspects of their business are an important part of her job.
"There are many aspects whether its in the shearing shed or the sample boxes I see to improve the wool clip," she said.
One of her other skills is helping reluctant wool producers adopt technology that they describe as a "big scary monster."
Many of them will join once they see the results of using the wool clip online platform and the reduction in time it takes to get wool tested, Tamara said.
She added that other technological advances, such as QR codes on wool bales, help with the "trackability factor" and minimize delays for clients.
Tamara thanked the sponsors, Sheep Central and AWTA (Australian Wool Testing Authority), for their generous support of this event.
"I would also like to thank John Colley, Ben Stace, Kelvin Shelley, and Peter Bryne for nominating me on behalf of AWN and for their guidance and mentorship, along with all my colleagues who have supported me since joining AWN," said Tamara on receiving the award.
Tamara is very thankful for the support of her precious Pa, who died in 2012.
She also recalls how instrumental Barjarg farmers Bill and Joy Forrest were in fueling that passion.
Tamara said that school holidays were spent working as a rouse-about in the shearing shed, and Joy would provide steaming bowls of porridge to warm you up on cold winter days.
Her intention to become a rural vet changed while completing the Melbourne University science stream as the pathway to that career.
Tamara's mother said she got a phone call saying, "I don't want to be a vet anymore, I want to do agricultural science and look after well animals, not sick ones".
"I loved the dual purpose of sheep and the multiple products they produced," Tamara said.
Her love of the rural sector is based on what she describes as the "strength of community", and being a member of her local Lurg CFA is an extension of that.
Not one to be idle for too long, the following day after the announcement of the award, Tamara headed to Bendigo for the Australian Sheep and Wool Show as a judge for the Merino all-purpose classes.
She is thrilled with the opportunity to travel abroad next year to Paris and learn more about the challenges and opportunities in the wool industry on a global scale.
