Community & Business
2 June, 2025
Community breakfast success
Peter Garratt and Ava Schultz were the guest speakers at the Pittsworth District Alliance (PDA)’s community breakfast on Tuesday, enlightening guests on the challenges and changes in the dairy industry over the decades, and the positive impact of the Scout movement on young people.
As the breakfast was served by Steve, Ash and the team at the Hotel Motel, Mr Garratt was invited to speak about his family’s resilience in the dairy industry.
His great grandfather came to Australia in 1926 and founded their dairy property “Argyle” at Southbrook.
For the last 20 years, the dairy industry has faced challenges and changes that has seen the number of dairies is Queensland drop below 300.
“It’s been a pretty disastrous couple of decades for our industry,” Mr Garratt said.
“In 2000, there were a fraction over 1500 dairy farmers functioning in Queensland alone.
“We considered our future many times.
“We had to make a decision to continue to invest in our business, or decide if we were going to get out, and we made the decision to continue.
“When you believe in something and you’re passionate about something, I believe there’s always a way forward,” he said.
On average, his cows manage 33 litres of milk per day, and his enterprise produces approximately three million litres of milk annually.
He has been a supplier of Norco for two years.
Mr Garratt has found the key to thriving in the industry is through the proper management of his animals.
“We look after them as best we can, and in turn they’re looking after us.”
Mr Garratt said in recent years the development of technology has produced tools that will permanently change the way dairies function.
“The modern world has really given us incredible tools we’ve never had before.
“We recently installed a robot that keeps the feed pushed up to the cows.
“In the course of my career, we’ve basically invested in efficiency which has put us in a good position for the future.”
Mr Garratt said he was passionate about changing society’s stereotypical image and reputation of the dairy industry.
“That’s something that collectively as an industry, we’ve been addressing.
“There’s really good opportunities with our industry moving forward.
“The decline in dairying has probably turned a corner, where we’re starting to see new entrants come into the picture.
“Economically, things are a whole lot better than what they were.
“Trying to change the stereotype that our industry may have taken, of being bloody hard work, which it can be, but it doesn’t have to be because we have the ability to do things differently now than what was done in the past,” Mr Garratt said.
The second speaker for the morning was Ava Schultz from the Pittsworth Scout Group.
Ava is a very impressive young woman with a drive to succeed and has been part of the Scouts movement since 2019.
What started off as an extra-curricular activity to sink her teeth into, quickly turned into much more.
“Scouting has been more than just a pastime for me, and it isn’t just a box to tick or something to pad out a scholarship application - it’s been a real, lived experience that has shaped who I am, a journey that has built character and challenged my abilities more than anything else I’ve ever been involved in,” she said.
When you hear the words ‘scouts’, people often picture camping trips, survival skills and tying knots but Ava said the movement has offered far more practical life skills.
“It’s built on resilience, service, leadership, team-work and personal growth.”
For Ava, her journey with scouts has contributed substantially to every aspect of her life, but in particular the development of her leadership skills.
In her second year of scouts she became Assistant Patrol Leader, later Patrol Leader, and is now a Venturer Scout.
She is also School Captain at Pittsworth State High School.
“I had to learn how to remain calm under pressure and navigate difficult decisions during challenging situations,” she said.
“I was able to continue
to develop my leadership skills alongside my passion to be involved in the community.”
Both of these have provided her with the opportunity to coach the Under 11s Pittsworth Wildcats netball team and the High School’s Year 8 debating team.
Ava’s plans for the future include attending the University of Queensland next year to study law.
Before the breakfast came to a close, Ann Park and Allison Potter from Annie’s House were invited to share about the new programs on offer with the disability support service in Pittsworth including an upcoming automotive program and social enterprise shop in Sondrio on 67 in Yandilla Street.
President of the Pittsworth District Alliance, Rhonda Ashton, thanked everyone for attending, in particular the guest speakers and Toowoomba Region Councillor Trevor Manteufel.
The PDA has an upcoming meeting on June 3rd and the next breakfast is scheduled for August 12th.
