Gina has dedicated her life to finishing what her late husband started

So much so that she's dedicated her life to "doing something with what he started".

Ms Ryan runs Glenview Del Simmental stud at Glenburn, an operation her and husband Mel Ryan established in 1995.

Mr Ryan passed away in 2011 after a long battle with cancer.

She said he was a highly-respected stockman with an impeccable eye for cattle.

"He was a perfectionist and had such a high standard for what he did," she said.

The couple became passionate about Simmental cattle more than 40 years ago when Mr Ryan became the manager of former Formula 1 race car driver Alan Jones' Miraleste Simmental stud.

"Alan had lived in Switzerland and Germany and loved the Simmental cattle from there, and when he came over here, he wanted the same type of cattle, so my husband bought those sorts of cattle, and even today, all of our cattle go back to that Swiss/German bloodline," Ms Ryan said.

"Alan decided he wanted to start showing the cattle and my husband realised that was going to be a full-time job in itself.

"I wasn't working on the farm at that stage as I had a hairdressing salon in Melbourne [that I'd run for] 25 years.

"Mel asked if I would give that away, and I really didn't want to, but I thought I should help him, so I said yes and moved onto the farm."

Her job was to break in the cattle and it was something she became an expert at.

"From that day on I've broken in more than 1000 cattle, even for other people," she said.

"I just love doing it.

"There was never an animal I couldn't break in.

"There was one two-year-old bull that took me six months but I got there in the end.

"I have a lot of determination to get the best out of these cattle."

Eventually the stud was taken over by Neville Bertalli and renamed Penbro Park.

"It got bigger and bigger when Neville took over," she said.

"We continued to do really well at shows all along the east coast, and one of our biggest wins was most successful exhibitor at Melbourne in 1990."

Mr Bertalli decided to disperse the stud in 1994 which provided the Ryans a chance to start their own enterprise.

"We decided we'd do our own thing," Ms Ryan said.

"We bought some cattle at the dispersal, we couldn't afford the best ones, but we got some breeding we knew and went on to make our own stud - Glenview Del."

The couple began share farming on four properties totaling about 2000 hectares.

"The people we were working with wanted black cattle, and my husband was never worried about what the breed of cattle were, because good cattle are good cattle," she said.

"So we share farmed with mixed stock - Herefords, Charolais, Angus and Limousins - and we put our Simmental bulls over them to get an F1 cross."

She said they topped many markets with these cattle.

"They were beautiful cattle, a bit different to the ones today, they were bigger, not taller, just big, solid cattle," she said.

Once Mr Ryan got sick, he had to step back from the farm.

"He kept on saying 'we've got to disperse the stud' and I said 'no, if you leave me I want to go on with what you've set up and help you achieve your goal, just because you've got to go doesn't mean it all has to stop'," she said.

"While he was sick we took a step back from showing but a friend took the last heifer he picked out to Melbourne and she won it.

"A girlfriend of mine taped it and we got to watch it together and he said 'I knew she would win'.

"Not long after, he passed, and it's taken me a long time to get over it and I'm still not completely over it."

Now, Ms Ryan runs about 40 head - selling six or seven bulls a year - and has no plans of slowing down.

"I'll keep going until I can't do it anymore," she said.

She still enjoys showing her cattle with the help of friends, and in 2019 was crowned life member of Simmental Australia during the Melbourne Royal Show, before being inducted into the Victorian Royal Agricultural Society's hall of fame.

She deems those awards two of her biggest achievements in life.

When asked why she's so passionate about showing, she said there were two reasons.

"I love mixing with people and I love the competition," she said.

"There's one judge out there making the decision but there are many people there judging the cattle, and thinking 'oh yeah, they've got nice cattle', and they get your phone number and they'll ring you to come and see your cattle.

"It's the same with [Stock & Land] Beef Week, we've been in it since the start and [most] of my commercial bulls have been sold through the event and people getting the chance to come and see them."

Ms Ryan said the stud's objectives had remained consistent over the years, with the aim to produce cattle with good fertility, early maturity, growth, yield and temperament.

And she said she can quite often hear her late husband in her head when she's looking at cattle.

"I think of him when I'm picking out cattle for shows," she said.

"What would he pick? What would he look at?

"It would be the shoulders, the feet, the extension of neck.

"I'll never forget those things he taught me.

"He's always with me."