Analyzing Australian Agriculture

Our trip provided us plenty of opportunities to learn about Australian Agriculture.  On our many tours, I made several important comparisons between American and Australian Agriculture.  I'll elaborate on my favorite of these comparisons.  As I mentioned in my Day 6 blog about the Trigger Vale operation, we learned a great deal about the reasoning Andrew Bouffler has for managing his farm the way he does.  Now I admittedly know very little about sheep, but I think the things he talked about would make sense to any producer.  He started off his talk telling us all the things he learned when he went on his own 4 month long study abroad trip.  As a part of the trip, he had to write a paper on what he had learned; his paper focused on how producers must focus on balance to maintain profitability.  That is to say their focus is equally distributed among growth, meat yield, fertility, and wool traits.  This is very similar to things that we learn in the classroom and on the farm in the US:  a producer must not breed for any single trait while ignoring others that may not seem as critical as that can be detrimental to profitability in the long run.

In the Day 6 blog, I gave Mr. Bouffler's example of producers breeding for so much wool in the ewes while completely neglecting mothering ability, that the benefit in wool production was overcome due to a major decrease in lambing percentage.  Since 1952, Trigger Vale has been working to establish and enhance their client's profitability.  You can check out their official objectives on their website:  Trigger Vale.  This, again, is no different from the goal of many seedstock operations in the US.

The Trigger Vale operation breeds White Suffolk and Polled Merino sheep.  This is their effort to employ another familiar concept here in America:  hybrid vigor.  While many of us are not so familiar with sheep, few have not seen a black baldie calf running around in a pasture close to home.  The Bouffler's Suffolk stock contribute high growth, while the merinos bequeath wool traits.  Together, the crossed lambs yield a healthy bottom line for the Bouffler's commercial clients.  American cattle producers get the same effect with the Hereford/Angus cross (and others):  efficiency and gentle disposition from Herefords and carcass quality and maternal traits from Angus.  While I saw many different operations in Australia, I was surprised that I could always find many similarities as well; I find it rather amusing that no matter where we are in this world, all farmers have qualities that unite them.

Boomerang Effect??

I can't believe I've been home for nearly a week!  It feels like yesterday I was packing and giddy with anticipation of my approaching trip to Australia!  Now that this great trip is over, it's time to reflect on the great opportunity this course has provided.  Starting off back in January, we had class once a week to get acquainted  with one another and with Australia in general and expose us to some of their agriculture that we would encounter.  While this was helpful, that knowledge pales in comparison to the actual experiences we had.  Firsthand, Australia was awesome!  My favorite farm visit was Webb Black Simmentals...although it was freezing outside, it was really fun to see someone with such enthusiasm for what they're doing and being successful at doing it.

As far as the cultural visits went, I wish we would have had more time to enjoy Sydney and Cairns, but our time at the Great Barrier Reef was definitely the best!  I would love to go back and see what it looks like on a really sunny day!

It feels good to be back home and in a routine, but Australia was definitely a lot of fun!  I bought a souvenir boomerang with a cute kangaroo on it in Cairns which I managed to get past security by putting it in my checked bag.  Sadly, however, on it's trial run, it got lost in some blackberry bushes at home.  This made me ponder Australia:  will it have this kind of boomerang effect on me and I'll only have my memories for this trip forever or will it have a true boomerang effect and make me return someday?  Only time will tell!

On the Road Again--Day 11

The sun we chased halfway around the globe

This was definitely the earliest morning!  Up at 3, on the bus by 3:30, and in the air at 5:30.  We flew from Cairns to Brisbane to Los Angeles to Dallas to Kansas City and drove home for a total of about 32 hours of travel!  Thankfully, Alex picked me up and me made a quick trip home that I slept through.  When I could finally fall asleep at home (the 15 hours ahead made it a little tough...), I slept for 12 hours straight and it was great!

The route our 14 hour flight took...

SCUBA: Snorkeling in Cairns--an Underwater Blast in Australia--Day 10

This was yet another rainy, cool morning, but I was excited, so I didn't care...today was the Great Barrier Reef!!  We made a quick stop for Graeme to grab the tickets and we hit the gift shop.

Dr. Schaake handed out ginger tablets to help with seasickness.  I decided I would be fine...wrong.  The first ride wasn't bad and we got to check out Green Island and take a crash course in introductory SCUBA diving, but the next boat we got on was NOT such a good experience.  I started out on the back of the upper deck, but brownies lured me downstairs and then I went to see the majority of the group sitting in the worst possible place:  bottom front.  Then we decided to rent an underwater camera and split the cost, so I ran upstairs to talk to the others and by the time I made it back, I was done for; the seasickness got me.  I took a seat, closed my eyes, and hoped the pontoon we were headed for would show up ASAP!  We finally made it and I gladly went from our boat to the slightly more stable, permanently-anchored pontoon.  We elected to go snorkeling before our dive since we didn't know how much time we would have afterwards.  It's a good thing we did!  It's hard to learn to breathe solely out of your mouth...specially when you have periodic salt water-filled gasps!  We finally got the hang of it and grabbed some lunch before heading over and getting into our wetsuits, weights, and tanks.  Then we headed down to prove to our guide we had indeed mastered breathing and we were in!  It was one of the most amazing things I've seen--to be able to get within inches of fish that I've only ever seen on tv (and Nemo!) was unreal!  We even saw a small shark!  Eventually we came back up and got rid of our heavy tanks and weights so we could snorkel some more.  I got tired and came back to relax right before we had to board the terrible boat again and head for home.  Thank goodness I quickly found a seat, planted myself in it, and slept for the remainder of the trip all the way back to Cairns!  Back on dry (and stationary!!) land, we all made a beeline for the showers in our hotel rooms to get rid of all the salt that had dried on from being in the Pacific Ocean.  Then we walked downstairs for another new experience:  Churrasco barbeque.  The waiters walked around our table and sliced meat onto our plates from giant skewers.

There was beef, pork, chicken (breast and heart), lamb (my first taste of the stuff despite all the Australians claiming to love it), and even pineapple!  I was quite surprised at how tasty it all was.  Then it was time to pack and get to bed for a couple of hours before our 3:30 am departure.

Atypical Aboriginal--Day 9

A relatively short 3 hour morning flight, we arrived in Cairns.  Located in Northern Australia, Cairns is supposed to be tropical.  According to locals, 95% of the time it is tropical and beautiful, but we managed to visit during the 5% of the time that was cold and rainy!  We headed for an aboriginal culture park called Tjapukai.

We got to watch a presentation on their theory of the origin of human life and some of their beliefs, followed by a demonstration of their dances.

Then we each got to take a turn throwing a boomerang and spear...with varying degrees of success.  We finished up our time there learning about their other weapons and listening to a didgeridoo demonstration.

As we waited outside after our tour had concluded, we saw the kid that had been showing us around leave who had, in fact, told us he did not own a pair of shoes...only when he walked out, he was wearing sneakers, baggy shorts, and a backwards baseball cap.  Needless to say, that pretty much ruined the fun and removed any confidence I had had in what he told us.

The only thing remaining on our agenda for the day was a group dinner, so we had some time to check out our hotel and some of the stores by the Esplanade (a famous street in Cairns).  Then we all met back up for dinner at "Tha Fish."  Ali and I shared a seafood platter that seemed like it had one of everything on it...prawns, bugs, yabbies, crab, scallops, oysters, fish, calamari, and more!  It was one of the funnest meals I've ever eaten, but afterwards I was definitely in need of a nice long nap.

Before

After

Saving Grace in Sydney--Day 8

After a brutally cold shower and a lukewarm breakfast, I found myself taking pictures of buildings at Charles Sturt University where students can get a degree in many medical fields including dentistry and veterinary medicine. Their vet med degrees takes 6 years. We also got a tour of some of their livestock facilities and large animal clinic.

Then we boarded the bus for a 5 hour long bus ride to Sydney. Our hotel was The Grace. It had the best beds we've slept on since leaving the states, but sadly, no free wi-fi. We had a couple of free hours this afternoon to explore and find some souvenirs. Then we met up again and headed to an awesome dinner cruise where we could go out at any time on the deck and enjoy the beautiful sights of Sydney. 

The Sydney Courthouse all lit up

Afterwards, I explored the Vivid exhibit that was going on around the city with crazy, moving designs projected onto many of the famous buildings.  There was this crazy one with a lady doing yoga that kept playing on the Opera House, so instead of iconic pictures of it, I have a bunch with a random lady doing the splits.

See her on the Opera House??

This is how it should look!

Here's the Beef!--Day 7

Our busy day today started off with a tour of the Wagga Wagga Livestock Marketing Center. We got to go in and actually watch a sale which was similar to ours with some big differences including the smaller group sizes in the sale, the set-up of the sale ring, and the style of auctioneer jargon. The sale ring had 2 entrances and exits and was itself divided into 2 sections so that what was being sold was always on the audience's left and then you could sort of preview what would be sold next on your right. This all kept the sale running smooth and quickly.  The auctioneer was totally different from what I've experienced. He wasn't talking fast like in the US, he just constantly yelled and every once in awhile, I'd understand a number or two, but I have no idea what else he was saying.

We had a quick ride to the Cargill Beef Abattoir next. They slaughter about 1250 head of cattle each day: about 50:50 grass:grain fed. Kill to chill time here is only 28 minutes. After lunch and a little free time, we continued our Cargill experience at the Jindalee Feedlot they co-own with Tey's. There are 15,000 head of cattle there with about 1,000 coming in and going out each week, each fed for 100 days a diet of mostly steam-flaked wheat. It was interesting to hear that they do use HGP which as that is very much the opposite we've been hearing for the rest of the trip.

Sorry this is all I got...they asked us to not take pictures of the feedlot

Then it was back to Wagga for dinner and a night of skyping on the free wi-fi and lots of sleep!