North east vic DAY 1

Day 1

We woke up feeling fresh, (the Queenslanders feeling fresher than the Victorians in our cooler climate) to head off to our first farm at Goorambat, Dairy Beef Alliance (DBA) to meet Peter Wilkinsen. Here we saw how they have established a program for Wagyu X cattle through introducing Wagyu genetics into the dairy industry and rearing the calves to produce a high end meat product. Peter explained the programs they have for the cattle, from birth to slaughter, the need for efficient and well managed ration inputs and their genetic program. We could see all the moving parts to this very interesting and complex system. Peter's expertise was inspiring, to see where students could fit into various aspects of the supply chain in future career pathways.

Just around the corner was our next stop, Global reproductive solutions (GRS), where we meet Meg and Dom.

Here we learnt about how GRS work to improve clients genetics for their cattle by using state of the art embryo transfer techniques. The program they have was an eye opener, to see all the steps involved in flushing cattle for embryos, the lab where embryos are sorted and stored and cattle in the paddocks, all on their own reproductive system to gain the best genetic outcomes possible. This facility is also set up to export embryos and the rules and regulations around that alone was very interesting. Amazing to see how clever people are, to recognise good genetics and then use places such as this to maximise the genetic outcomes for their cattle.

A huge thank you to Meg, who stepped in at the last minute, (as we were driving up the driveway) to share with us her story and expertise on what happens as GRS. Also, thanks to Dom for allowing us access to their facility, as it's not something often seen or considered by young people to move into a genetics role when considering a career in Agriculture.

Last stop for the day was the Peechelba feedlot.

Here we meet Brianna, who dressed us all up in new gumboots and made sure we were not a biosecurity risk, then divided us up into 4 vehicles to drive around the feedlot. Here we saw how Peter's cattle, from DBA, spend 400 days on feed to develop into beautiful, healthy and heavy cattle ready to be turned into high quality steak and wagyu products.

We learnt about the important and varied jobs that many people have to keep the cattle healthy, from the pen walkers, who spend their time walking the pens to identify any cattle that are sick or need further attention. The maintenance staff who make sure all the water troughs are always full and the yards are clean and function correctly. There were many roles that students could see potential employment for them in the future. Even the QLD students were interested in possible job opportunities, and now with newly made friends in Vic they would have accommodation sorted if they ever wanted to take the opportunity.