NLIS the up and coming thing... I hope

NLIS  electronic tag

   One of the things that I found to be the most impressive while in Australia was the NLIS (National Livestock Identification System), or more so the lack of such a system in the United States. As I talked about in one of my previous blogs while in Aussie talked about how impressive this whole electronic documentation system is. Although there was a decent amount of resistance from farmers in the beginning, there seems to be a almost unanimous agreement now that the system is a benefit to all parties involved. The frequency emitting tags that are now mandatory for all cattle that move to a new property can be programed to transmit a broad range of information about that specific animal. This is much more effective and efficient than the traditional paperwork based system.

Tony Britt - Director of Animal Health and Welfare

   All of this considered, the question that comes to my mind is why doesn't the United States have a similar system in place? The only draw backs that I could find were the cost of the tags and equipment as well as the work it would take for a total transition to occur. The tags cost around $1.09 AU dollars a piece which would be a bit more expensive than in US dollars, and the reading wands start around $2,500- $3,000. This considered there would be a large initial cost to farmers which would not go over very well. I, however, think that over time the benefits would out weigh the costs of switching to a much more modern system. Some trucking companies in Australia have made reading tags and in turn documenting each cow being sold a part of their services with readers on their trucks.

  The director of Primary Industries for agriculture in the state of Victoria predicts that the tags will be a requirement for sheep as well with in the next year. So if Australia will soon have two species documented under a national electronic system it makes me wonder if the U.S. will soon follow suit, and I would hope that we do.

Looking back on my trip to Aussie there isn't a single thing that I would change except perhaps make it longer and change the weather on a few days, but that's just getting picky on my part. the trip as a whole was defiantly a experience of a lifetime that I am glad I was able to share with a great group of people. I was so excited to finally be in the trip it took the first day and a half for me to finally come to terms with actually being in Australia. Touring the Healsville Sanctuary was a great first taste of both the wildlife and the people but the first major impact for me was when we had dinner at La Camera. Both the menu and some of the differences in word meanings made it finally seem real that we weren't in Kansas anymore. This as well as meeting with the head of Primary Industries and learning about the impressive National Livestock Identification System in place were two of the biggest impacts and first impressions I had.

My birthday at Gilligan's

    Although I can't pick a favorite, the farm visits were a very high ranking portion of the trip. All of the visits helped me gain a little more insight as to what the average rural Australian family or farm are like, something that just touring the main tourist sites would never convey. Going off the beaten path and staying in small cities like Wagga Wagga and Albury were also a favorite part of the trip. although the hotels may not have been quite up to par with those in Sydney and Melbourne, but locals were very welcoming. They all were people that our group could connect with more since we had small towns and or agriculture as common backgrounds.

Dinner cruise in Sydney

  Towards the end of the trip were some of the most memorable and fun times, especially when the whole group celebrated my birthday at Gilligan's in Cairns as well as surprising me with a cake at dinner. The most indescribable sight we saw, however, would have to be the Great Barrier Reef namely the bottom of it while scuba diving. As soon as we returned home, as a matter of face before we even left I was ready to go back and do more exploring in what had quickly became my favorite place I have ever visited. I can only hope to go back someday and spend some more time in Sydney and go out to the Reef and Green Island again for sure. 

Our scuba diving group

Last day in the land down under

This was one of my favorite days of the entire trip, looking back on it I still can't hardly believe that we actually were on the ocean floor in the Great Barrier Reef. We started off the day getting on a boat that took us to Green Island where we spent two hours on the beach and getting our crash course on scuba diving. Even though it was raining and not that warm we had we still made the best of our time and adventured around the island. I found myself having multiple photo shoot with many of the Asian tourists. Not understanding why so many people wanted pictures I asked one of the fellow KSU students that had been to China and she explained that for them it was a rarity to see people with blonde people so it was a goal of theirs to get a picture with a blonde american girl.

From there we took another hour ride to the Reef where we spent the afternoon scuba diving, snorkeling, and going down in a semi-sub. After getting used to the pressure change, scuba diving was one of the most amazing experiences that I have had my whole life. None of my pictures do the coral or the fish justice.  The only downfall of the day was getting a little sea sick on the boat because the waters were pretty rough. Three Thirty the next morning came way to early, no one was anywhere near ready to get up and no where near ready to come home.

My Birthday!

Day 8

May 30th

Fire making

Most of the day today was spent in the air for us as we had a three hour flight to Cairns in Northern Tropical Queensland. We arrived around noon and then went to the Tjapukai Aboriginal cultural center. Highlights included boomerang and spear throwing demonstrations,  a didgeridoo performance, and hunting / natural foods lessons. It was very entertaining to learn and practice throwing the spears and the boomerangs from real indigenous people. 

Boomerang throwing

The weather hasn’t been in our favor however, it has been raining off and on since we got here which hasn’t made for the best sight seeing but hopefully things will clear and warm up before we hit the reef. Tonight we are heading to a bar called the Salt club that is known world wide. The next on our agenda is dinner at The Fish which is said to be the best place for sea food in the city. Last but not least we will be hitting the downtown area to celebrate my birthday and one of our last times out in Australia.It’s hard to believe that we have been gone for eight days, especially since we didn’t get a May 22nd with the international date change.  

My Birthday cake!

Travel and more travel

Day 7 May 29th

We started off the morning at Charles Strut University and met with Dr. Chenoweth, who used to be at KSU so he was very excited to have us come. We toured their Agriculture department which was interesting to compare this developing  school to what we have back home. We were able to go to the beef equine and sheep units as well as the Veterinary teaching hospital. Their building was built in 2002 so it was interesting to see a newer facility and their idea of what the best set up was. One difference that I noticed other than it being on a much smaller scale than KSU was that their program was a much more hands on program instead of mainly lecture until the last year. another highlight was that we got to see a sheep farmer and his Kelpie in action. 

The college sheep professor in action

After the 5 hour bus ride to Sydney we were able to get out and do some shopping and exploring before going on a dinner cruise. the cruise took us around the harbor where we had a spectacular view of the opera house as well as downtown and the light show. It was a great picture opportunity and something that many of us had never done. Afterwards we went to explore some of the local pubs as well as catch up on some more shopping. Sydney is definitely one of the largest cities I have ever been in and reminded me of New York City a lot, a fun place to visit but not somewhere I could stay for a long time or live. We now are on our way to the airport to catch a flight to Cairns for some beach and snorkeling time. 

The Wagga Wagga Auction

Today was a full spectrum view of the Beef industry, this morning we headed off to the Wagga Wagga Livestock Market Center and were able to watch part of the Monday cattle sale where 500 cattle are auctioned every hour. Sheep are also auctioned at the same site but only on Thursdays. It was a very different set up and procedure than what we have back in the states. There were two pens in the auction area, one for the current and one for the next cattle as well as screens that displayed the stats on the sold current and next cattle.

Afterwards we went to Teys Cargill and listened to a presentation about Cargill Australia as well as went on a short tour. We weren’t able to see near as much of the plant as we were able to see at JBS which was some what disappointing but we did get to see the offal room where organs such as the abomasium as well as the omasium as well as the tongue are processed for export. Their boning process was pretty similar to what we do in the US which would make sense because Cargill came to AU from the states. 

An interesting method of hauling that isn't uncommon in AU

We had lunch in Tamora as we made our way towards the Jindalee feedlot where were were able to tour their 15,000 head facility. They don’t do any custom feeding which means that they only buy cattle instead of feed for other people. The pens were slightly different from typical feedlots in the states, they didn’t have any mounds and some had tarps on overhead structures. Their major commodities are steam flaked wheat, cotton seeds and cotton seed hulls. it was interesting to hear about how they didn’t have close enough access to distillers grains to be able to use them profitably. We will stay another night in Wagga Wagga and be able to enjoy the first free wifi we have had the whole trip again. Tomorrow we will take a 5 hour drive to Sydney and begin our adventures in the Northern part of the state. 

 Part of the Jindalee feedlot

Put it on the Barbie

The view from the Emu farm

Tom the lamb

The day started out at theTrigger Vale sheep farm. In my opinion this was the first true family farm that we visited. We got to meet and visit with the whole family, even the kids as they paraded around with a lamb that they had kept aside for special nursing. IT was very interesting to listen to the talk about their view on how much fat ewes should have as well as how that correlated with reproductive efficiency. Most of the main stream sheep industry want all sheep to be as lean as possible because of thee push for leaner meat. The approach at Trigger Vale however was to incase reproductive efficiency by giving the ewes more of a reserve to help support themselves as well as the lambs. 

Some of the Emus fighting

The barbie at the Emu farm

We then moved onto what proved to be one of the highlights of the day, a visit to a Emu farm. They are in their breeding season so they were very territorial and aggressive. The males make a drumming sound while the females made a grunting sound.  Contrary to many other species, it is the females that are more aggressive. The main product that they profit from these strange birds is the oil. they also use the feathers, leather, and meat to some extent. The oil comes form the fat and a special process that requires expensive equipment is required to do so. They hosted us for lunch and we were able to experience our first true Australian barbie of sausage and steak. 

Shorthorn Bulls

At the second barbie

Our last stop of the day was to Sprys shorthorn ranch a leading seed stock operation for the area. The bulls they had were some of the most impressive that we had seen the whole trip and we were able to go in the paddock with them and get a good look at each bull as well as hear individual information about each. We had the privilege of getting treated to another home cooked meal of steak on the barbie accompanied of course by beer and wine since water isn’t a normal drink to have with meals anytime we want it we have to make a special request. Today was a great day to get to became more personal with the locals and enjoy food that wasn’t from a restaurant. We are will stay two nights in Waga Waga before moving on to Sydney on the 29th. 

Opposite Ends of the Spectrum

Lima Park

Lawson Angus 

     We started off this morning from the small town of Seymour and went to the Lawson Angus farm. This visit was significant to our group because they have a partnership with Gardiner Angus Ranch back in Kansas which is the family farm of Grant on of the students with us on the trip. Their work with genetics proved to be similar to the states as expected with their connections to Kansas.They were also very on top of AI and embryo work within their herd. He also told us about the large fires that they had in the area in recent years and about their impact on the local farmers and how many cattle/farms were lost. After our visit we went to Mandala, a well known vineyard for biscuits and coffee or tea and got to browse around and sample some of the local wines. We then moved on to Bonnie Doon and had a quick lunch before moving on again. 

Some of the fire damage

Our next stop, Lima Park was the polar opposite of the first farm. They do all natural breeding for their Herefords and have a much more lax standard on what they expect for weights, average daily gains, and things such as EPD’s. The main focus and profit at this farm was the sheep portion of the operation. It was very interesting to see the shearing barn and hear about how much the wool contributes to the farms profits as well as the meat. He also told us about his main herding dog, which interestingly enough is a three legged Kelpie. It was very interesting to compare the opposite approaches to running their cattle farms. We worked our way North to Albury where we will spend one night before moving again to Waga Waga tomorrow. This evening we were able to go out and see a bit of the night life of Albury as well as get a decent steak dinner. there is no better way to close a day! I’m really looking forward to touring the Emu farm tomorrow afternoon as well as the Cargill arbitrator.

One of the owners of Lima Park

From farm to fork

Webbs' Black Simmentals

Owners of Webb

Today proved to be a pretty interesting day.  We started off the morning on a visit that we were very privileged to get to go on, a full tour of the JBS Swift abattoir. They slaughter 5,000 sheep and 1,200 cattle a day. Being in the animal science department of KSU I have taken meat science and been through the small abattoir that KSU has so the process itself was nothing new, but the scale that JBS operated on was something way larger than I ever imagined. They employ 1,100 people at the Melbourne site alone over several shifts, each person having a very specific job. The engineering behind the operation was very efficient and concise. Because we were able to follow the whole process from live animal to packaging it made it very clear how everything worked together. The machinery was also another thing that I was impressed with, there were machines that could sense the cut of meat and send them on the appropriate conveyer belt. there also was an automated packaging machine that would sense the size of the meat and inflate the correct size of bag as well as put it in the bag in a matter of seconds. As an example of the size of the operation, there were holes in the floor on each of the boning areas at the end of the waste belts. Curiosity took over and I was able to roughly able to calculate that the bins were about 20 meters deep by how long i took the bones to hit the bottom.

A group of us the one of the owners

The view of some pasture owned by Webb

We then moved on to have lunch at a tavern where I had what has been my favorite meal so far, chicken breast over mushroom risotto. Refueled, we then carried on to our first adventure in the country at Webb Black Simmentals. The owners were very happy to have us there and were more than willing to answer any questions we had. They felt connected to us because they had acquired some of their bloodlines from the US. As a farm they have had problems with getting their breed started because a a bad production history bringing a bad aura to the breed name. This and a lack of the breed of itself have been major challenges for them as a farm. We are currently en route to Seymour where we will spend the night before visiting Angus and Hereford operations. 

Politics parks and pints

 
 Today we covered a lot of ground in and around Melbourne, it’s a difficult choice when it comes to picking what my favorite was but ranking in the top was our morning for sure. We walked about a kilometer to the Department of Primary Industries for the state of Victoria  and listened to the director of animal health and welfare talk about the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) that the country has in place. I had heard of electronic tracking and identification but never to the impressive extent that Australia has taken it. Cattle are required to have either the ear tag or bolus if they ever move properties/owners. These devices emit a frequency containing a large amount of information about that specific animal and information can be added to the data base as well. I found the structure and design of the system to be very interesting and am curious as to why the US hasn’t moved to a similar system because of all of the benefits. This system record 10,000 movement records a day for cattle and was only put into place in 2002.

Tony Britt, the director of animal health and welfare

     

Shrine of Remembrance

 
After lunch we spent the afternoon seeing various sights in the down town area including St. Patricks Cathedral, Cooks cabin & gardens, The Shrine of Remembrance, and various other sites that a popular within the local people. My personal favorite out of these had to have been the shrine of remembrance. The sheer volume and architecture of the shrine alone was impressive let alone the meaning of the shrine it’s self. It is to commemorate Australians that had taken part in both world wars and had many interesting stories and art effects to boast. 

St. Patricks Cathedral

  Lastly we went to the Carlton United Brewery (CUB) and were able to see behind the scenes of production of some of Australia's largest prides. It was very impressive how efficient the company is and the volume of production they have per day. Standing on the deck and watching as 1,000 stubbies were bottled a minute was mind blowing. Of course the visit was completed with complimentary tasting and were were able to use our newly gained knowledge about beer production to understand what caused the taste difference between types of beer. 

As another day comes to a close it’s hard to believe that I have been gone for four days now, well three for me actually since I skipped May 22nd altogether. None the less I’m very excited to see what a new city and tomorrow  have in store for me. 

Some of the samples at CUB

That wasn't your ordinary ride in a tin can across a pond

One of the many vineyards outside melbourne 

   Day one proved to be a surreal experience. There is no where to start but the beginning I suppose. We took off from L.A. at what would be 1:30am Kansas time and finally landed at what would be 5:30pm Kansas time 8:30am local Melbourne time. The flight, as expected, was long but the personal entertainment systems and their many gadgets made the trip much easier. 

Once landing and going through immigration and customs we met up with our tour guide and shortly there after took off to our first scheduled event. One of the first observations that everyone quickly made is that they follow suit with the Europeans on driving on the opposite side of the road as well as the driver being on the right of vehicles. We also discovered that parrots fly around wild as sparrows would at home. 

Even though exhausted I still was able to enjoy making friends at the sanctuary

     We went to the Healsville Animal Sanctuary, home to many native species ranging from as well as a emergency care and rehab center. On the way I was able to get my first look at Australian land and country side. It was very interesting to see the acres or as they would say were kilometers of vineyards for many different wineries. This as well as noting that cattle are often pastured together with sheep here proved to be some of the most interesting points of our journey to me. Once to the sanctuary we were treated to a staff based tour, our first close up encounter with a native Australian. It was very interesting to me to talk with our guide about various cultural differences and to learn more about common slang for the country. While at the sanctuary we had many close encounters with a wide range of animals and were able to see some that even zoo’s back home don’t often have. Some of the most notable to me were the Tasmanian devil, the many    species of parrots, and of course the kangaroos.  

The view overlook of the Yarra river to downtown Melbourne

As the day came to a close I was still trying to grasp the fact that I am in Australia, there is so much to take in and learn I don’t think it has completely set in yet. Eating at La Camera, (a fine Italian restaurant) was over first run in with a bit of a language barrier. We quickly learned that entree mean appetizer and main is the main course. This as well as having no regular beef, only veal lamb and chicken were the only major differences. I noticed, as expected that their meat here is much leaner in general due to the difference in quality standards on IMF (Intramuscular fat) content in the meat. That’s all for now, as the Aussies say it good on ‘ya for keeping up with me thus far, be looking for more to come!

Two flights down one to go

Well day one has almost came to a close and there is only one long flight left before I'm living in the land down under....well temporarily. Mr. Pake Ebert had to have too the highlight of the day for everyone as we got to share the experience of his first flight with him on our first journey from KC to Dallas. The shortest flight was luckily on the smallest plane of the trip and it has only been improving from there. I'm currently in LA waiting to board a airbus at 10:45 (12:45 central time) that could quit possibly hold my whole hometown, ok maybe not but at least a food portion of it. It will be interesting to see how well everyone, myself included, can handle going right from sleeping on a plane and then customs to our first adventure at a wildlife refuge the next morning, I guess time will tell!

Closer to the Land Down Under

It's extremely hard to believe that in less than a month I will be in Australia touring some of the most monumental sights in the world as well as very influential sites to Agriculture in the country and world wide. What seemed to be a long time at the beginning of the semester has flew by.
In class I have learned a great deal about a wide range of topics and can't even imagine what I will learn while abroad. Just to graze the top, who knew Aussie was the one and only home to a large exotic and rare bird called the cassowary? The tropic region of northern Queensland is no stranger to exotic species in general. This combined with the breath taking great barrier reef make up a large portion of the northern region. There is much more to the country than the beautiful beaches and exotic animals, they have one of the strongest beef and sheep industries in the world. Cargill Australia (http://www.cargill.com.au/en/index.jsp)  is on the the nations leading companies and processes thousands of animals daily to meet the needs of the country and the demands for exports of their meat.
While sheep aren't a high commodity in the United States, they play a large role in the animal science economy of Australia and are of relatively high demand in the country. Another difference between the US and AU is the market for Ostrich. It isn't uncommon to see Ostrich farms and products ranging from meat to lotions and creams from these birds. Aside from just animal products there is a decently sized grain market as well, which Cargill has a large role in.

I am looking forward to comparing the differences in the beef and sheep industries of Australia and the United States as well as the cultural differences in general. I'm also very excited to spend my 20th birthday on the Great Barrier Reef for what will be my first time in a tropical region. With each task such as getting a passport holder and looking into currency exchange I can't help but get more and more excited for what I am sure will be the trip of a lifetime.

Northern and Outback Queensland

A overview of Cairns

    Northern and Outback Queensland has many attractive features to boast, one of the most important is historical. There are many linkages to the Outback and the national heritage of Australia including the meeting place of the first Labor Party and the national song "Waltzing Matilda".

    

Daintree National Park

    Northern Queensland was the site where Captain Cook was forced to land when he damaged his ship, this settlement would later become know as Cooktown on of the larger cities in the region. This area has many breath taking islands, exotic untouched rain forests, various national parks, and several influential cities. Some of the most notable islands include; Dunk Island, Green Island, the Torres Strait Islands, and Hinchinbrook Island, which are all often top destinations for travelers. The Daintree National park, one of the major National parks in the area, contain some of the last of the truly untouched land on earth. In contrast, cities in the region such as Carins, Cooktown, and Port Douglas are thriving. 

   Even though extremely different than it's counterpart, the Outback has many great features as well. these vast dry plains are known for their unique wildlife and Aboriginal settlements. The Gulf Savannah is the most remote land in Australia and is home to very little other than the wildlife. Normaton is the largest town in the region and was began because of the need to transport materials recovered from the many mines that are further inland. Other large cities are Burketown, Mount Isa and Longreach.  Mount Isa is the only major city in far Western Queensland and is in existence only due to the worlds largest silver and lead mine, which dominate the local economy. 

The gulf Savannah

   These regions seem to be very interesting and are rich in history, culture, breath taking scenery and lively cities. As my study tour to Australia continues to grow near, I can't help but get more and more excited for what a great experience awaits me.