Australian Overview

  This trip was a chance of a life time.  I was blessed to be able to go to another country and learn the way of their producers.  It was nice that a group of young adults could come together in the means of learning production agriculture from another land.  We had a lot of good stops that individually had a positive influence in my perception of agriculture in other countries. the way that they have the NLIS system in place is amazing. Although they do not have the numbers of cattle that the U.S. has I think the time is coming where that is the direction we will have to go to be competitive.  I learned a lot on this short adventure.  It was a beautiful country with a lot of history.  I enjoyed myself very much when i was there.  I think that every student should take the opportunity like this if it arises.  Thanks to all that helped make this trip a success.  I really enjoyed it

Beef it's whats for dinner

   One of the interesting but mind altering discoveries that I made during the journey of Australia's haw the people there buy there meat.  When we as American beef producers are selecting a hunk of beef we are looking for the thickest slice of Rib eye with mouth watering intramuscular fat throughout. This is not the case for the Australian meat market.  The mass majority of the meat that is sold in the chain market in the country is to our standards low quality.  Low to mid select beef is what the majority of the consumers buy.  This is very skewed from the market in the U.S.  While Traveling to different producer operations it seemed to boggle me every time when i would ask about premiums in their beef market.  They do exist in the market place there but it is nothing lie ours.  As beef producers it is our goal to improve the carcass of the animal for what the consumer is more willing to buy.  We strive to make our meat more palatable and improve the taste of every cut.  For the Australians this is not a driver in the market place.  So really for me it was the question of "whats the point?"  These producers are trying to improve their genetics and herds to reflect those traits of the U.S. but are not reaping the benefits that they deserve. Here is a link that the MLA has out to promote their meat. ( http://www.mla.com.au/Marketing-red-meat)  It seems to me that Australians have the oposite criteria in mind when judging there cut of meat than this simple Kansas rancher.  I hope that things turn around over there in the sense that they understand that the fat is not bad for them and that producers will see the dollars when improving their product.

                                                               Last Day
    The last day in Australia was one of the best experiences of my life.  We got the opportunity to explore the great Barrier Reef.  After a brief skills training class i was under water breathing out of a pressurized oxygen bottle.  that right i had the opportunity to scuba dive.  it was the neatest thing ever.
     Besides the oriental lady that was calling dinosaurs behind me and awoke me from much needed nap i think that the trip to the reef was the most fun of all the trip.  Although i will not take away from all the great places that we visited to broaden our horizons in the production agriculture world.  I enjoyed learning the ways of other people.  I learned some was of doing things on my place but a lot learning what not to do.  it was a chance of a life time and i am glad that i took that chance.

Wimer

Tree people      We had an early rise the is morning.  Spent half of the day on a plane.  The rules for security in Australia are a lot more lax than the U.S.  they allowed you to wear your shoes the whole time and let you bring your water or liquids through the gate.  Also Quantis is the best airline ever.  They fed us a meal with only a 3 hour plane ride.      We landed safely in Cairns after a pretty bumpy flight.  We then travels to Tjapukai tribe center.  This aboriginal center is I place to teach people the aboriginal way of life.  There was a presentation about their history that was very interesting.  We got to throw boomerangs and hunting spears.  The best part though was the digeridoo presentation.  It is pretty amazing the noises that you can make with this wooden instrument.   All for today Wimer

Day 7 Well today we started by making a short drive to Charles Stewart university. Or the uni haw they say it. We toured there units that would compare to our animal units at Kansas state. We finally got to see a dog work on some sheep. Although she was a young pup it was amazing to see what she could do. The equine vet center was top of the line. It was comparable to that at the KSU vet school. We also received some insight on a study jthat they were doing with angus cows. They were giving C sections to a sizable groups of cows according to the colander date. The rest of the day we spent on the bus. So naturally I took full advantage to catch up on my zzzz's. We had a dinner cruise out on the harbor and saw the famous Opra house. It was an mind altering experience! Quote of the day-- I was to sauced to salsa! Brad Bennett Signing out Wimer

                                            Sun comes up in I'm blogn!       Another morning waking up to an Australian misty atmosphere.  I tell ya I feel like all we have done in this country is eat!  Every two hours it seems that skippy is pullen this chariot over to get some grub.  Might have a few more pounded on me on the flight back over the pond.      We started the day by arriving at the Wagga Wagga stock yards and I have never seen anything like it before.  They sell anywhere from 3000 cattle a sale and an astounding 30,000 range maggots a week.  The pens for sheep seemed like they went for acres and acres.  The sale itself was very hard to descifer. There is a huge different that what goes on at home.  The auctioneer has no rattle at all and sort of yells at the buyers.  Their pen sizes are much smaller than those that are sold in the states.  I did like that the whole ring and entrance and exit of the ring was air powered.  The ring itself was split into two pens.  One side was the current selling pen and then the next pen to sell.  With that there are sets of T.V. Screens that shows you exactly what is happening in the sale.  The cattle that went through the ring were very exceptional and for a horribly cheap price.  I'm trying to find a big ship and buy about a million dollars worth on beef on the hoof and turn them in the states.  Wonder if my bank would have my back.     Next we jetted across the road and entered a Cargill plant that is integrated with the Teys family in Australia.  This plant kills around 1250 cattle a day with no sheep slaughter.  This plant was a lot different than the JBS plant we visited a couple of days prior.  This plant seemed to be more in the lines of what we would see in our plants in the states.  The fab floor was very sophisticated   and also filled with immigrant worker that are here temporarily and sending their pay back home.  They would not show us the kill floor for some reason.  It must be policy.  They had a presentation before the tour that touched on the ever increasing need for meet in the world.  Most of this growth believe to be in the Asian countries.       After a filling lunch we moved onto Jindalee feedlot outside of the agriculture based town of Temora.  This yard is a 17,000 head yard that is all owned by the feedlot itself.  There are a lot of feed lots in this country that are custom feeders but Jindalee is not one of them.  Their cattle are 90% black hides beef with only a couple heifer pens.  Feed is very expensive here so the feedlot sectors are always struggling.  They feed a lot of wheat and cotton seed with very little roughage in their finishing diet.  It was nices to see good cattle in other parts of the world today. Quote of the day--Chicken Snitsel!! Signing out  Michael 

                                                    Day 5    Well it was partly to mostly cloudy this morning when rolling out of bed but our group did their best to hit the ground running.  After a bus drive and drinking my weight in water we arrived in the Lokhart district to a Suffolk and merino stud. This stud was family owned and managed by the Bouffler family.  Trigger Vale was their name and sheep makes is their game.     All of this sheep business over here is like a new world to myself and the rest of the k-staters.  Andrew explained to us in a lengthy power point presentation their operation and some insight into the sheep breed in Australia.   This family really takes pride in their product and are an innovator to the breeds that they produce.  The education that Andrew has in business and the economics that s implied makes things make sense.   He has a dual breed that helps move along and focuses on fat in the meat.and the fleece coat follows with the breed.  This wool s nothing like that i have ever seen before.  The staple is long, crimp is very small and the and fiber is very very small.  The passion is there at the diverse farm.     We the moved about to a very intriguing business of the emu farm.  The rock is what they call it because being established under a very large bolder mountain.  These are mysterious creatures that I am defiantly not partial to.  They harvest these beasts mostly for the oils that they produce.  There is about an inch of back fat that that is converted into an oil that is very high in omega 3.  This product is 10 times as potent than fish oil.  With that there are also bi- products such as the meat and feathers.  It is a unique operation with a fluctuating market.      After lunch at the emu farm we then traveled about a 4 stubby journey to a quite sought after shorty operation.  This short horn stud ran by the Spry family is one of the top studs in all of Australia.  We looked at some very powerful studs that have a hefty price tag and many show trophies under their belts.  Ardlui Shorthorn Stud is a prized short horn operation in Australia.  There genetics are focused on a solid animal with grading EBV' (estimated breeding values) that are through the roof.  Very nice family group that have a positive out look in their breed -Quote of the day--Butter my but and call me biscuit! Signing out  Wimer