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

Day 4    We started the morning off in McDonald's trying to get some blogn done and was barely successful.  After mass confusion of ordering an American meal at an Aussie establishment we were off.  Skippy drove like a mad man and delivered us to Lawson Angus bull stud.       This is the biggest seed stocker operation in all of Australia.  This angus herd ends up selling around 800 bulls every year.  This operation has over 2000 head of mama cows that have a spring and fall calving season.  What's interesting is that their spring calving is at the time when we are fall calves are hitting the ground, and visa versa.       There is a lot of Gardiner influence in the herd here.  They have taken info from the family and made it work over hare.  The partnership between these to operations is very unique.  Harry Lawson was sure to include his success in Australia is possible by the help from the states.       We visited on of the operation sites where they grow their bulls.  They have a sort of intense grazing system.  They are continuously doing pasture replanting with perineal rye grasses for the summer months.  They graze these paddocks with a one bulls per acre management system.  It is intensely managed to ensure 1 kilo of growth per day.  Very interesting trip.      We then traveled on to a commercial Hereford operation about an hour away to Lima park where we saw a commercial Hereford operation.  Hamish McMillan also manages 3000 head of cross bred ewes.  They try to have two and a half lambs every year.       This commercial operation is focused on lbs per head in both species.   He has one of the fastest Hereford heds that I have ever laid my eyes on.  He one had a cow the was 2400 lbs.  Thats a BB.  His management ideas were very practical for just one other soal helping in the operation.      The sheep are a combo breed.  He is unique in the sense that he leaves the fleece on the sheep in the summer and sheers during the onset of the winter months.  The wool is sold to pay for the fertilizer costs that are spread on the paddocks.      Headed to Albury now it was a good day down under. Signing out Michael 

Day 3      Well I started Ina bit of a fog.  But these Aussies can make a real mean breakfast.  We shoved off at about 7:30 a.m. Headed to the Brooklyn Abattoir.  This slaughter plant is owned by JBS swift and is one of the biggest in the southern hemisphere.  It was quite interesting to be able to compare this process with those plants in the united states.     One aspect that was unique was the fact that they slaughter both beef and lamb at the very same time.  They kill 5000 sheep and  around 1200 beefs a day.  One thing that struck me odd that is very different from those in the states is that the plant consists of a few buildings instead of under one roof.       With the fact that Australia has strict identification system the plant can identify each carcass by the hook.  It is odd seeing these light weight calves hanging with yellow back fat and nearly no intramuscular fat to speak of.  The process is very similar to that oft he states except for a few differences.  To start with that is very bizarre the way that they move there cattle around in the yard before entering the plant is with herding dogs.  Really cool, but i don't know about for stress level. The production line is much slower and have less workers than the plants at home.  I think that this have most to do with the fact that here the spend a lot of time on cuts that we don't.  They Save and process a large amount of the head meat.  It is stripped of meat completely.  And they also take the time to cut eat out from in between each vertebrae.  This is time consuming and not done back home.  From knock box o the cooler takes but a half an hour.  Carcasses hang for only  24 hours before hitting the fab floor.      The sheep slaughter was amazing.  Not ever seeing sheep slaughter myself it was quite an experience .  It is really different how they do this but they have a system that is very efficient.  The technology that is in place makes things move right along.  They have automatic fleece pulled that was never off.  Awesome!  This plant supplies Coles a national grocery chain with all of their meat needs.  Around 90% of the nations meat is ordered and delivered to them.    We then traveled out to Webb Black simmentals to take tour.  By far one of the best stops yet.  Learning how they are trying to implement the semmi cattle into the Australian industry. The Web stud is struggling getting there beef out there because of the all the perceptions that people have just like we do I the states.  Beef is good!  --fun fact-- The toilet's here have two flush options.  Number 1 and number2.  Lol Signing out Wimer

  Day 2 Day two started out with a wonderful breakfast at the travel lodge hotel.  Then we took about a mile walk through melbourne and admire all of the wonderful architecture.  Everything is so very different looking.    We made it to the department of primary industries where the state of Victoria's livestock headquarters is.  There we we discussed the importance of   Animal ID systems.  It is mandatory  by the nation that all beef cattle have an EID tag from the day they are born until slaughter.  Although each state is incharge of there own identificatin speculations but nationaly inforced.This program started back in 1996.  This started because of the need to rid the country of brucellosis, TB, and to insure that foot and mouth disease stayed out of their country.  It was very interesting to learn how their industry is more similar to ours than I thought it was.       We then jumped on the bus and toured over to the Victorian WWI memorial.  This building is the largest granit structure in the world.  Here I learned how proud of a country is.  They are very proud Country.  There are walls and walls of medals and memorabilia.      And currently we are at a beer maken place .  And it was a n experience to learn how they make they make there beer.  They make beer 24 hours a day five days a week. The samples were very tasty.  Very tasty.   Signing out  Wimer

Day 1   Ok well this is my second try on my first blog.  Obviously technology sucks and deleted my 500 word blog.  But anywho I made it to the country of kangaroos.  A horrible 16 hour flight brought me over to this land on a A380 BFP.  So since this is my second go I will make it short and sweet.    We started our day going through customs for around an hour or so standing in line.  We then met our fearless leader Mr. Mitchell and our bus drive "SKIPPY".  We then took a short hour ride on a top heavy bus through the winding roads of the outback.      Apron arrival at the Healsville Sanctuary we got to experience the Australian wildlife.  We saw one of the most awesome aerial show by the Australian birds.  These things were going amazing stunts with little help from the handler.  It's s good start to the trip. Signing out  Wimer

Voyage Awaits Us

           Less than a month before we venture across the great blue sea.  I joined this crew of voyagers a little late in the process but have learned lot about the Australian agriculture system.  It was interesting to be able to compare that of Australian culture of way of doing thing to that of ourselves as animal producers.  From over sized flightless birds to criminals taking over the continent by storm.  Australia is a very interesting place in the world and here are some tid bits that i picked up while in class.

• History
• Australia is the only country to govern a whole continent.
• Was established by convicts that were shipped over there by King George and they started convict colonies.
• Aborigines were the natural habitats of this country, but captain James cook Founded the coast of Australia. That is until he ran into the Great barrier Reef.(biggest Reef in the World)

• Gov/society
• Current Prime Minister is Julia Gillard, but still consider Queen Elizabeth II to be the queen of Australia.
• 95% of there legal voters cast their ballets!!!!!  We don't even have half that here.
• Have a flat tax rate.
• Currency rate is $1=$.935  but this will fluctuate over time.
• Mining and Agriculture make up 57% of the countries exports
• National debt is 2.1 trillion compared to the U.S. of 15.3!!!!
• Agriculture
• Almost all farms are family owned and operated equalling about 134,000 of them that nearly fulfill the Australian daily food supply
• Crops= Wheat, Barley, and sugar cane
•  Beef Herd is around 28 million head compared to the 92 million in the US
• A large number of these animals are grass feed on thousands of acers(hectares)
• 2nd largest beef exporter behind Brazil. The most impressive thing about these exports is that a vast majority of these are live exports!

• Australians take there beef production seriously.  Especially of those that have a branded product. Visit Campbell beef at http://www.campbellfoods.com.au/index.html
• Have a large market in veal production
• I have never had lamb before and i am sure that i will get a chance with this trip seeing how Australia is a huge lamb and mutton producing country.  They run around 72.74 million head.
• It is also very interesting that some of there bigger feedlots and packing plants are nearly next to each other

There are so many things that i look forward to do and learn on this trip that i am so very privileged to go on.  I believe for me that most interesting thing will be the opportunity to see what other producers in the industry.  I want to learn how there live export business can work for them with the increasing over head costs with fuel rising so much.  I want to learn alongside my class mates how we as American meat animal producers can fall into different markets and answer the needs of new customers.

500 words exaclty  Schaake