Short and Sweet

Woke up plenty tired from the night before.


Went right outside Wagga Wagga to Charles Sturt University. Peter Chenoweth who used to be at KSU showed us around their facilities. They have some of the nicest set ups that I have ever seen. Everything is state of the art. I'd sure go to school there! Then a 5 hours drive to Sydney that made for a lot of nap time. When we got to Sydney we went on a dinner cruise that was flat out awesome. We got to see the entire city lit up! Once in a lifetime!

 Hopping on the plane to Cairns. Stay classy

Chaw

Another really foggy morning, this time in Wagga Wagga. Seems to be a recurring theme for us. But they are coming into winter so it's not real surprising.

Went to the Wagga Livestock Saleyard this morning and really enjoyed it. They sell about 500 cattle an hour on Monday's and normally run through 3000 cattle per sale. What's even more astounding is that they sell 30000 sheep every Thursday. That's unreal and more sheep than I ever want to see in my lifetime. Plus Australian auctioneering is not even close to what we are used to. Overall one of the neatest spots we have stopped at.

Right across the street was our next visit to the Teys Australia abbatoir. Pretty handy to have it right across from the salebarn, but they actually source 95% of their cattle direct from the farm or their company owned feedlots. Teys Brothers has been long established in Australia and recently merged with Cargill to form Teys Australia. It combined their operations and gave them both a larger geographical reach.

An hour up the road was the Jindalee Feedlot, owned by Teys Australia. They have a capacity of 17000 and currently have 15000 on feed. Unlike our feedyards, they do not have access to corn. Instead wheat and sorghum are steam flaked for their rations, and surprisingly they get very respectable feed efficiencies compared to what we would expect with those products in the states.

I don't have a bunch of pictures from today. No pics inside the abbatoir are allowed obviously, and they were very secretive about their feedyard too.

Fun fact: the water inside the toilet bowl really does spin the opposite way



Stay classy

Chicken Schnitzel

Definitely had a good night last night. Finally got a steak instead of the usual fish and chips or chicken schnitzel. Put this in your brain box - if your ever in Albury Australia, visit the Bended Elbow. You won't regret it.

It was extremely foggy this morning on our hour trip to Trigger Vale White Suffolks and Poll Merinos. The say poll instead of polled. Those extra two letters must be more than they can muster to annunciate. They are all about measuring performance data in any way shape or form, which apparently is not common in the Merino breed. 500 Merino ewes are purebred, while another 800 are used more commercially. 500 White Suffolk ewes are also used purebred and another 700 ewes are a Merino x White Suffolk cross. That's way more sheep an I ever care to have or see.

Probably the most interesting visit thus far has been to an emu operation. We saw around 200 mature breeder birds. Eggs are harvested and hatched by humans to replenish the "herd". Once the birds reach 5 years old, they are processed. The main product is the oil, which is 10 times more potent than omega 3 oils, which are obviously popular among consumers right now. I never thought I would find an animal dumber than a sheep or a turkey, but these things take the cake.

Our final trip was to Sprys Shorthorns. I raise Shorthorns back home and have seen the problems developing within the breed in the US, thus why we are moving away from the purebred stock. But if I could live in Australia and raise shorthorns I would be in business. Maybe the best set of cattle we have seen yet, and a group of guys that really know what works for their customers.

Pulling into the hotel now in Wagga Wagga.

Fun fact: an Australian redneck is a bogan.

Gonna post some pictures finally since I got the blogger app to work.

Stay classy

Completely Different

Trip to McDonalds this morning for breakfast and free WiFi = pointless. All of us trying to get on the Internet at once did not pan out well. But breakfast was good and we got on the road.

 It was a real bleak rainy morning at Lawson Angus. These guys have been true pioneers of the Australian cattle industry. They have sourced thousands of embryos from the US and specifically Gardiner Angus in Kansas. They utilize every single type of technology available and take as many different records as possible. They put all of this forward to their customers at an annual bull sale. They also have satellite ranches in western Australia and Queensland that target specific customers in that area. All in all they run over 2000 cows and I must say have they have the best looking sale catalog I have ever put my hands on! Bringing that one back for future reference!

 After lunch and a 2 hour commute we ended up at Lima Park...and let me tell you, the two places we visited today could not be more different. Lima Park runs 500 Hereford cows and 3000 Border Lester x Merino ewes. They are about as hands off as possible, do not utilize any growth promotants, and on the cattle side do not use artificial insemination. Although they are able to export all of their grass fed cattle and sheep to the EU, so their market is specified and what they do works for them. 

 I was unlucky this morning that I did not get my blogs posted before Internet went down at McDonald's. So I'm posting the last 2 days and today's right now. Sorry for the delay. They have all been written but the lack of WiFi has been a real real issue. I'm back on track now! 

 Fun fact: Australian toilets have two options. A half flush and a full flush. Guess it saves water for #1.

 Stay classy America.

Hey That's Pretty Neat

Day 3 is a rainy one. They said on the weather this morning they plan to get as much rain as they normally do the entire month of May in the next two days! Makes it pretty difficult for us, as we had a plans to look at cattle. Guess I should have brought my muck boots. 

 Had an awesome experience at JBS Australia. They were extremely inviting and friendly and a great group of people to meet. We got the chance to see every facet of their operations which is hard to do...so shout out to them for giving us that chance!  A lot of what they do is very similar to the states, but it was obvious from the beginning that they utilize a lot more of the carcass then we do. Parts like the head meat and muscle surrounding the vertebrae they use, while we would throw it out. The biggest contrast was the leanness of their cattle. Even those that have been grain fed are starkly trimmer than American cattle. But I have noticed that they are much more health conscious here, so I'm sure it's consumer driven. Kind of the same thing is happening back at home right now. 

 JBS is well spread out over eastern Australia. The Brooklyn facility we visited harvests 1000 cattle and 3000 sheep per day. A lot less than our plants! This was my first chance to witness lamb harvests since its virtually non existent in the US. They had some really neat automated equipment that made the job much faster and easier. It was clear that they were on the edge of innovation for Australian packing facilities! JBS is the sole supplier and packager of all the meat sold in Coles Grocery Store. Which is one of the two largest grocery chains in the country. Out of the 1000 cattle they process daily, a certain amount is set aside for Coles, and the balance is then exported (mainly to the EU). The EU has a high demand for Australian lamb and beef because of Australia's willingness to adopt and implement the no HGP (hormonal growth promotant) policy. Nearly all of Australian producers do not utilize implants, which goes against everything the American cattle industry has done for the last 20 years. Just goes to show the type of world we are living in and how doing things differently then we used to is going to become normal soon!

 Next we visited Webb Black Simmentals near Seymour. These guys are top of the line for sure. They have been sourcing Simmi genetics from the US for about 5 years now and have pretty much jumps tarted the Simmental breed in Australia. For years the red Simmentals have been popular and because of the extreme heat black hided cattle aren't normally accepted. But the quality of their cattle is too hard to ignore. They have singlehandedly raised the popularity of the breed and are doing some neat stuff. They run about 250 spring and fall calving cows and have an annual bull sale every March. If your ever in Australia, definitely need to stop by. They will show you some good cattle and fill you full of drinks! Almost back to the hotel. I'll have another blog tomorrow.

Stay classy America

Technical Difficulties

Blogging isn't that hard, but finding an Australian hotel with free WiFi is a whole different story. Apparently you have a 50/50 shot at free wifi, and so far we have struck out. But past that this trip has been a once in a lifetime chance. 

 We started out yesterday at the Department of Primary Industries for Victoria ( Victoria is the equivalent to one of our states). We got a lecture from the states head honcho's about their livestock identification system. They require that all cattle be tagged with EID tags and every sale barn and abattoir (packing facility) has the capability to read these tags. All cattle movements are recorded and their traceability is immense. They record something like 100,000 movements per week!

 After that we took a bus tour around Melbourne, stopping at some cool landmarks like St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Shrine of Rememberance, and a botanical garden.  But the stop that was one everyone's mind all day was Carlton United Brewery, the largest brewery in Australia. They handle an immense amount of malted barley, bringing in at least 20 semi loads a day during the summer and using all of that immediately. They brew about 12 different beers and we got the chance to taste all of them. Definitely different than our beer, as their "light" beer is low alcohol content not light taste. Carlton Extra Dry was my personal favorite. It tasted the closest to American beer. 




We are driving now, and without Internet and all the other difficulties I'm not sure if I'll get pictures put up. Definitely gonna try. Looking out the windshield of our bus right now and driving on the left side of the road weirds me out. Feel like we are going straight into oncoming traffic! Good thing we're not!



Fun fact: Once the brewery finishes a beer and sends it out to the store, it only takes a max of 3 days before it is drank! Translation : Aussies like to get sauced!

Stay classy

Ever been on a 15 hour plane ride?

If you value your sanity I wouldn't recommend it. It's not near as bad as what I thought, but its certainly not a day at the beach. Food sucks, seats don't recline, no leg room. The only bright spot was the personalized entertainment deal in the headrest. We pulled into the gate at around 8:30 Melbourne time. 

 So we got through customs with no issues, I found the nearest ATM and pulled out some Australian mulah, and we trekked what felt like 10 miles around the airport to where the tour bus was parked. Didn't have much time to rest. Went and ate at McDonald's (which is just like it is back in the states). Then drove through some Australian countryside on our hour drive to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. Along the drive we got to see part of downtown Melbourne and the suburbs that surround it. Out in the country was Australia's equivalent of Napa Valley. Lots of vineyards, some of which are nationally renowned. We tried to figure out gas prices as Australia is on the liter system. They tell us that the $1.50 that's advertised here is equivalent to about 7 bucks a gallon back home. I wouldn't be driving around and paying that type of money!

Healesville was just like a zoo. There were some animals you don't get to see often like the Tasmanian devil, wombats, and wallabies. I had an up close experience with a couple of birds and they repayed me for feeding them by relieving themselves on my jacket! They say it's good luck, but we will see if that actually pans out or if it just means I have to wash my jacket tonight.  We have had substantial issues with this whole blogging thing. Free WiFi does not happen often in Australia, so being able to find it to upload these things is not possible. For future reference, don't blog abroad. Hopefully I will get another one up tonight. I'll post some pictures later. Can't find the adapter thing.

Counting it Down

It's getting awfully close to departure time. Sooner rather than later, I'll be on a 15 hour flight heading to the land down under. Now, since I've been away from campus for the semester, getting all the little details out of class has been difficult. Whether it was scheduling conflicts or technical difficulties, I've missed a few more classes than I should have. But, the facts I did pick up are certainly interesting and gave me a good idea of what to expect.


Here's a sampler:

• Convicts in England were shipped to the island, they established what we now know as Australia
• Captain James Cook first found Australia, when he ran smack dab into it
• Australia is kind of like Canada. Even though they have their own government and all, they look to the Queen of England as their leader
• Australia is well versed in wheat production, cattle, and of course sheep
• Family's own and operate around 99% of the farms in the country
• Both JBS and Cargill have international operations in Australia
• The Australian grading system for cattle includes measures tenderness, color, and marbling to meet requirements for branded programs
• Angus, Hereford, and Shorthorn cattle are prominent in Australia. But many breeds exist, including the Droughtmaster (a Brahman X Shorthorn cross)
• Over 77 million sheep call Australia home
• The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from space, and is over 500 million years old
• If you don't vote in Australia, be prepared to fork up 20 bucks
• It was illegal to swim on Australian beaches during the day until 1902.
• Bob Hawke drank 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds, a Guinness World Record in 1954. Then, he became prime minister of Australia.
• 20% of the worlds poker machines are in Australia.
• Tamworth is equivalent to our Nashville

Lot's to soak up I know. Long story short, Australia is extremely interesting and I'm really looking forward to my time there!

Next time I write, I'll be putting some shrimps on the barbie!