ID US...Please

Here is some of the propaganda I took to learn about NLIS.

The National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) was one of the most interesting aspects of the trip for me. 

NLIS doesn't just help prevent the spread of disease, but it also helps increase the bottom line for producers. Having electronic identification tags like Australia uses in the beef industry enables breeders to obtain performance and carcass data much easier than in the United States. Because Australia is so dependent on exporting beef NLIS was a must and with the United States' beef industry moving more towards export it will only be a matter of time before a similar system will be adopted nationally. 

The owner of Lima Park showing an electronic ID tag.

In talking with producers it was obvious that NLIS was a major success in their marketing plans and herd improvement. For instance, at Lima Park they are now able to sell cattle to the European Union because the animals can easily be age and source verified. Also, monitoring when cattle are ran through the chute can be done thanks to the technology used to scan the electronic tags.

A digital tag reader at Lima Park.

After experiencing electronic identification in person I can now see the benefits it brings with it. In order for the United States to be on a level playing field with Australia and many other livestock producing nations, the USDA will have to continue the National Animal Identification System that was implemented in 2004.

Until we meet again, happy trails!

Australia In My Rearview

Wish I could have spent more time in Sydney.

The time has come for me to reflect on my visit to Australia.

From our tourist stops in Cairns and Sydney to the agriculture visits along the Great Dividing Range, our group of K-Staters got a great taste of Australia.

However, I found myself wanting more. More time to explore the world class city of Sydney. More time to visit Ayers Rock in the center of the country. More time to see a massive cattle station in Southern Australia. More time to see a live export ship near the port in Perth. But time and money are both in short supply for college students, so I'll just have to go back when I strike it rich (knock on wood).

It was great to learn about the different genetics in Australia.

This trip allowed me to better myself as an agricultural journalist. The daily blogs forced me to think about what I had just learned, but also what would be important to my readers back home. I asked as many questions as possible to aid in the process of understanding the differences in the agriculture systems in Australia and the United States. It also didn't hurt that I took thousands of pictures and recorded video on our trek across the eastern side of Australia.

I already miss being in Australia with my fellow Wildcats.

It was a great time on our trip getting to know my fellow Wildcats better, while also learning about a country, continent and island I've always dreamed of visiting. Now I can say "mission accomplished" and hope that someday I'll be back.

Until next time, happy trails!

Frequent Flyer Miles...or Kilometers

Our plane getting ready to depart for the USA.

During my travels across land and sea to visit Australia, I've definitely racked up some frequent flyer miles (or kilometers if in Australia).

Airport security, rules and regulations were always something I had to be aware of, especially since I was detained in Melbourne upon our arrival.

Happy Anniversary Schaakes!
(It was 2-days long thanks to the International Date Line) 

While leaving the Cairns Airport my bag was initially scanned as containing a handgun. I was a bit confused as nothing in my book bag should have resembled a gun, but I guess the x-ray machine was having some trouble looking through all my junk.

At the next airport in Brisbane a similar affair happened when I was stopped again for what I believe was suspicion of carrying a bomb. The scanned image I saw revealed a lot of cords and wires, but all of those cords and wires led to nothing. They were for my computer, MP3 player, phone and other electronic devices. Luckily, after a second time through the x-ray machine I was given the okay to pass and I was on my way to the United States.

All the bags bared my name.

After those stops in the Australian airports I had no more problems on my way back to Kansas. However, when I opened my smaller checked bag I was greeted by a note from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and a broken luggage lock. For some reason my luggage was picked for a random bag check. The bag that was selected contained nothing but clothes, so TSA wasted their time and broke my lock, which they will not replace. Thanks a lot TSA.

Something else I found interesting was during our flights with Qantas all of the bags bared my last name on the tags. I guess it something to do with "Bechtel" coming first in the alphabet.

The view while leaving Cairns was awesome.

After traveling well more than 20,000 miles or approximately 33,000 km in air, I'm back in the Sunflower State reflecting on my trip to Australia.

Until next time, happy trails!

There Was A Boy From Australia: The Auctioneer

Livestock auctions in Australia is a little different than what we are used to in the United States. Here is some video I took during the weekly cattle sale at the Wagga Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre on Monday, May 28.

I shot another video just to get some extra footage of this interesting process. In talking with our guide it was my understanding that the auction works more like a game of poker, with each buyer having their own tell. Rather than blatantly throwing their arms up to catch a bid, the buyers instead try to be inconspicuous.  

The auctioneer also has a much different "yell" than we are used to in the United States. I don't think Leroy Van Dyke was singing about this auctioneer when he sang the following song:

Until we meet again, happy trails!

Picture This: Australia

Well I'm back from Australia, posting blogs was more frustrating than I had expected. Thanks to the lack of free WiFi in our hotels and slow access in hot-spots like McDonald's, I was not able to post in a timely fashion. Sometimes I was forced to post several days behind when I would have, while also posting multiple blogs in a day. This was not how I imagined writing the blog, but I guess its the way it goes.  

I would like to thank all of you who followed along with my great adventure and here are some of the lasting images from the last two days Down Under in Cairns.

Having some fun in the sand at Green Island.

Representing K-State with a Wildcat paw.

K-S-U Wildcats! K-S-U Wildcats! K-S-U Wildcats!

Willie the Wildcat would be jealous of our skills. 

Where we spent half of our last day.

Our crash course in scuba diving.

The island we spent part of the day on was also a National Park.

Beautiful forest canopy on Green Island.

This boat was at least 100 meters back from the ocean and surrounded by trees.

Leaving Green Island and heading to the Great Barrier Reef. 

I started the day on the Reef by snorkeling.

A fish outside the observation deck.

The camera man got up close and personal with this big fish.

Some of the K-Staters hanging out on the observation deck.

Wildcating under the sea. EMAW!

Nice view on the way back to Cairns.

The Aboriginal center we visited on during our 1st day in Cairns.

The Aborigines doing a traditional dance.

Playing the didgeridoo.  

Throwing a boomerang. 

Some fine dining directly from the Great Barrier Reef.

The Coral Trout I ordered at Tha Fish.

I hope they didn't pull my fish out of this tank.

We helped celebrate Hailey Clemons' birthday our second to last evening in Australia.

Until next time, happy trails!

Harbour Party

Sydney Harbour lit up at night.

For our lone night in Sydney we were able to do pretty much what we wanted. Some of the group went souvenir shopping, others took in the night life and many of the K-Staters went sightseeing in the beautiful Harbour City.

The main highlight of the night was when the entire tour group went on a boat cruise across Sydney Harbour.

Photographs were prevalent for our mob of Wildcats. In fact, I took over 500 pictures while we floated about the harbour.

Maybe someday my sister will be singing here. 

I couldn't help but think of my little sister, Lydia, who is an aspiring opera singer when we cruised past the Sydney Opera House several times. Lydia is currently a vocal performance student at Oklahoma State University and she is spending her summer in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, with Opera In The Ozarks. Maybe someday I can watch her perform at this world famous venue, but until now I'll just have to share the photos with her.

On the cruise we dined on a set three-course menu. Since we are in one of the world's most highly populated area for fish I had the red snapper. I'm not a huge fan of most fish, although I love to catch them, but the red snapper was NTS (not too shabby).

We're getting excited for our final stop in Cairns.

The Harbour Bridge was another major structure in the area I enjoyed photographing because of its sheer size and relative location to the Opera House.

I think I can say without a doubt that we did not get to spend enough time in the wonderful city of Sydney. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have the opportunity to comeback in the future, but until now I'm looking forward to soaking up some sun in tropical Cairns.

Until next time, happy trails!  

K-State Connection

CSU is located on outside Wagga Wagga and many students live on campus.

Australia may not be home to any cats in the wild, but there certainly is a fair share of Wildcats here.

During our past day or so in Wagga Wagga we had the opportunity to meet two faculty members at Charles Strut University (CSU) who have direct ties to Kansas State University.

On Monday night Dr. Peter J. Chenoweth joined us for dinner at the Victoria Hotel, a restaurant and pub in Wagga Wagga. Dr. Chenoweth is a former K-State faculty member and still maintains contact with members of the reproductive physiology staff back in the United States.

After most of the group grabbed some steaks, we finished enjoying the night by joining some CSU animal science students at a local brewery, The Thirsty Crow.

It was a great time getting to know the CSU students and compare our educational systems, while also learning about one another's backgrounds.

The next morning we toured CSU with Dr. Chenoweth serving as our guide. He took us around campus on a bus ride and then we made our way to the College of Agriculture's farms. We stopped at various units on the farm including the beef and sheep facilities.

This dog certainly put on  a performance for the K-Staters.

At the sheep unit the group got to witness our first display of a cattle dog working in Australia. The Kelpie we watched was just two years old, but she sure knew how to muster a mob of sheep.

Kelpies are a type of working dog that was bred in Australia specifically to gather sheep.

The beef unit allowed the Wildcats to see some excellent handling facilities that Dr. Chenoweth had designed utilizing Temple Grandin style methods.

When we arrived at the unit a group of vet students was mustering a mob of cows and calves to the working barn. All of the cows received a cesarean to aid in the learning of the vet students at CSU and they were being brought in for a routine checkup.

Besides looking at the units on campus we also had the chance to tour their state of the art College of Veterinary Medicine buildings. Some of the highlights of the vet med area was seeing reproductive stations used for artificial insemination of horses and new technology for animal x-rays.

Former K-Staters talking to us about CSU.

We me another K-Stater Down Under, Dr. Tonya Collop, the resident reproductive specialist at CSU. She received her doctorate of veterinary medicine at Kansas State, so it was good for the group to see an alumni in the area.

It's great to see fellow Wildcats doing so well across the world, and maybe some of our group members will want to come back down to Australia someday.

Until we meet again, happy trails!

The Stockyard In the Australian Backyard

Today's itinerary for our K-State tour included a stop at a sale yard, a packing plant and a feedlot.

Some Hereford cattle being sold at Wagga Wagga.

First we visited the Wagga Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre, which is one of the largest cattle and sheep marketing outlets in Australia. The sale barn was started in 1979 and is operated by the Wagga Wagga City Council. Producers come from over 800 km to market their animals, and they come from both New South Wales and Victoria.

Cattle are sold on Mondays each week, while sheep are sold on Thursdays. Around 2,800 cattle were being sold when we toured the facility with an average of 500 cattle going through the ring each hour. The sheep sale is an even larger affair with over 30,000 head marketed each week.

While at the stockyard we were able to see our first display of working horses. In Australia the typical horse used for everyday cattle work is the Australian Stock Horse. It is similar to the Quarter Horse in working ability, but slightly larger in size.

Australian Stock Horses doing their thing at the saleyard.

The Australian Stock Horse is used for a rodeo event similar to cutting and team penning, it is called camp drafting. Cattle are put into a mob of 10 in a pen, then a calf must be cut out of the group and moved through an obstacle course in the open.

After the stop at the sale yard we went across the road to the Cargill-Teys packing plant. The facility slaughters and processes 1,200 head of cattle each day with a 50-50 split on grass finished and grain fed beef.

Around 35 percent of the product coming from the Wagga Wagga processor stays in Australia, with the remaining 65 being exported to Asian, European, and North American countries.

This is the sign that greeted us at the plant.

The Cargill-Teys plant was very similar to what you would see in the United States. Grading was performed by a computer camera system which could be overridden by the grader operating it. Also, the line for processing and packing the beef was much faster than what we had previously seen at JBS.

To help put a vertical integrated spin on our trip we toured the Jindalee Feedlot, which is owned by Cargill-Teys. The feedlot has a 17,000 head capacity and all of the animals are processed at the Wagga Wagga Cargill-Teys packing plant.

At the Jindalee Feedlot they have a turnover rate of about 3.75, meaning they feed over 60,000 head of cattle each year.

It was surprising to see how similarly the feedlot was managed when compared to the United States' cattle feeding industry. Implants were used throughout the feedlot and over 95 percent of the cattle were bought directly from cattle producers.

The feedlot that sends a primary share of beef to the Wagga Wagga processor

Death loss at the feedlot was low at only a percent. The morbidity rate for cattle was around 20 percent, with treatment of cattle being commonly caused by respiratory problems.

In all this was a day where we could see the most similarities to the American beef industry, but we still found enough differences that make Australia unique.

Well until next time, happy trails!

Breeding Better Livestock

The theme for the past few days has been breeding better livestock, and the Australian producers we've met have been achieving this goal.

I've been on blog writing overload so I think I'll just let the pictures with some captions do the talking for me about the past day or so of tours.

Enjoy, and good on ya, mate!

Very fine Merino sheep wool from Trigger Vale.

The bottle baby at Trigger Vale.

A type of sheep race way (or alley way) in Australia.

The Rock.

This emu is strutting it's stuff for us.

The group after our dinner at the emu farm.

Darn good looking bull at Sprys Shorthorns.

Judging cattle never ends for Dr. Schaake. This yearling bull sold for $46,000 in Australia.

The group posing for a photo with the folks at Sprys Shorthorns.

Best steaks we've had thus far. Thanks for dinner Sprys Shorthorns.

Temple Running ain't easy, but somebody has got to do it.

Funny realty sign we saw on the drive to Albury.

Multi-species grazing at the commercial operation we visited: cattle, sheep and wild rabbits.

The group talking with our host about sheep and cattle production.

And the sun sets on another great day in Australia.

Thanks for taking a look. Until we meet again, happy trails!