My 2011 Study Tour

MY 2011 STUDY TOUR:
I am a young stud Angus breeder from "Hollywood Angus Stud", Peak Hill, NSW. I was awarded the Matthew George Young Stockman Award for 2010 at the Royal Melbourne Show. In April, I will be heading to Mexico and Canada for a four month study tour to get an overview of the beef cattle industries in these countries. I will be visiting a range of enterprises, including major shows, stud and commercial operations, and feedlots. I wish to thank the Ballarat Foundation for the opportunity to live my dream, and hope to share my experiences via this blog.

"LIVE YOUR DREAM"

"LIVE YOUR DREAM": THE MATTHEW GEORGE YOUNG STOCKMAN AWARD
The Matthew George Young Stockman Award was established as a sub-fund of the Ballarat Foundation in honour of Matthew George of Stockyard Hill, who was tragically taken in a car accident in 2007 at 21 years of age. Matthew had an absolute love of animals together with a thirst for knowledge and a passion for breeding. This annual award provides a young breeder aged 18 to 25 years with the opportunity to live Matthew's dream, and travel overseas to become an ambassador for the beef industry and study other beef cattle breeding programs and developments.
APPLY NOW FOR THE MATTHEW GEORGE AWARD 2011: Applications are now open for this year's Matthew George Young Stockman Award. This is an amazing award for anyone who wants to learn more about the beef industry. If you're aged 18-25, make sure you apply - the opportunities it opens up are just incredible! For application details, go to www.ballaratfoundation.org.au click on 'sub funds' & then 'matthew george award'. Applications close 30 June.

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

Lewis Farms, Alberta

I spent three great days at Lewis Farms, located at Spruce Grove, west of Edmonton. Lewis Farms grows 800 acres of seed potatoes, 3000 acres of grain and run 800 purebred Simmental and Angus cows. It was fantastic to have the opportunity to tour both their farms and see all their cows! While I was there, they took blood samples from their Simmental heifers to test whether they were hetero- or homozygous for the poll gene, and also to test for colour gene. We put minerals and salts out; moved cows to different pastures; and tattooed some young bulls. I also helped them take hay equipment and rakes out to their haylands, about an hour away.  















On Thursday, I was able to accompany Lewis Farms to Vermilion Fair, some 2 hours east of their ranch. I enjoyed helping them get ready for the Fair – it’s given me a taste for the shows in our local area as soon as I get back home! They took two heifers and had a really successful day, winning the Jackpot Heifer Show with their Simmental heifer (pictured left), with their Angus heifer (Bismark x Final Answer) which I showed for them running second to her (pictured below).

I am so grateful to Lewis Farms for having me stay, and also for running me around so much. They took me to the finals of the Chuckwagon Races at ‘Capital X’ in Edmonton on Tuesday night – very exciting! – and on Wednesday, they took me back into Edmonton so I could visit the Spring Creek office. Thanks so much!! 
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