You know that you're an Ag Kid when.....

I think the title says it all really. Lately I've been having a lot of those moments that can only be explained by the statement that I'm an Ag Kid.
Here's some of my You Know You're moments....

You know that you're an Ag Kid when......
1. When someone is talking about a Jersey or Guernsey you think breeds of cattle not sports team uniform.

2. When you can't remember your sleeve length for ordering a new shirt on the internet, so you just use the size listed on the side of the Preg Testing Gloves (OB Sleeves) Box.

3. A normal morning getting up at college isn't complete without the smell of fresh sillage from the dairy on the other side of campus.

4. Your college barracking song mentions the word Tractor.

Undoubtedly there will be more of these to come as my time at Uni progresses, keep an eye out and I will update the page regularly.
For some fun in the comments section below tell me one of your best "You know that you're an Ag Kid" moments.
 

It's Show Time!

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Brisbane Exhibition or Ekka for short.
The Ekka is a true "Country Comes to Town" experience as competitors from all around Queensland and New South Wales battle it out for the coveted Blue Ribbon.

I was lucky enough to spend two nights and three days at this years show and got to see a lot of the Ekka, I brought along the trusty Nikon and snapped over 3000 images over the three days (this led to a lot of processing time, and I don't think my laptop has forgiven me yet!). Here is just a snapshot of the event:

Every morning arriving nice and early to Roma Street Station:

 An Ekka Tradition for Breakfast:

 Scones with Cream and Jam made by the lovely QCWA Ladies with the Courier Mails in the John MacDonald Stand

Off Visiting the Beef & Dairy Pavillions:

Corporate sponsorship played a great role this year in the beef pavillion with McDonalds providing keynote messages throughout the pavillions allowing consumers to be educated on just where their produce comes from. So too did the Dairy industry with their encouragement of consumers to buy branded milk as oposed to home brand due to the impacts that it is having on our Dairy producers.

It was wonderful to see so many taking the time to walk through both these areas gaining an education on where their produce comes from.

A little bit of Horsepower.....

 This year at the Ekka the Hilux Heroes Precision Driving team presented their fantastic "Unbreakable Hilux" demonstrations, putting these machines through their paces as well as supporting a terrific cause in the process.

Horsepower in the more traditional sense....

 Represented at the Ekka are many different types of breeds of horses. Two that took my particular interest this year were the Queensland Mounted who put on a terrific display and of course the heavy horses: which were also very well represented.

Lunchtime....

 

 Lunch at Ekka presents itself with many different choices from the classic to the award winning. Left is the classic Strawberry Icecream (it wouldn't be a trip to the Ekka without one) and on the right is the Highland Park Grass fed Eye Fillet 280g MSA graded, Minchinbury NSW, Champion MSA Graded (non Wagyu) Branded Beef of Show and Gold Medal Winner, from the Royal Queensland Steak House Restaurant (here).

Main Arena Puissance Jumping Action

The word "Puissance" I'm told losely translates to: "Really high Jump" (please don't quote me on that one). It involves horse and rider completeing a jumping course with optional fences and a final compulsary fence. The initial optional fences are aimed at warming up the horse before the final compulsary fence is attempted. These are raised in height as the rounds progress with the rider that achieves a fault free round overall taking home the prize.

 Ekka IgNites

 

 Horseman Guy McLean presenting the "Mates from the Bush" (left) and "Fire Dance" (right). McLean is an impressive horseman who demonstrates some incredible skills with his team of horses.





Back for their nighttime round were the Hilux Heroes, again putting their now clean Hiluxes through their paces. This time Faster, Higher and Harder than their day show.

Rounding out the day was a terrific Pyrotechnics display from Australian company Howard and Sons Pyrotechnics, presenting an amazing array of fireworks timed to a great selection of songs. This year featuring their amazing Fire Jet system just to warm you up a little demonstrating split second fire bursts that literally danced in time with the music.

It's not over yet...

 

For those that wanted to add a little more action to their day Side Show Alley certainly had a lot on offer this year.
 

Before you go I'll leave you with one final thought:

Acknowledgements:

These photos are marked as Copywrite to Justin Matthews, however the content contained within them is the intellectual property of their respective owners.

Some Humour with a Message...

These last few months have seen YouTube give rise to some absolutely terrific Farming Related Parody Songs, so I thought today that I would share them in my blog post.

 But before I do so I thought it would be important to comment on the great work these guys (and many others out there) are doing. By creating and producing the clever videos they are promoting in such a great way agricultural industries and the vital role they have in society. In both these videos they have worked really well on breaking any preconceived misconceptions that consumers have about agriculture and educated them in a fun and humorous way at the same time.
By producing these song parodies these young producers are being great 'agvocates' for their industry helping consumers understand what goes into their product in a fun way at the same time. By engaging with consumers in this way producers are breaking down these preconcieved misconceptions about the industry and promoting it at the same time. As you will see in the videos these groups love their industry, they love working in their industry and are very passionate about educating the public.
Hat's off to these guys for their efforts and I hope to see more videos like this to come!

So enough from me, and on with the show! Here are just two of the many videos out there that have caught my eye:

The Peterson Farm Bros.

I'm Farming & I Grow It

With well over 1 000 000 views this video has certainly taken YouTube by storm. Gaining success not just in America but across the world these gentleman have certainly got a hit on their hands! Going viral in a matter of days and leading to numerous appearances on US television, here is I'm Farming & I Grow It:

You can keep up to date with these guys on their Facebook (here) & YouTube Channels (here) for more news and insights into the production process.

Lil Fred

Farm It Maybe?

This one just popped up in my newsfeed this morning courtesy of some mates from college, the FFA and a few other Ag Industries that I follow on Facebook.

Lil Fred who is only 9yrs old, puts together and stars in these video's together with the help of his brother Justin (18yrs old). Well written and an absolute crack up, sure to be one of the next viral sensations, here is Farm It Maybe?:

Again you can follow Lil Fred on his own YouTube Channel (here) for new and upcoming projects!

Wet Winter....

This season has seen a large amount of rain fall for the Winter months this year. This has meant that the gumboots and the drizabone have come in handy a lot this season.

Just today I tipped over 24mm out of the rain gauge, this rain that has fallen in the past 24hrs.

This weather whilst it is great coming into the Spring & Summer seasons is great for buffering our pasture supplies is wreaking havoc with our work schedules and plans and also the temperatures.

So for now I am keeping a close eye on the weather to see when we have some clear days planned....

If it's any consolation for us this week revised climate prediction have indicated the strong liklihood of an el Nino event occuring.
This events results in a drying summer for the Southern Hemisphere and indicates at possible strong rainfall conditions for the Northern Hemisphere.
Check out the QLD Government Long Paddock Website (http://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/) for up to date information.

Why I Like Cows (II) ....

Once again the news has degenerated to the point that I am over all of the celebrity gossip, horrible TV Shows and latest released novels and songs, that I have again decided that it all would be better if it were about cows.....

Here's a few examples from the week that was and why it would be so much better if it were about cows......

1. The Shire (cue groan....)
Channel 10's hit (?) TV series the shire premiered this week and has to put it lightly left some viewers with a gripe or two about the show.
Personally I'm not the hugest fan of the show (personally I won't watch it when there is better content on TV). But this lead me to thinking, how much better would this show be if it was about cows:
    1. Cow's don't get botox or breast enhancements.
    2. Last time I checked cow's didn't go through massive break ups.
    3. The only pushy cows I know are jersey cows.

So looking at it half the storyline would be cut, and then all you'd have to do is replace the "Snooki" character with a Jersey cow named Mabel?
I could just imagine the opening titles:
"Welcome to the Shire - This week we see a power play between Mavis and Mabel for the head of the herd, who will win? Who will lose, lets look and see...."

* Sorry to anybody out there who owns Jersey Cattle, they are for the most part lovely, but there are some pretty pushy ones out there.

2. 50 Shades of Grey (sorry I just don't get what the big deal is...)
Lately all I seem to be hearing about is the book "50 Shades of Grey" and that it has gained itself somewhat of a large following and is being touted to be the next box office blockbuster.....
The only 50 Shades of Grey I've seen or ever had to worry about are Brahmans & Murray Greys:

If this book was about cows (or bulls) than the most riveting read would be their EBV values and other trait characteristics.

Sources: 

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cow_female_black_white.jpg

2. http://www.puregrassbeef.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/2008_bulls.226135456_std.jpg 

3. http://www.brahman.com.au/brahmanMedia.html

 

Headed Home!

Headed Home (nearly!) just gotta pack the Rav 4 and I'm all set.....

GPS is Programmed and I am just about ready to head once all the packing is all done.

UniHolidays are finally here and I am gearing up for a busy week at home, then heading back to Uni For a Week to look after High School Students and the next generation of Ag & Vet Students at UQ FEAST.

 

Check out UQ Gatton's Facebook & Twitter Feeds (links above) to keep up to date with the programs they are offering for Current Students, Future Students & Producers.

Should be lots of fun but still a bit busy, but hey that's farm life for you!

This Month's Banner Explained: June

This months banner was a bit of a challenge to put together as I haven't been out photographing much lately.
June for me is pretty much dedicated to all things study for what we call SwatVac (Check out SwatVac related tweets here #SwatVac).
Image #1: I have developed a bit of a penchant for heights lately after being invited on a rock climbing trip.
Image #2: FarmFest 2012 (you can read about it here) - these are the goodies I picked up.
Image #3: Study Time - My e-notes
Image #4: Masquerade Ball - End of semester dinner was masquerade themed.
Image #5:  Motivation - This little book keeps me going, it's always full of helpful sayings, occasionally I will                   tweet them (here)
Images #6 & #7: Study, Study, Study, Study......

Hope this sheds some light, well getter get back to it and stop this procrastination, c'ya on the flipside!

FarmFest 2012

Something BLUE,
                  Something GREEN,
                                    Something RED;

A colour for everyone! FarmFest 2012 certainly proved that.
For those that don't know FarmFest is an Agricultural Field day held on the Darling Downs in QLD, it is said to be one of the biggest in Queensland and Australia.

It showcases the latest and greatest agricultural products across a wide range of sectors including farming, spraying, animal health & handling systems, and much much more. They come in a wide range of sizes from the smallest trade tool right up to a 50m+ Spray Coupe.

FarmFest is a mecca for the Rural Sector: It gives us the chance to come together and look at some of the newest and often cutting edge technology to enable producers to better and more efficiently produce their end product.
The FarmFest field day runs over three days enabling farmers to come from near and wide to see some of the latest and greatest products.
 It also gives us the opportunities to score so good freebies from the reps and make that Christmas wish list a bit longer!
Products are often demonstrated in a "test-drive" area. Equipment in operation included the mamoth spray coupes (see the one on the right), tractors, ploughs, mulchers, ATV's, bikes, the list goes on!
As well as product demonstrations there is a wide range of animal exhibits from stud beef cattle, dairy goats, and even the more traditional horsepower option of clydesdales. these animals all compete in specific classes and are judged taking home some serious prizes.


All the major manufacturers are represented with what seems to be a rainbow of colors to chose from. But from my observations you were either a Blue, Green or Red person (check out the images below).

 Both Case IH (Red) and New Holland (Blue) had some kit that I have classified in the realm of "big boys toys"
One of the more interesting "toys" that I saw this year was a new one Claas (Gleaner I think). This looks to me like the new hybrid of the farming world. This critter is somewhat similar to a Prius: in that it is a hybrid.

It features front track articulated steering technology, with wide tread tires on the rear. And it makes the transformers look like, well; kids toys.

In a sign of the times and the fact that more and more farmers these days are embracing technology this year featured an iPhone app which made life and navigation of the site a complete breeze.
Over 70, 000 people will have passed through the gates to visit of 2,500 individual rural companies. The site itself is massive which is where the i-gadget came in handy. You have access to the map and exhibitors list so you can plan your day.
I spent two days at the site this year and got to see some cool tech and speak to some very knowledgeable people. For me field days like this provide great insight into the industry enabling me to see a lot of the new and upcoming tech as well as get the low-down on products currently available in the market place.



 Just some of the swag of goodies (below) and literature that I picked up, that I now get to go through:

For more information check out the FarmFest Website (here), and who knows maybe I'll see you at FarmFest 2013!