Three Weeks, Mates!!

I can't believe it's already May! Where did the time go?! As of today, there are three weeks left until we board the plane to go to the Land Down Under! Over the semester, the class split into groups to cover many different aspects of Australia.  Here's a brief overview of all the things we've learned since January:

Australia has 6 states and 2 major territories, as you can see above.  Most of the agriculture industry is focused around the east coast.  The western side of the country is known to be very dry and desolate, with hardly any people living there.  Despite the sparse population, Western Australia is definitely the largest state in Australia.

Australia was primarily started by a group of convicts that arrived in central Australia around 25,000 years ago, these people were later known as the Aborigines.  They were the main settlers of the country, until the Europeans begin sending explorers down to the area. Now, the population is a very diverse group of cultures.

The picture above is from the Wellington Farm Lamb operation in Australia.  Sheep are to Australia, as cattle are to the United States.  The Australian sheep herd is about 72.75 million, while the cattle population is just over 27.9 million head.  The most popular breeds of sheep are the merinos and suffolks, and the dominant cattle breeds include Angus, Shorthorn, and Simmentals.

The Great Barrier Reef is another quite exciting places we will be seeing on our trip.  The biodiversity of this area is absolutely incredible, over 1500 species of fish live on the reef.  The reef is about 5 million years old!! How awesome is that?! It is also one of the 7 Wonders of the World!!!!! Fun Fact: 6 billion Australian dollars are generated by the tourist attraction of the Great Barrier Reef alone!

Sydney, Australia is one of the places we will be visiting.  I'm looking forward to having a night to take in the Australian culture along with the rest of the KSU mates.  Hopefully, I will blog again before we leave on the 21st, but if not please check back on the 21st for travel details and pictures!

Much love,
~Kaycie

Sale Update, Vilsack, and Tornadoes

Happy Sunday!!
It's been awhile, so I have LOTS of info to share!
Last weekend, we had our sale and it was definitely a SUCCESS!! We had two bulls over $10,000 this year, THANK YOU to the Dockter family and the family for their purchases. Our averages were up by a significant amount from last year.. what a great time to be in the cattle industry! After the sale, we had a barn party featuring a live band.  The party was way too much fun!! Sunday we celebrated my cousin's first birthday. She's absolutely adorable.. I can't believe she's already 1!

On top of two tests and a presentation on Tuesday, I went to listen to the United States Secretary of Agriculture, Senator Tom Vilsack.  His lecture was very inspiring.  As an Pennsylvania orphan 61 years ago, he could only dream of the educational and rewarding lifestyle that rural children experience on the farm. Today, he is promoting the rural communities, and more importantly the US economy and how it depends on the agriculture industry.   Here is a link to the K-State newspaper article that covered the Landon Lecture speaker on Tuesday.  Senator Vilsack Comes to K-State

President Schulz introducing Secretary Vilsack as the 160th Landon Lecture Series speaker.

Thursday night my co-ed softball team was scheduled to play a double-header softball game; however, we only ended up playing one game due to the other team forfeiting the first game.  We won our second game 15-0!! 

The weekend brought many severe storms threats across most of Kansas from mid-afternoon until late into the night.  I've seen numbers as high as 97 tornadoes being reported during that time yesterday! Luckily, all of my family and friends (that I know of) are safe with little to no damage.  

Australia Update: We leave 5 weeks from tomorrow!! Time to get serious about this trip! Luggage has been ordered, the last payment has been sent, and presentations are finished! I can't believe it's almost here!! 

Good night friends and have a great week!!

Much love,

~Kaycie

Already April?!

Hey friends!
I can't believe it is already April 3rd! It seems like yesterday we were just getting back from Denver..wow! Where do I start? Well, the beginning of March brought the K-State Legacy Sale and a weekend of fun with a good friend from home.  A few weeks later on March 16th, my brother and his girlfriend, Roxie, and Garrett and I went to see Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean. That was AWESOME!!

 

The following week was Spring Break for us at K-State.  I chose to work in Manhattan until Wednesday that week.  I went home to help get ready for the sale, and then I had an eye appointment on Friday.  Well long story short, I went in for a yearly check up to see what prescription I needed to get for my new contacts, and I left with some of the worse news I thought I'd ever hear.  On top of bad allergies in my eyes, the doctor told me my retinas were coming in from the brain higher than expected due to possible pressure on the brain. As you probably guessed, I freaked!!!! The retina specialist I went to the following Monday confirmed that it was only allergies and a bent, swollen optic nerve. I had never been so happy in my life to have allergies!! :)

After getting caught up in work and school, I can finally enjoy some time to relax....until the end of this week that is.  Our 5th annual production sale in Saturday in Canton, and this year's cattle are the best offering to date.  All the hard work does pay off, and it is so rewarding to watch genetics go from "way back when" to where they are now.  If you are looking for some good purebred Gelbvieh cattle, check us out in Canton this weekend! There will be a live band and a barn party where we will party until the cows come home that night!!

Here's a link to view this year's catalog.


I hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend!!
Much love,
Kaycie