For 19 Macintyre High School students, Beef Week was a chance to get out and enjoy a school excursion while learning about many different aspects of the Ag industry.
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The "biggest group yet" of Year 9, 10 and 11 students were all invested in getting as much out of the trip as humanely possible, compounded by the fact that outings were non-existent through COVID.
Two of those students, Abbey Murray and Jared Martin, came away with highlights they didn't expect. And even ideas to take forward not just to benefit the school's crops and stock, but also their future plans.
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"We really learned a lot on plant growth with different soil types and environments... every place we went to had a different example, and also a different water management system," Jared said.
For Abbey, it was the different breeds of cattle that fascinated her, the choice of each coinciding which those variable conditions like soil and environment.
"It's given me a lot of ideas," she laughed, "the genetics side of it was so interesting, how they extract the semen and how different breeds and animals affect the percentage of viable sperm counts."
Both are seeking a future in Ag, with Jared on his family farm and Abbey either a vet or running her own property.
They said what they'd learned would help them in those pursuits, broadening their minds to the potential ever-advancing technology could bring.
The school did a lot of fundraising for the trip, with the whole community rallying together to fund the expedition.
Costs were cut by camping in show grounds and making their own food as they went - but it was the chance to bond and get to know each other that really stood out for their Ag teacher Deb Snaith.
"We had two parents, we self catered, and we camped, so there wasn't a lot of electricity - which meant we couldn't do much homework or use our phones," she laughed.
"But the team work we had was unbelievable, and so many friendships were forged. We improved a lot of life skills, learned to get on well in a group - when you can't have a shower for a while, all of those shared experiences definitely brought us closer together!"
She said what was really great was the students got the chance to talk to people in the industry, learn about how they got there and the different pathways they took.
"We even had some past students there who came to chat to us - stock and station agents, ringers - and they loved chatting about Macintyre High and catching up with the current students."
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