Day 5: Australian sheep, emu's, and cattle

We woke up this morning to an extremely foggy Albury, New South Wales. After breakfast we loaded up and headed to a merino and white Suffolk farm called Trigger Vale. Where they run over 2400 head of sheep. This is a very educated operation who is dedicated in producing the right kind of sheep for their environment and operation. Andrew who is in a partnership with his wife Mandi had unique experience where he got to spend six months traveling the world to learn different things that he is passionate about in the agriculture industry and share what he learned with fellow Australian farmers.

One of the exciting points of our trip is getting to visit with an emu farmer, which is what we were able to do over lunch. This afternoon we met with the owners of Marrocka, Ian and Marilyn Marston. There farm was beautifully located in the hills, where they raised approximately 200 emus. These emu are marketed for their leather, feathers, meat, and most importantly their oil. The emu oil is store as fat on the emus back so when the emus are processed they take out that section and any other fat.

After learning about the Australian flightless bird, we enjoyed lunch on their patio with the family. We got to enjoy a traditional Australian barbie of steak, sausages, salad, and potatoes.

After enjoying their view from their patio it was on to the Spry family's shorthorn stud. This Shorthorn Stud produces some of the best shorthorn cattle I have personally seen. Their cattle are a stouter made, easier doing, more structurally correct kind that would greatly benefit American producers. All their cattle are grass fed which is certainly impressive with the amount of condition they carry. When compared to American cattle specifically the shorthorn breed its amazing how different breeds in other countries can do with different farming practices.

When the tour was over we had a "barn party" with the spry family, for the second time today we had steak. We concluded the evening visiting with the family and conversing in the barn.