Thank You, Thank You!

First, I would like to thank the American Brahman Breeders Association for allowing me to travel to Australia and experience the trip of a lifetime!  Thank you to the Australian Brahman Breeders Association for having me and for coordinating the trip, also for looking out for me while I was there and for taking me to great families!

Thank you to the following families for welcoming me into their homes and for making me feel at home:  Kenrol Brahman Stud, Cole Family;  Cambil Brahmans, Camm Family;  Fern Hills, Brett McCamley Family; Voewood, Quinn Family; Fenech Brahman Cattle Co, Tony Fenech Family;  Lancefield Scott McCamley Family; Apis Creek, Olive Family; and Palmvale Red Brahmans, Streeter Family.  Also, a big thank you to those families who took the time to show me around their properties!

While in Australia, I met some really great people and have made life long friends.  I had the time of my life and I hope that I get the chance to come back one day! 

       - Brooke Prather

Brisbane Royal Queensland Show: "Ekka"

My last week in Australia FLEW by...I attended the Ekka in Brisbane with Wendy Cole of Kenrol Brahmans and Nick Curran of Spenbar Brahmans who was helping during the week.  The Ekka is an all breeds show from Beef and Dairy cattle to Horse competitions. I had a blast at the Ekka but the week went by way to quickly!

While at the Ekka I was able to see a few different things like the "Young Auctioneers" Competition.  This is when the new livestock agents come together and compete, by auctioning off three steers, to see who is the best; I really enjoyed watching it!

Show day was interesting, it was outside in an open arena, the arena was divided into several different rings so more than one breed was showing at a time.  After show day, we participated in the Grand Parade.  This was a huge parade of the Bull and Heifer Champions for each breed.

Here are a few pictures from the week...

The unstoppable Kenrol Team!

The showgrounds were right smack in the middle of the city!

 

  

Kenrol Dataman "Data" winning Reserve Champion Brahman Bull...excited!

One of the best ladies I know!

The grand parade lineup

 

Nudgee College Show Team, these guys were great! Thanks for all of the help!

 

 

The team at the end of the week, exhausted but still smiling :)

Palmvale Red Brahmans

 This week I am staying with the Streeter family in Malbrough, Qld.  Kearin and Beth Streeter along with their daughter Remy raise registered Red Brahmans on roughly 4,000 acres on their property named Palmvale Red Brahmans.  I met up with Remy at the Junior Beef Show in Rockhampton, this hardworking young lady keeps herself entertained by cracking a whip!  Since I've been here Remy has been practicing her whip cracking skills for the upcoming "whip cracking challenge" that will be held at the Malbrough Show Grounds this Saturday....GOOD LUCK REMY!  Kudos to her, because I would have whipped my ears off by now with all the practicing she has done!

Its been a busy week here at the Streeters, at the beginning of the week, we visited family friends of the Streeters at Stanage Bay which is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.  Yes, I can officially say that I have stuck my feet in the Pacific Ocean!  We went fishing and to a lookout over the ocean, unfortunately the only thing I caught were rocks!  It was nice to have a relaxing weekend and get an "energy boost" before the busy week ahead.

Catching rocks...

Group photo pn the lookout

Yesterday was busy busy, we had to pull a calf in the morning and get him to nurse his mother.  I was excited because I got to name him, I think he thinks I'm mom because he now follows me around everywhere.

 Meet Hercules...pretty tough little guy!

Then I got to wash the sale bulls for Brahman Week.  The bulls are l;ike big puppy dogs and love bieng bathed, crazy because 70 percent of the show calves I've had in my career have not liked the wash racks....

Palmvale El Paso, my new buddy!

Today we mustered a paddock of stud females, ones close to calving, and also put out dry lick and checked other paddocks for newborn calves.  I'm having a lovely time at the Streeter's and is looking forward to heading back to Kenrol on Thursday for the Ekka show in Brisbane.

Under the watchful eye of Lilly...

 "Pucker-up!"

Be on the lookout for future blog updates about the Ekka!



Apis Creek Brahman Stud

This past week I've had the pleasure of staying and working at Apis Creek in Malbrough, Qld.  Apis Creek is the home of Tim and Lynette Olive along with their two daughters Courtney and Alexandra.  This 50,000 acre property is located about 50 miles outside of the town of Malbrough where the Olive's run a Grey Brahman Stud and raise Charbray's and Brangus for their commercial herd.  Unfortunately Courtney, the eldest daughter, was away at boarding school this week and could not be there.

I first met up with the Olive family at the Paradise Lagoons Campdraft in Rocky, after a long fun weekend it was straight to work on Monday morning.  Every day started at 6 am with breakfast and did not end until after dark with dinner...the week flew by! I worked alongside three really great men this week; Mr. Tim and contract musters' Ian and Jamie.  These guys are absolutely great to work with, keeping the atmosphere fun and upbeat.  On Monday, we mustered a few steer paddocks with the helicopter, bikes and the Ute...not something you see everyday in Louisiana...  Needless to say I was in awe of the whole experience and snapped about a million and one photos of the chopper.  After the steers were in the laneway, Tony (the helicopter pilot) pulled up to re-fuel; we were hanging around the Ute talking about none other than Swamp People when Mr. Tim says "Brooke you ready to go up?" yep I got to go up in the chopper...best/most nerve-wracking experience ever!  If anyone is wondering what it feels like; I felt like I was strapped in an aluminum can whizzing, ducking, and diving above trees, creeks, and cattle!  It wasn't until after I got out of the chopper and on the ground that I realized the guys on the bike down below (laughing) could hear me freaking out from the two way on my headpiece...whoops.  Long story short, I had a great day and can't wait to go up again!

The rest of the week we processed 1200 weaner heifers, bulls, and steers; dehorning, vaccinating, branding, etc.  We also weighed and processed over 400 older steers who were being used in an HGP trial; the steers were broken up into three groups: (1) steers implanted with Compudose 400 (2) steers implanted with Revlorflex (3) no treatment control group, I recorded the initial and final weights of the steers as well as the ADG (average daily gain)%, I'm anxious to see the resutls of the trial in the future. All together, after the mustering,  we ran and processed over 3,000 head of cattle through the yards in one week.  It was a long week but it flew by, they say time flies when you're having fun!

I was pretty lucky to see both sides of Apis Creek during the week, the commercial and Stud.  During a "break" I was able to go for a drive around the paddocks with Mr. Tim, Mrs. Lynette, and Alexandra to look at the cattle and see what was beyond the yards.  It was great to see what was behind the weaners and steers we were processing all week.  Technically it was not a break because we had to fix a fence along the way!

On Wednesday night, I really felt like part of the family because I watched Alexandra loose her first tooth and be amazed that it did not hurt!  She ran around so excited that the tooth fairy would come that night and that she still looked like "Alexandra" and could whistle!  One of the cool things I got to experience was distance education; home-school via telephone.  Everyday Alexandra has a 45 minute "telly lesson" with her class which is based out of Rockhampton.  There are 5 kids in her Prep class and they have a main teacher who communicates with them though the telephone, each child has a headset and says their name when they would like to be called on or have finished an assignment.  The teacher will send out course work to be completed over two weeeks so that after the lesson the parents will work with the children to complete the work like a regular school day.  Pretty neat, she even had her own little school room!

I became very close with the Olive family working alongside them day in and day out and I'm happy to say that Apis Creek felt like home, thanks again to the Olives for everything, can't wait to go back!

Fenech Brahman Cattle Company and Lancefield Brahmans

Fenech Brahmans is the home of Tony and Joanne Fenech and their sons Will, his wife Tracey, and Chris. Located in Wowan, Qld, about an hour from Rockhampton, the Fenech's raise registered Grey and Red Brahmans and run a Brahman-cross commercial herd on 10,000 acres.

While at the Fenech's I was able to work with the bulls and females for the upcoming FBC sale in October. Work with the newly weaned heifers and bulls, educating them by tailing them on horseback in a stock saddle, very different from the American Western saddle...no horn! I also got to see a cloned female named Minnie. Miniie was cloned a few years ago and has been doing very well for the Fenech's having a high profiling calf each year.

By far my favorite part about my week at Fenech's was getting to know the kiddos! Will has three children, Rory, Jack, and Harrison...the sweetest kids! They jump right into the action as soon as school let's out, and have so much energy! The hardest part about moving from property to property is leaving great children behind after becoming so close, I've met so many amazing young people during my time here! I love meeting families with children as passionate about the industry as they are.

During my week with the Fenech's, I was able to spend a few days with Lancefield Brahman Stud just down the road. Scott and Lizette McCamley raise a predominately Gray Brahman stud and commercial herd on 70,000 acres. The McCamley's have two sons Ross and Ben who live and work on the property as well. Ross and his wife Jodi have two children Hailey (2) and Brody (4 months) also adorable kids!

I am very excited that I was able to visit Lancefield and see their cattle and the standard in which they select for. I was very impressed with their cattle and string of bulls for their upcoming sale. Although my time was short there, I was able to get to know this great hard-working family and I thank them for taking the time to show me around and making me feel welcome.

Here there and Everywhere!

I had a wonderful time at Fern Hills with the McCamley family. The two girls Cheyenne and Montana are like night and day, both unique in their own way. They reminded me of my brother and I when we were growing up. Cheyenne is quiet and giving with a heart the size of Texas, always willing to help out and will pick you up when you are down, like my brother. Montana on the other hand is firey and persistent, standing up for what she believes in no matter what, like me. Also, they are two of the most well mannered and well behaved kids I have ever met, they offer to do the dishes and iron! Just goes to show that they have two great parents who have raised their children to be young adults. Janice McCamley is a lovely lady who would do anything for her girls and took me in like one of her own. I cannot thank her enough for that! Brett McCamley is pretty lucky to have such wonderful girls in his life! I learned alot from him while I was there, he is very passionate about his cattle and I thank him for sharing his knowledge of the industry with me.

This past weekend, I attended the Calliope camp draft with the McCamley family. I had a lot of fun watching and snapping photos of the participants. It was nice to catch up with the familar faces that I met at the last camp draft and meet new people as well. I would like to thank everyone that I have met along the way for being so welcoming and making me feel at home!

On Thursday I arrived at "Voewood" home of Dennis, Dennise, and Edward Quinn. The Quinn's run a registered Grey Brahman Stud as well as a commercial cattle herd on 14,500 acres about 45 minutes outside of Calliope. Edward explained to me that they strictly cull their cattle according to temperament and structure; this allows them to run a successful and profitable operation. Over the past few days, I have been able to tour the property and help with the sale bulls for Brahman week. I am looking forward to the rest of my time with the Quinn's and will be heading to Fenech Brahmans at the end of the week.

I hope all is well at home, see you all very soon!

Fern Hills

Good Morning!  It's been a cold week at Fern Hills but a gorgeous one at that, not sure if I mentioned it but Fern Hills is surrounded by hills and mountain ranges creating the most beautiful scenery.  Since my last post, I have been busy around the property, doing everyday tasks as well as bringing bulls to the Beef Breeding Services to be collected.

While at Fern Hills, I was able to take a day trip out to Rockley Brahmans, a Red Brahman Stud just down the road from the McCamley's.  Chris and Ashley Kirk took me on a tour of their property and I was able to look at their sale bulls for Brahman Week in October.  I had a great time with the Kirk's, they made sure to inform me that they would be watching "my people" on TV this week....yes everyone Swamp People has just recently aired in Australia.

Wednesday I traveled to Emerald which is about 3 hours from Bajool for the Agrow field day.  This was a huge event featuring everything in agriculture.  The main part of the field day was the bull sale featuring mainly Charolais bulls.  After the sale, Janice and I walked around the shops and to my mother's surprise I did not spend all of my money!  I had a very nice time at the field day and was able to see some very interesting things, like a stuffed dingo...which scared me to death! 

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and good luck to all of the exhibitors at the All American!