I was fortunate enough to participate in the South Australia Junior Heifer Expo during the July school holidays. This included spending three nights camping at the Adelaide Showgrounds from Monday the 15th to Thursday the 18th with 195 other competitors from around the country ranging from ages 8 to 24. Through the expo I participated in educational lectures, career mentoring and competitions. Many of these included working with my heifer, Goolagong U Go Girl, which was supplied by Goolagong Santa Gertrudis and Angus Stud, and without their support, I truly could not have partaken in this experience.

An absolute highlight for me was the IVF lecture run by Vytelle. This included an IVF extraction performed in front of the group with viewing access to the ultrasound screen and life cometary. This was extremely educational and insightful for the competitors as possible future leaders in agriculture and cattle.

This program was an experience like no other. I truly understood the meaning of ‘Coffee is the gasoline of life’ after 5 am wake-ups to wash my heifer and ensure the stall was ready for the day and 9-10pm nights preparing for the following day's competition. Although this time was tiring and full-on, the support of the other competitors and my new friends while participating in the same process helped make the expo more enjoyable.

During the heifer class competitions, where the heifer is judged compared to the others at the expo, I was lucky enough to win 3^rd place for the class my heifer was placed in. As it was my first time attending the expo, I was labelled a novice, and this ensured that the committee members knew I had less experience. However, I quickly picked up on the processes and content and was lucky enough to place 12th out of the 54 intermediate competitors aged 15 -17 years. During presentations, I was fortunate to be present as the best-scoring junior judging intermediate novice, where I was scored on my abilities to assess and place 4 heifers without assistance. I Was also presented as the intermediate novice herdsperson title, which is given to the highest scoring novice for the age group from competition, animal care, personal presentation, and more.

Overall, I had a great time and expanded my knowledge of beef cattle more than I thought would be possible. I’m glad I took up the opportunity and look forward to returning next year and continuing to expand my abilities in showing cattle.

Chloe Crawford