Written by Ada Crain
Having grown up on a property, I was exposed to many different careers in the Australian agricultural world. This allowed me to know what I did and didn’t want to do.
Because the property is focused on beef and sheep production, I was able to realise that I loved animals, as we have work dogs, horses and the odd random pet fish (which unfortunately never really lasted that long). I was exposed to careers in agriculture such as farm manager, farm hand, shearers, fencing contractors, earthmovers, fertiliser spreader companies, and stock agents but none of these really were options that I really wanted to go to.
But when the vets had to come out I used to help out and listen to their diagnosis of different problems going on with the cattle, as well as the rest of the animals on the properties, and this was something that was really interesting to me.
Real industry experience
So although living in the middle of nowhere may seem like a bit of a pain (which it was sometimes) it allowed me to realise what I wanted to do in the future. By growing up on a farm I helped Dad out with the shearing and during calving periods, so I was able to have real industry experience. And even doing things such as helping to pull lambs and calves, (though stressful) it was much more fun than going fencing.
Growing up on a property and wishing to become a vet I was also aware of what it actually means to be a vet. As I know that sometimes you get called out to a property and you have to preg test hundreds of cattle, which means… sticking your arm, you know where. I believe that was a good thing, as many people believe they want to be a vet because all you do is vaccine puppies and kittens all day, but it is much more complex and a bit more gross than that, which I am more then happy with. So having this real industry experience on a property gave me the first hand experience into what it may be like if you become a vet in rural Australia.
Exposure of all kinds
Although growing up on a property has these advantages, it also meant I wasn’t exposed to different species that other vets work with. For example reptiles, and animals at zoos such as lions and giraffes. Going to university opens up this opportunity to explore other exotic species.
Although I want a career as a veterinarian, I unfortunately wasn’t able to get the ATAR so I thought the best option was do to Animal Science as it will expose me to many different agriculture enterprises and university life. The rural location of Wagga Wagga is the reason I chose it as my base. I have heard extremely good things about this course as well.
The way that I see it, is the way you grow up has a very big impact on what you want to do in the future as you see what your parents do and what the rest of your town or cities jobs consist of. So growing up on a property was extremely beneficial to helping me decide and I know how lucky I am to be able to have that opportunity to explore Australia’s agriculture.
