Gabrielle Robinson is a 2016 agriculture awardee who travelled to the UK in June 2017 to develop her knowledge of Angus breeding.

‘I applied for the BBM Youth Support Award as it was an opportunity I did not want to pass up. It was a once in a life time opportunity that projected so many chances, experiences, knowledge and memories. I was hoping to gain knowledge in all different aspects of beef farming and agriculture from all around the country. I searched for events and attractions during the time I was going to be overseas and attended the World Angus Forum for quite a portion of my time in the UK. I also searched and contact Angus Studs that I wanted to visit during my time in the UK.

I visited multiple Angus studs as I travelled through Scotland looking at the herds breeding and pedigrees and bloodlines that dated back to my Angus Stud here in Australia. One of my stops was the United Auctions at Stirling which demonstrated how they sell cattle at the Auctions with the showing ring and yarding out the back. It was great to see how they sell at the Auctions. Another stop was at the Border Union Showground where we were presented with Scottish Highland Dancing and Scottish food. The Royal Highland Show was on at the time I was in the country which was a great experience to see the cattle showing and different type of judging and comments on cattle preparation and breeding qualities. As I travelled up the East coast of Scotland I visited studs by the name of Idvies, Rawburn, Netherton, Ballindalloch, Fordel, Castle of Mey, Dunlouise and many more. I stayed at the local towns as I travelled up and did more sightseeing as I went. Throughout the whole trip the most interesting thing was the difference between the cattle size from here in Australia to over in the UK. Due to the rainfall in the UK they can afford to breed large frame cattle as their grass and feed supply never runs out like it does here in Australia. The cattle are just enormous compared to the cattle here in Australia.

I attended the World Angus Forum was great as it allowed me to make contacts from all over the world including New Zealand, Canada and many contacts in the UK. Visiting so many different farms allowed me to get a broad view of the farms and techniques of farming. I would recommend travelling all throughout Scotland and further down the country and even into Ireland and spending time vising different farms and enterprises to get a good idea of how Agriculture varies so much.  The people in the country are so welcoming and inviting so I stayed with a family for 4 days which was great as they showed me around to other farms and different enterprises in horticulture and cropping.

This trip gave me a good understanding of how different the methods are throughout the country and how it varies so much as the climate changes. This trip allowed me to see many different aspects of the agricultural, horticultural and cropping industries and gave me a broad understanding of how diverse operations work.’