Twenty Days Mate !

Wow, can you believe it is May already?! As of today there are twenty days left until we all head out to the Land Down Under! I don't know about anyone else but I am ready to get there ! It seemed like so long ago there was so much anticipation to get out of good ole' Kansas and head out to somewhere new for a few weeks. Over the semester the class split up into groups and did some presentation over various things in Australia that are currently happening or what made Australia the way it is now. Below you will see briefly some presentations and topics that were presented to the class.

Australia is different from the United States. Australia is made up of six states and two major territories. Australia is the 6th largest nation. Australia's largest state is Western Australia. Approximately 1/3 of of the country lies in the tropics.

Northern Queensland rainforests are also known as the "Wet Tropics." Rainfall near the coast reaches 4000mm, and near Western extremity it reaches 1200mm of rainfall. Northern Queensland Rainforest is said to be one of the most significant ecosystem regions in the world.

Lastly, I would like to talk to you all about the Australian livestock sales. The sales in Australia started in the 1840s. Auctions started in the 1850s, and pen selling started in the 1960s. The use of stock agents have some these following responsibilities:
-Reports to his client on market trends and prices
-Sorts stock into lines for sale
-Sorts prime animals for the freezing works
-Arranges penning and auction
-Arranges transport of stock to saleyards
Here is a link to view how they do sales at auctions/pen selling in Australia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPT7GUdNM7Y

I hope you enjoyed learning more about Australia, and I can wait to get on that plane to Australia and arrive safely. I am looking forward to seeing the difference in Agriculture between Australia and the United States. I think it will be interesting to see the difference in livestock also. I hope to blog before I get to Australia but if not, be sure to follow me in the next twenty days so you can see and hear about all the fun adventures us K-Stater's are having!

See ya later mates!
-Kara Schwarzkopf