The American life!

My second week here at Kansas State University has been a blast. This week I certainly got a taste of the American life. However, there was a hint of 'Aussie' in there.  The Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging team arrived in Manhattan, Kansas for dinner and training with the American Intercollegiate Meat Judging team. I was lucky enough to join them and it was so good to meet new people interested in the meat industry as well as hear some familiar Aussie accents!!

Two of the members from the Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging team, Laura Kemmis (Charles Sturt University) and Fred Broughton (University of New England) and myself dining at a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan with the American Intercollegiate Meat Judging team. 

Tuesday night, I attended a mens basketball game- Kansas State University vs. Texas Tech University. I was absolutely blown away at the support the fellow students had for their team and watched the K-State team win that night! The lengths that they went to included a band, cheerleaders, commercials, contests and chants...the atmosphere was incredible!

Getting ready to watch the basketball game, K-State vs. Texas Tech.

This week the stand out of my classes was in livestock sales management. We had a guest speaker, Mr Kent Jaecke, who graduated from K-State University with an animal science degree. He took the same class as I am taking now and told us how he got to be where he is with his business today. His business, Focus Marketing Group, works 100 sales annually and markets purebred, commercial and show cattle. He told us how he has had to move with the times and diverge from traditional sales by public auction and turn to the internet. He has found a great market for selling cattle online and offers a service to cover all marketing associated with a sale. Although he quoted Mr. Stanley Stout, 'that there was no better way to tell the true value of an animal than by putting it up for public auction', he has found now that with the shift in producers reducing their cattle numbers in align with an ageing farming community, that holding a public auction is not viable for some producers. So, in turning to the internet, he has found that producers can market and sell their cattle online without the cost of holding a public auction. Mr Jaecke, will be back at K-State university next week to demonstrate the services of Focus Marketing Group, when the K-State cattle will be prepared for the catalogue for their annual bull and female sale in March.

Kent Jaecke, Focus Marketing Group, giving the livestock sales management class an inspiring presentation about his career in the livestock industry. 

Next week I am heading off to Nashville, Tennessee with the Collegiate Cattlemen and Cattlewomen from Kansas State University to attend the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Convention and Trade show. This event is the oldest and largest convention for the cattle business so I am very excited to be attending.