Tracy scoops swine award

Ms Muller, who is a research associate with CHM Alliance based in Toowoomba, was presented with the award last night at the ABARES Outlook 2015 conference in Canberra.

"The research I do is focused around sow behaviour and welfare and I have a special interest in the incidence of lameness in sow herds," she said.

"Foot health is influenced by many different things including pen and floor type. Growing gilts are selected and retained in the herd on a range of criteria, including leg and foot structural integrity.

"We have limited knowledge of the link between trace minerals and the role they potentially play in foot health."

The Department of Agriculture presents awards for science and innovation to young people aged between 18 and 35 years who are involved in agriculture, fisheries and forestry.

Winners receive funding for their projects and Ms Muller will use her grant to further her study of the proposed link between the uptake of trace minerals and hoof hardness.

"I have successfully undertaken some research last year where we were able to demonstrate measurable differences in the uptake of trace minerals in the hair of sows," she said.

"I will be using this funding to measure the uptake of zinc, manganese and copper, not only in the hair but in the hoof, and explore the relationship between foot health and lameness."

Ms Muller grew up in Toowoomba and studied a Bachelor of Applied Science and completed her Masters in Biometeorology at the University of Queensland, Gatton Campus.

She travelled overseas and worked as a research technician at a pig research facility in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, before returning to Toowoomba to work for CHM Alliance, where she has been based for the past two years.