AG is more than fun and games, and that is the message Year 8 students Rhett Austin, Kooroowartha, Theodore, and Dusty Lasker, Morney Plains Station, Windorah (owned by Kidman), want to get out to their classmates.
At The Rockhampton Grammar School today, AgForce’s Sharon Purcell and Grant Maudsley spoke to the Year 8 students about all things agriculture, and the importance of National Agriculture Day.
Rhett and Dusty agreed that when speaking to some of their classmates who don’t come from agricultural backgrounds, there can be some challenges with understanding.
Rhett said especially some of his friends thought farming was “all fun and games”.
But life is anything but for the two youngsters, who are both ready to head home for the holidays where Dusty said she’d be busy mustering, fencing, and doing bore runs, while Rhett’s cotton farming family have just started irrigating so he’ll be put to work once he gets home.
Rhett said his favourite thing about the industry was the opportunity to work at home with his family, while Dusty said she enjoyed getting up early in the mornings to help her parents if there aren’t enough people around.
Rhett has dreams to become a helicopter pilot, and Dusty, who competes in campdrafting, said she hopes to be an equine vet.
On National Agriculture Day, Dusty said she hoped to see more kids understand what the industry is.
“They just think it’s all fun and games really, but it is until you actually do it,” she said.
“It’s hard but at the end of the day there’s a good profit for it and you always get (a reward) for it I guess some way or another.”
Both kids study agriculture at the school, and said it was great to learn about other industries.
Rhett, who’s family don’t dabble much in cattle, said he enjoyed learning about livestock.
Dusty on the other hand said she enjoyed being able to go home armed with knowledge to tell her dad.
“I enjoy all the new things like fish, we don’t learn that at home – we just go out and muster,” she said.
“You learn all this complicated stuff and you can go back and tell Dad and he’s just like ‘oh okay’,” she laughed.
Coming from Morney Plains Station between Birdsville and Windorah, where her parents manage the Kidman-owned property, Dusty said studying in Rockhampton had given her a new look at the industry, and the different challenges.
“It’s different, it’s dry out there not humid and it’s just different land,” she said.
Kelly Butterworth
Rockhampton-based journalist covering all things ag.
Rockhampton-based journalist covering all things ag.
