LUCIE-Anne Kirk is six months away from the trip of a lifetime - and the rewards of an overseas sojourn - courtesy of an Edgar Hudgins Scholarship.
Ms Kirk, Hazelton Brahmans, Blackwood Middlemount, will head to the US in January for a three month tour of duty in and around Texas to gain insight in to origins of the Brahman breed and how producers operate on the other side of the Pacific.
To say the 20-year-old is excited by the prospect of visiting assorted ranches as well as the world famous Houston Livestock Show is playing with understatement.
Similarly, she is still coming to terms with having secured the scholarship.
"I felt quite overwhelmed and excited when I was given the scholarship," Ms Kirk said.
"Truly I thought they were kidding when I was first told about it. It's been a dream and this was the first year in which I was old enough to enter.
"I had to nominate with all the other applicants and then there were interviews before a selection panel before the winner was chosen."
The scholarship was inaugurated by the Australian Brahman Breeders Association and recognises Edgar Hudgins, said to be the the founding father of the Brahman breed in the US.
It's importance has not been lost on Ms Kirk.
"I doubt there is a Brahman in Australia that cannot be traced back to Hudgins cattle so the has scholarship real relevance," she said.
"I will be going to Texas primarily and visiting a lot of Brahman studs and shows. I hope to see as much of the animal husbandry systems and study their genetics as I can and to see what I can of the origins of the Australian Brahman.
"I won't be going there with any specific expectations as to what I might see or learn. I want to be an open book and keep my eyes and ears wide open so I can absorb as much as possible.
"I want to open myself up to as many opportunities as possible and anything I can learn I will attempt to take on board. Everything over there will be different to what I have witnessed here."
Australian Brahman Breeders Association manager Anastasia Fanning it was "very exciting" to have bestowed the scholarship on Ms Kirk, who has a long family history with the breed.
Also Ken Murphy, one of the scholarship judges, said Ms Kirk epitomised the future for the Brahman community.
"We are looking for those who will be the industry leaders who might one day be in charge of the Association, or even Agforce and in Lucie-Anne we found a young woman well versed about the breed and who has a real future," Mr Murphy said.
Alan Welburn
Lover of sport, particularly horse racing and all things Olympic. Have spent my entire working life in journalism, mostly with News Corp on its major metro mastheads. Done plenty of things but the best by far is having a teenage son who calls me dad.
Lover of sport, particularly horse racing and all things Olympic. Have spent my entire working life in journalism, mostly with News Corp on its major metro mastheads. Done plenty of things but the best by far is having a teenage son who calls me dad.
