Jim and Jackie Wedge host young beef producers at Ascot Angus stud, Warwick

Held from July 19-21, the tour investigated paddock to plate production in the region, and participants of the first ever such tour were Alkira Riley, Charlie Wrigley, Georgia Graham, Tom Pumpa, Tyla Sparks, Sarah Nesbitt, Cooper Walsh and John Barnett.

Leading the tour, Angus Australia extension officer, Nancy Crawshaw, said it allowed for the participants that may have not yet had the chance to see first-hand all facets of the beef supply chain in this region, an opportunity to gain a greater insight and appreciation of Angus cattle in the south-east Qld environment.

The tour took in the Neogen Australasia head office and lab; Ascot Angus stud, Warwick; Dunmore Pastoral, Cecil Plains; Stockyard Kerwee Feedlot, Jondaryan; NH Food Oakey Beef Exports abattoir, Oakey; and finally the Super Butcher, Eagle Farm.

When the Queensland Country Life caught up with the group at Jim and Jackie Wedge's Ascot stud, they shared their reasons for taking part and what they hoped to gain from the tour.

Ms Nesbitt, from the Snowy Mountains region of NSW, said she hoped to gain new connections within the beef industry and an overview of beef cattle production in Qld which she hoped would assist in planning her program at home, where she has established Curragindi Angus.

Mr Pumpa, Barcaldine, was most excited about the genetics side, having completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Science. "I've just got a job in the stud game, so I'm keen to learn how the pros do their stuff and how I can apply my genetics knowledge to the Angus industry. The tour has been brilliant and hearing the Wedge's talk about their selection processes has been really helpful," he said.

Mr Wrigley, Condobolin, NSW, enjoyed seeing the different production systems in place, and hearing from the producers about what their different clients were looking for.

Ms Graham, Kingaroy, said she wanted to gain a better understanding of the whole beef production line, from genetics through to feedlotting. "I'm really hoping to gain some new connections with other young Angus members," she said.

Ms Sparks, Toowoomba, enjoyed the networking aspect with people around her age. "I'm relatively new to the stud side, so wanted to see everything and in particular learn about the herd software. I really enjoyed our visit to Neogen, and the seed stock aspect was really great hearing from Jackie and Jim on how they've come so far. That gives new people like us a great long term view of how you can do this."

Mr Walsh, Holbrook, enjoyed the experience of seeing how things were done in a different area to his home region of southern NSW.

Mr Barnett, Tasmania, said he signed up for the tour hoping to learn everything he could about the production of quality beef cattle. "I'm fairly new to it all so am taking everything in."

Ms Riley, Victoria, said she had a mainly grass fed program and wanted to gain an insight into the feedlot system.

"I'm interested in seeing how the enterprises work a bit differently up here, with more feeding and inputs into the cattle," she said.