The Barossa Mag Summer 2018-19 | Page 16

16 | T HE B A R OSSA M AG “I saw a lot of the industry due to people being open and transparent,” Sam explains. These situations led Sam into doing many things she never thought she would do, like spending spring break in Montana, feeding cows in 4 feet of snow, artificially inseminating cows and even driving in the wrong side of a car on the wrong side of the road. Moments like these left her thinking at times, “How did I even end up here?” rented acres. They now sell over 700 bulls a year and run one of the largest embryo transplant programs in the US. One family in particular, were previous Kansas State graduates, not born into a ranching ‘farming’ property. This family started with one cow in 1977, and were at one point selling 300 bulls from 300 It was at this farm, that Sam was told that the day’s work was inducting cattle, meaning they needed to tag, tattoo, tail bleed, vaccinate and drench each animal, only to learn that she had done none of these things before. “With the combination of my enthusiasm, their patience and a lot of laughing, at the end of the day, I had done it all.” Sam remembers. “I was so blessed to meet so many people like this, who challenged me more than I had ever been.”