Victoria Alexander with her grandfather, Tony Alexander. Victoria grew up thinking she would work on the family dairy farm, just outside Finley, NSW.
Victoria Alexander studied the Cows Create Careers program as an elective module in Year 9, at Finley High School.
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Finley High School, in NSW, has a dedicated agricultural program that includes student teams preparing and showing dairy and beef cattle and sheep.
Victoria grew up on a dairy farm just out of Finley, NSW. She participated in Cows Create Careers in 2012, the fifth year the program had been offered in NSW schools.
Victoria thought it was a natural step to participate in CCC.
“We were rearing calves and it was like everyday life for me,” she said.
“Our group included a few kids that grew up in town, and kids that were from dairy farms, cropping and other agricultural commodities.”
Victoria Alexander works with Nu-Gene in reproductive programs. She is pregnancy testing a cow for Tony Duynhoven, at Barongarook, Victoria.
The six calves that were part of CCC at Finley High School in 2012 were provided by David Milburn, a local dairy farmer.
“My team chose the only heifer among the six calves, and we called her Milo,” Victoria said.
“She was smaller than the other calves, but she was very cute.
“We named our team, Kookies and Kream.
“We learned about mixing milk, leading calves, feeding calves and using scales to weigh calves.
“We also learned how to check the health status of our calf. We used a checklist of things to look for in healthy calves.
“It was a lot of fun. We also made a video, talking about the calf we were looking after and the different things we were doing with Milo.”
Victoria’s parents encouraged her to think beyond the farm gate.
“I always had an interest in going back on the farm,” she said.
“I thought I’d leave school and work on the farm.
“Mum and Dad said I had to go elsewhere first.”
Victoria Alexander with Maddie Carrison and Lynnsey Crouch, at a dairy farm in Twin Falls, Idaho (United States), where they worked heat detecting and artificially inseminating cows.
That ‘elsewhere’ has led to overseas travel and a career in reproductive science that sees Victoria working on dairy farms most days of the week.
Her parents introduced Victoria to Tim Weller, of World Wide Sires Australia.
“Tim did business with my parents. I spoke with him, and he suggested work placement with Nu-Genes,” Victoria said.
She did work placement in Year 11, which led to full-time employment with Nu-Genes the following year, with on-the-job training in cattle reproduction programs.
In 2023, Victoria travelled to the United States, where she visited farms and completed a course that helped build her skills and knowledge about heat detection, reproductive programs, understanding cows’ cycling behaviour and manual early pregnancy testing.
She is still with Nu-Genes, and is responsible for organising reproductive programs for farmers, including herd testing and artificial insemination, and managing staff.
“I now live six hours south away from the family farm, and I don’t think I’ll ever move back there,” Victoria said.
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