Odyssey Travers and Phyness Heremaia did a science project for their school fair called Amoozing Weight Gain, which involved looking at two different feeding routines for calves, whether it was worth feeding calves meal and whether there was any difference in their growth.
They received a nice surprise when they placed second, which earned them a spot at the Top Energy 2018 Far North Regional Science and Technology Fair.
They headed into the regional fair without any expectations and were over the moon to take home a top prize, winning the Oustanding DairyNZ Award for the dairy section.
“I didn’t think we would do that well. I just thought it would be a lot of fun,” Travers said.
“It was really nerve-wracking waiting to hear if our names would be called out when they were doing the placings.
She really enjoyed meeting lots of people, particularly the judges and people involved in the fair.
“It was a really cool experience. We definitely want to give it a go again next year.”
The calves came from the Travers family farm, Pahill Ayrshires, at Kaitaia.
They milk about 260 cows and have their own support blocks nearby.
The girls selected four heifer calves produced by embryo transfer, acknowledging they didn’t want any genetic influence on the animals.
They worked on their project for two months leading into their school fair.
The calves were all managed the same but split into groups and fed slightly differently.
Travers’ father helped feed the calves in the morning when the girls were at school but they did most of the work themselves including weighing the animals on Sundays.
Heremaia lives in town but visits the Travers farm regularly and has learnt a lot about farming through the project.
They both really enjoyed the whole experience and mum Bronwyn Travers is very proud of their efforts.
“I think they only entered because they had to. They certainly got more than they bargained for,” she says.
The girls are already excited about entering next year.
“I’d definitely recommend science and technology fairs to other people.
“My advice would be to choose a topic you like and pick a friend to work with, study your topic and choose an idea and stick to it.”
DairyNZ industry education facilitator Susan Stokes said it was great to see young people so passionate about science and the dairy sector.
“We desperately need more young people involved in science in agriculture.
“Young people investing and growing in science are what these events are all about.”
Findings from their project showed little difference and suggest farmers do not need to feed meal for calves to gain weight.
The girls won $500 in prize money. Travers used her share to help fund her trip to the NZ Aims Games for netball and Heremaia put hers towards a family holiday in Australia.
