Before enrolling at the University of Georgia, I did not have aspirations of taking part in a study abroad opportunity of any type. As I stated briefly in a previous blog post, I’m not someone that just jumps out and takes lots of risks in life. However, after attending an event on campus where this trip was discussed, I knew that I had to be apart of it because of how beneficial it would be to my college experience and for the growth of my own commercial cattle operation.
While it may be uncomfortable at times, I believe that it is our responsibility as agriculturalists to broaden our experiences and knowledge in agriculture fields so that we can be well informed and capable of sharing information with others. After receiving more information about this study abroad trip, I realized that visiting Uruguay would result in unique experiences that might lead me to develop different perspectives on the global cattle industry. In addition, I knew that I would gain knowledge from this trip that I could integrate into my agriculture education classroom one day that would hopefully spark an interest in young minds pertaining to animal science. After calculating all of these benefits together, I realized that Uruguay was the perfect opportunity for me. Not only is the country beautiful, but their production capabilities are among the best in the world. This class and trip has allowed me to gain a much deeper understanding of grass-fed beef production that I will always be extremely appreciative of.