Community
16 January, 2025
Funds flow to support agricultural prodigy
TERANG’S Rachel Dickson grew up surrounded by one of the top herds in Australia, but it wasn’t until she took a gap year and worked on the family farm that she really came to appreciate cows.
Her parents, Bryan and Jo Dickson, are among the most prominent farming families in the region – boasting Holstein and Jersey herds which have been at or near the top of the Australian Breeding Values for many years.
Now, Ms Dickson is heading to Sydney to advance her studies in pursuit of a career in veterinary science with ambitions of helping to keep cows – along with other animals – safe and well.
Her studies are being supported by a DemoDAIRY Foundation scholarship, which will provide $6000 a year for the next four years of Ms Dickson’s course, to primarily cover rent and some supplies for her course.
Ms Dickson has always appreciated the need to maintain a healthy herd, but that fact was reinforced during her 2020 gap year.
“I finished Year 12 not knowing what to do with myself,” she said.
“I didn’t necessarily think I was going to become a vet, but I’m a real nerd and like science.”
She had planned to work on a farm in England across 2020 but that only lasted two months before the pandemic intervened and she had to return home.
“Everything works out for a reason,” Ms Dickson said.
“I came back and worked full-time on the home dairy farm because I couldn’t work anywhere else.
“It didn’t feel like a job. I was happy working with the cows and realised I wanted to work with animals in some capacity.”
Ms Dickson could have done pharmacy or chemical engineering but ended up going to the University of Melbourne to do a Bachelor of Science.
“In that course I could pick and choose subjects in different areas without locking into one track,” she said.
“I loved learning about the cows and their biomechanics.
“I understood it and enjoying learning about it.”
In 2023 she graduated with a Bachelor of Science majoring in animal health and disease at the University of Melbourne and is about to start studying veterinary medicine at the University of Sydney after managing a farm at Terang over summer.
“When I started my undergrad in 2021, I started dipping into foundational animal health subjects and it really interested me,” Ms Dickson said.
“It’s something that was always there. I started showing cows when I was about 12 and I’ve been comfortable around animals all my life, but I didn’t even have vet as any of my options when I finished VCE. Taking the gap year helped me to figure out what I like and didn’t like.”
Ms Dickson wants to be a mixed practice vet to include farm animals and, after graduating, plans to work overseas before returning to western Victoria as part of her long-term plans.
“I’ve travelled quite a bit but that makes you realise how Warrnambool, Terang and the Western District are such great places to live,” she said.
DemoDAIRY Foundation is keen to sponsor more people in the farming industry.
More information can be found at https://www.demodairy.com.au/scholarships/ or from DDF secretary Ian Teese on 0427 358987 or itag@bigpond.com.
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