GEORGIA Welsh has proven a city upbringing is no barrier if want a career in agriculture.
The 24-year-old was crowned the 2023 Young Professionals in Agriculture Forum Noel Fitzpatrick medal recipient this month, for her Masters sheep research at The University of WA (UWA).
Having grown up in Perth and attended an all girls school, Ms Welsh said agriculture was never pushed as a potential pathway into the working world.
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Biology and environmental science were her first areas of choice, and opened the door into animal - in particular livestock - production through a "light bulb moment".
"I fell into agriculture when I enrolled to do my Bachelor of Science at Murdoch University straight after high school," Ms Welsh said.
"I originally chose animal science in the hope of getting into veterinary science, but soon realised I resonated more with the animal production science side of my course.
"What I love so much about agriculture, particularly as someone that was not brought up in the industry, is that if you are willing to learn, people are willing to take the time out of their - usually very busy - schedule to teach you."
After completing her undergrad in 2020, Ms Welsh worked as a technical officer for Murdoch's sheep research team, where her interest in sheep production grew.
At the start of 2021, she started her Master of Agricultural Science by coursework and dissertation at UWA, wanting to build on knowledge in cropping and livestock production systems.
Ms Welsh investigated an algorithm to predict water intake and drinking behaviour in sheep map, using a measured drop in rumen temperature from a rumen temperature logger.
The formula was developed using water temperature and body mass to calculate an effective rumen volume, which could be applied to a thermodynamics equation to predict water intake volume and frequency.
Further investigation was required to test the equation in a paddock scenario, where water temperature and volume could not be controlled.
"I find sheep fascinating and felt there was so much more to learn when it came to genetics and behaviour," Ms Welsh said.
"With growing consumer demand for sustainable meat and clothing, as well as the threat of global warming on growth and reproduction, it is a very exciting area to be working in."
Ms Welsh found shade and water provisions were the easiest ways to mitigate the impact of heat stress.
However, there was limited research available on water intake and drinking behaviour in paddock environments.
She said while rumen temperature provided a reliable measure of core body temperature, its stability was compromised during a drinking episode.
"Drinking episodes dramatically decreased rumen temperatures and pre-drinking levels did not return for one to two hours," Ms Welsh said.
"When measured, the drop in temperature can be used to determine water consumption behaviour in terms of frequency and volume."
As part of her research, Ms Welsh conducted an intensive experiment on this with six sheep in a controlled animal house environment at Murdoch university under the supervision of UWA professors Dominique Blache and Shane Maloney, and senior lecturer in animal science Serina Hancock
A ruminal temperature logger was inserted into the sheep's rumen, which measured rumen temperature every 15 seconds.
Water was withheld during the day and overnight.
"One hour after feeding, we provided ab libitum water in a bucket at one of six temperatures, ranging from 10 degrees to 35 degrees, for one hour," Ms Welsh said.
"Drinking behaviour was monitored via cameras and myself, and we measured time spent drinking, volume consumed, and the temperature of the bucket."
This was done over 12 days, so each animal experienced each temperature twice - both in the morning and afternoon - to account for any changes in rumen blood flow.
By pairing the observations with a drop threshold of 0.7 degrees, Ms Welsh was able to detect and analyse change in rumen temperature.
She also conducted a thorough analysis of their rumens via dissection to measure rumen characteristics.
Once the data was consolidated, the fluid calorimeter model was applied.
However, Ms Welsh found results were fairly noisy in variability due to rumen volume measurements.
Another algorithm was created to predict an "effective rumen volume" using body weight and water temperature, but minimal improvements were seen in the results.
What preliminary testing did show was the greatest error was in higher temperature drinks of 30 and 35 degrees.
"Those temperature drinks were removed from my analysis and it improved the r2 for both the measured rumen volume (r = 0.62) and "effective rumen volume" (r2 = 0.71)," Ms Welsh said.
"This was really great news for us, as preliminary data from the temperature loggers in our dams suggest the water does not rise greater than 25°C."
Ms Welsh's research was part of a broader heat stress project being run by UWA, Murdoch University, and CSIRO.
Investigations into predicting volume of water consumed in a paddock scenario at Pingelly's UWA research farm are set to continue.
Ms Welsh said these investigations - completed by her colleagues at UWA - would provide information about the intricate relationship between shade availability, climatic condition and water intake behaviour.
"The analysis of field data will be the foundation for real-time predictive modelling using rumen temperatures that may be used to increase the health, well being and production efficiency of animals," she said.
"The aim of this project is to determine whether access to shade changes water consumption and behaviour leading up to drinking and how this may impact reproductive performance in Merino ewes in southern WA.
"The interaction between heat stress, water consumption, and reproductive capability of ewes will be analysed."
Ms Welsh said the main hypothesis was - regardless of the level of shade - ewes with elevated water consumption frequency have higher reproductive capability.
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The data collected would be used to establish the optimum quantity and quality of water to provide Merino ewes during joining, to mitigate the effects of heat stress on reproductive performance.
After completing her Masters in December, Ms Welsh was accepted as a PhD candidate back at Murdoch.
Now, she is working on the edible shelter project, which looks at the effect of edible versus non-edible shelter types on the survival of twin-born lambs.
"Throughout my PhD, I hope to procure innovative research and data that can be extended to farmers in the hopes of increasing the productivity and profitability of their sheep enterprises," Ms Welsh said, adding that it was an honour to be named the Noel Fitzpatrick medallist.
"I couldn't have done it without my incredible supervisors," she said.
"Every day is different and I am constantly learning something new.
"I work with some of the most passionate and hardworking people I have ever met."
