Tiarna is following in dad's footsteps

Mr Wallinger has had a long career with Elders Livestock in Albany - and now his 23-year-old daughter is walking along a very similar path.

She was born in Mt Barker - and while she didn't grow up on a farm - she was always surrounded by agriculture.

What Ms Wallinger liked the most about her dad's job was building client relationships, and this motivated her to complete a Bachelor's Degree in Agribusiness at Curtin University.

"Growing up around people in the industry really made me want to jump in," Ms Wallinger said.

"That client-agent relationship where they really respect each other is something that attracted me to the industry.

"I want to help farmers, and work with them," she said.

However after completing the degree, Ms Wallinger said she looked for an opportunity within the livestock industry, something practical and technical, but didn't find anything.

"I reached out to a livestock production co-ordinator in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, and basically asked for some direction," she said.

"He said to come over to New South Wales, I had nothing really tying me here and I figured it was a good opportunity to see some different production systems and learn from our most senior livestock production (staff) at Elders."

For about two years, Ms Wallinger was living and working in Deniliquin.

"After moving over east and sort of doing a little bit of everything, I wanted to move more into helping clients in animal production and management, and in nutrition - offering a bit more technical advice."

For Ms Wallinger, it's as simple as loving livestock and learning the best way to care for them.

The results from a well managed animal is gratifying.

"I have just loved learning and understanding how technical it can get in livestock production," she said.

"There's so many little health things that can make a huge difference in say lambing or calving percentages."

Working at Elders in Albany has exposed her to a range of different services offered by the branch, and has enjoyed seeing all the puzzle pieces come together.

And occasionally, her dad is also a co-worker.

"It's kind of a full-circle moment, I work with his clients, and it's really helpful to have his background - he's been in the industry a long time," Ms Wallinger said.

"I'm working with merchandise staff, and the agronomist - it all works together, and I get to work with a range of people and learn all aspects."

Ms Wallinger is enjoying her work and feels as though she's on the cusp of a changing industry.

"At the moment I'm really enjoying this sort of role where I think industry standards are changing.

"It's something I'm quite passionate about, especially like weaning cattle, the animal welfare implications that come with that and sort of connecting the on farm production with where the product is going to end up.

Ms Wallinger felt as though there was a disconnect between different parts of the supply chain.

If the lines of communication could be strengthened, she said it should result in return buying and a better product.

"A goal for me would be to try and help farmers understand what's expected of their animals after they've sold it, to try and help the industry, and create a better relationship with feedlotters or processors, whether that be a better weaning practice, or better animal health vaccination protocols," she said.

"Just producing a more efficient and better prepared animal for what's expected of them."

The best part of the Elder's network is that Ms Wallinger can contribute to closing this communication gap by talking with livestock agents and their clients directly, helping to pass on and receive feedback, which helps with the preparation of her own clients' animals.

Outside of agriculture, she enjoys life by the coast, and has a love of camp drafting, doing it ever since she was about 12 years old - and in this time met a lot of people involved in the agriculture industry, developing her interest in an ag career.

"It's been hard to convince my parents (to buy a horse) and they did luckily," Ms Wallinger said.

"It took me 12 years to convince dad, a girl at the saleyards convinced him to take me to a camp draft event and it was sort of the beginning of the end - he was taking me around to all of the events," she said.