Growing up on his family’s cropping farm in Freshwater Creek, Xavier Carew always knew he’d pursue a career in the industry.
At just 20 years of age, Mr Carew is still unsure exactly what this might entail, but for now, he’s just happy to be studying what he loves.
Mr Carew is in his second year of a three year Bachelor of Agriculture at The University of Melbourne.
In his first year, he worked on farm at the university’s Dookie campus, in which he developed an interest in sheep.
“Coming from a cropping background, I originally wanted to do agronomy, but after having a lot to do with sheep, I realised I wanted to do something that involved them,” Mr Carew said.
“I’m still really new to sheep, I’m just trying to learn as much as I can, as quick as I can.”
Earlier this year, Mr Carew attended the National Merino Challenge with other students from throughout Australia, an initiative designed to engage young people in the Merino industry.
While Mr Carew admits that it was initially “just a free trip to Sydney”, he said it helped him figure out exactly what he wanted to do.
“We learned about different breeding values, the different processes involved in producing sheep, and had to select a ram and class its wool,” he said.
“And now, my dream job is to be a wool classer.”
Mr Carew’s family farm, Euralea, was taken over by his extended family after his grandfather passed away 10 years ago.
“My grandfather ran beef cattle, but after he passed away, it was too hard to manage, the fences were broken, and it would have been too expensive to fix them,” he said.
“Now we just run a small operation, growing wheat, bali and canola.”
Having grown up in Geelong, and attending St Joseph’s College, Mr Carew said that not a lot of his friends have been able to relate to his interest in agriculture.
“I’m the only one that went into agriculture, they’re all studying finance, or education, and other things like that,” he said.
“They don’t really understand, they think it’s just about becoming a farmer, rather than it being a legitimate job.”
He said it’s been great meeting like minded people at university, in which he enjoys studying genetics, biology and chemistry.
This year he’s studying at the university’s Melbourne campus, in which he makes the hour-long journey to via train about three days a week.
And while wool classing is his top career pick at the moment, he hasn’t narrowed anything down yet.
“I’m keeping my options open, and whatever direction that takes me in, I’ll be happy to follow it,” he said.
“Whether I end up working on a farm, or in an office, I don’t mind, as long as I’m in the industry, because that’s where I want to be.”
