Tintinara may only have a population of 320 people but it is a thriving small town, with many residents having a connection to Southern Cross Feedlot.
A growing number are employees of the feedlot or farming business, including Alexa Hearn and Amber Towns who have both moved more than 1000 kilometres to further their careers.
Born and raised in Sydney, Ms Hearn says her curiosity for agriculture was sparked as a nine-year-old on a family camping trip to Cameron's Corner in outback NSW watching cattle being loaded onto trucks on the station they were staying.
A few years later she asked her parents to attend a high school offering agriculture as a subject.
"In Sydney public schools offering ag were few and far between but we found Cresswood High School," she said.
"We had two head of cattle, nine sheep and a pig that we fattened up every year."
After leaving school she worked on a sheep and cattle property at Goulburn, NSW, followed by seven years in online livestock marketing with AuctionsPlus back in Sydney.
Her entry into the feedlot industry was as project manager for Australian Lot Feeders Association's FeedlotTECH which provides training resources.
"The more time I spent at feedlots the more I realised that I wanted to be with my boots on the ground working with the cattle," she said.
Last year Ms Hearn was successful in gaining the graduate role at Southern Cross feedlot which over 18 months will include gaining experience across the business from livestock and the feedmill to spending time with livestock buyers and head office.
Five months in she is enjoying the methodical nature of life on a feedlot and managing the productivity of individual animals.
All of my friends are so curious about what I do here and what a feedlot is.
- Alexa Hearn
She has also enjoyed mentoring some of the young employees and is keen to help educate the wider population about feedlots.
"This industry is one of the most innovative industries I have been involved in outside ag tech, there are so many trials happening here and going to be happening in the next 12 months," she said.
"But it is also about how do we get all the good stuff we are doing here out to the wider population.
"All of my friends in Sydney are so curious about what I do here and what a feedlot is."
Ms Towns is also a recent starter at Southern Cross in the second intake of the year-long Rural Pathways Program. This is targeted at recent school leavers and gives them an entry level opportunity into the large family owned company.
She is based at the feedlot while the three other participants are based at TFI's rural properties; Sean Madden at Mount Schanck Station at Mount Gambier, Lucy Kellock at Glenross at Millicent and Tim Liersch at Southern Cross.
Growing up on a farm in north east Tasmania and previously working at a smaller feedlot there, Ms Towns says she was attracted to the Pathways program to have a gap year and gain as much experience as possible working with livestock on the mainland.
"I really love the diversity of the job, I start the day checking cattle and then we move to the yards and do the treatments and induct the new cattle," she said.
Ms Towns is unsure what her future holds but she has been accepted to study Agriculture Science at the University of Qld's Gatton Campus.
Southern Cross Feedlot business administration manager Kelly Nankivell says the Rural Pathways program is a really good drawcard to attract good staff, especially those not from a rural background.
She is thrilled the initiative won ALFA's Community Heroes Award at BeefEx last year and would love to see it replicated through other parts of the business.
"This is something that we not only see being successful in our rural businesses, but also across other parts of the TFI supply chain," she said.
"We see great opportunity in continuing to attract young, enthusiastic people into our business, SA and the agricultural industry.
"The feedlot industry is so unique compared to other parts of the ag sector."
They are planning to use the prize money from the award to hold an open day for high school students at the feedlot in late September, which will include education sessions from TFI staff and external speakers.
TFI manager of investment and strategy Tom Davies says the feedlot expansion will see about 10 new roles created with staff numbers growing to 40 to 45 in the near future.
"The feedlot expansion provides a great opportunity for the current workforce, many who are young, to develop and grow with the expansion," he said.
"As technology and different methods come in, some of those different roles or opportunities will be created in the next two to five years,- we are pretty excited about what that means for our workforce."
