Katrina Galindo grew up with beef cows and horses and later fell in love with the dairy industry.
Now she’s getting to combine both dairy and beef with her interest in artificial breeding in her new role as Genetics Australia’s regional sales manager for Gippsland.
One of Katrina’s priorities will be building close connections with farmers, building on her strong track record in this field.
“I enjoy selling but I mostly like building relationships through account management,” she said. “I love going out on farms where you really get to know families.”
Warragul-based Katrina grew up on a beef farm and around horses and initially worked with racehorses after completing a Bachelor of Equine Science.
However, her interest in artificial breeding prompted a career change. “Racehorses don’t do artificial breeding so I crossed over and did A.I. courses and got into the dairy industry as a ruminant nutritionist, which I really enjoyed,” she said.
Katrina undertook extensive study in the dairy field, including courses in rearing healthy calves, artificial insemination and reproductive management, feeding pastures for profit, farm business fundamentals and advanced ruminant nutrition.
Her career change to dairy in 2015 proved to be a great success and Katrina has since held several roles across sales, accounts and farm management.
Her new role with Genetics Australia is a perfect fit. “Now I’m combining both my knowledge of artificial breeding technologies and my love of the dairy industry and love of animals of all shapes and sizes,” she said.
“I’m a bit sciency and the artificial breeding side of the business is really exciting because it opens up the world.”
Katrina now sees her future mostly in the dairy industry, and is excited about the opportunities offered in genetics.
“The dairy industry is definitely changing but that’s not a bad thing and it’s in a good position at the moment,” she said. “I definitely want to stay in the dairy industry. I moved out for six months and really missed it so I’m happy to be back.”
While she shifted to dairy for greater job opportunities, she won’t be ignoring beef in her new job.
“The genetics industry is also seeing growth in beef. Commercial beef herds are looking at AI which is exciting,” Katrina said.
