Physiotherapy is far removed from work as a beef extension officer but it's what Tim Emery was originally hoping to do with his life.
It was thanks to not quite getting the score he needed that sent him firstly down the path of human movement and then into agricultural science at the University of Queensland, and it's those couple of missing points that have made all the difference since.
Now aged 35, living in Roma and married and with their first child on the way, it's clear that Mr Emery's passion is for communicating, connecting and sharing.
He's spent the 11 years since graduating from university with second class honours as an extension officer in the beef industry, firstly with the state Department of Agriculture at Roma, close to his home town of Wallumbilla, and since February 2017 as a technical officer with Tropical Beef Technology Services.
Although still based in Roma, the role takes him across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, explaining Breedplan and other genetic technologies to both seedstock and commercial producers.
"I probably spend half the time on the road, visiting properties, presenting," he said.
"I do on average over 30 industry presentations a year, talking about estimated breeding values as a tool, as part of the whole bull-buying process, as part of the MLA Breeding Edge workshop, talking about developing breeding objectives. We talk female-male reproduction, and we talk about research projects that have demonstrated how genetics play a role in production."
A 2021 finalist in the Zanda McDonald award, Australasia's agricultural badge of honour, the work Mr Emery is doing now began as far back as his gap year between school and university when he worked in a boarding school in Dorset in southern England for 12 months.
As a tutor he was helping in all sorts of roles, with sports teams, the music department, marking fields, in between Contiki tours and skiing trips.
Even when he was studying at university he was part of AgForce's Rural Champions program, going out to schools and career field days to talk about where food and fibre came from.
"It was great, to work with a couple of producers that were involved in the industry, and that was probably one of the reasons for getting into extension," he said.
Three or four years with the AgForce Moo Baa Munch events at Corinda, designed to forge links between young south east Queenslanders and agriculture, were also on the agenda and helped Mr Emery finesse his communication skills.
He said it was interesting to shape his messages about industry opportunities to children ranging in age from pre-school to Year 12.
Thanks to his mother's involvement with St John's School at Roma, he now speaks to students there about drought management and what producers are doing in that sort of space.
From his perspective, there's a lot of great agricultural teachers getting some good messages out to students.
Even his collection of presentation cards from those days, tucked away in a drawer, tell the story of his enthusiasm for sharing knowledge.
"Just in one photo of a 650kg finished steer in a feedlot, there's a lot to talk about," he said.
Nowadays his work is more industry-focused, taking beef producers step by step through the process of how to look up stud animals online, explaining what all the information about them means, and showcasing some of the results from the last 30 years, from different breeds and locations.
"I'd love to think in my role it's about helping to fine tune those elements in their business and provide the latest information to make the better decision to create profitability and productivity, and sustainability, so these properties can get handed down to future generations," Mr Emery said.
"I get all sorts of random phone calls,\; I probably do 80-odd property visits a year."
What really gets him excited is when he hears of people changing something for the better in their operation as a result of the information he shared.
"When you know people have gone home and see it in practice, it's like putting the cheque book out on the table to say, I've looked at this information, I'm buying these animals and thinking about the genetics in the long term."
Mr Emery's proudest achievement is being part of the team that has grown the Young Beef Producers' Forum threefold in 10 years.
Although it couldn't be run physically this year a number of sunset series interviews were run over Facebook Live, to keep young people engaged.
As well, Mr Emery loves being involved in the family beef business, having his own herd, travelling overseas when he can, and playing touch football.