Late last year Jade was named Young Scientist of the Year by the Science Teachers Association of NSW for her assignment looking into potential weed control benefits of cattle.

That same project has now seen Jade place second in Australia’s premier national science awards, the BHP Billiton Science and Engineering Awards.

Jade’s assignment looked at the spread of seeds through cattle and whether they could be a reliable method of weed control – “or whether it’s just grazing in one end and out the other”.

Jade investigated what plants, if any, are capable of germinating after passing through the digestive tract of a bovine animal. 

She collected manure samples from the Bega Saleyards and from these grew a total of 1557 plants from 19 individual species. 

Her research has already sparked interest among the scientific community and she has fielded numerous calls from researchers requesting the results of her project.