Farm Enterprises

New staff members!

We are happy to welcome Ms Moore and Mr Marshall to the Farm Staff team in the past week.  Both have a vast array of experience and seem to be enjoying passing on their knowledge to the College students.  I hope all the students will make them feel welcome over the coming weeks when they are rostered onto their Farm groups.

Piggery

The piggery has been cruising along at a steady rate this term.

We switched nutritionists and have quickly seen improved carcass performance in our grower pigs. They are growing quicker than we can get them out the door!

Cert III Pork students visited Linley Valley Pork in week 4 where they 

had the opportunity to see our pigs processed through the abattoir and prepared for export to Singapore. They also had a medication workshop with Dr Mackenzie Congreve from Portec and got to practice euthanasia with a captive bolt gun on a dummy pig.  

All sights are set on beginning Royal Show preparations next term, where we will start training our show pigs. An exciting addition to last 

year, York District High School will be working with us to prepare their own show team. Our Cert III Pork students will act as mentors in preparation and during show week - a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge of pig production. 

Breeding pigs are happy with straw to snuggle up in on these cold mornings and producing some very chunky piglets!

Sheep

The Year 12 Shearing and Wool Handling students will attend an excursion next week for a tour of the West Coast Wools store, before seeing the College clip shorn in Term 1 auctioned. They will then tour through the Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) site to learn about the testing that each line of wool undergoes before marketing and sale.

At the end of the week, students will be gearing up to start lamb marking, beginning with the prime lambs!  Certificate III students completing the medication competency need to get their names registered to be part of the lamb marking groups, which will enable them to complete some of their practical components of the competency.

Workshop and General 

Mr Ball and Mr West have been doing some cleaning up and gathering discarded metal for a truck load of scrap to Perth.  The Workshop crew have also been busy working on scrap metal bins, so the area can be kept tidy and safe.

The students came across a few relics while scavenging around for scrap!

Meanwhile, Mr Fox (our current fencing guru) has been busy working through the list of fences and gates that need repair around the farm.  Mr Fox has also volunteered to train our fencing teams for Dowerin and Farm Skills.  A big thank you for this!

Cattle

It's been a bit quiet on the cattle front, though a couple of eager staff members are making sure the girls are feeling loved once again!  The Artificial Insemination program begins next week, with injections and the insertion of CIDRs to get the ladies and girls ready for insemination.

Our new bull, generously loaned to us by WACoA - Harvey, has arrived and is in quarantine before he is introduced to the remainder of 

the mob.  I hope he doesn't mind going from the green rolling hills of Harvey (picture right) to the flats of Cundy!  Yearlings, older steers and our bull Quantum will be heading to Muchea in the near future, which will take the pressure off our limited cattle paddocks. 

Grains

Seeding is all wrapped up for the year. The Year 12s who took part in the program did great and all our paddocks have now germinated. Looking great for the rest of the season ahead!

A few words from the Assistant Farm Manager - Mrs Iles

As this will be the final Chatter for the Term, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone who is heading to Country Week good luck and have fun. Those students remaining at school, definitely take this opportunity to get ahead in your Trades projects and the practical components of your Farm competencies.  

Also, I would like to congratulate the Year 12 students on their motivation this term to get their competencies signed off.  Most students have been proactive in coming to see me to clarify where they are up to, and to determine what work they need to do to finish Certificate II in Agriculture.  There are a large number of students set to finish their qualification early next Term!  Great work Year 12s - you are soooooo close!!

Daniel de Beer

Farm Manager

Kylie Iles

Assistant Farm Manager