Agriculture
Egg-citing morning at the ASC Farm
Over at the ASC Farm we had an adorable new addition hatch out. We have officially hatched out our first Australian Settler Goose gosling from natural incubation!
For the last 28 days our geese have been diligently nesting on 2 clutches of eggs. We've seen the whole gaggle get involved in these clutches which has been really fun to see. Our geese are understandably not too happy for visitors just yet with both ganders ready to stand guard at their shed door. The students are very excited to see how our little goslings change as they grow and have been doing the research so we can give them the best chance.
We can't wait for these girls to bring this little one and hopefully many more out to wander with everyone else
Miss White's year 8 Tech class participated in a pig production practical with the older of our 2 litters of piglets.
As pig producers with our Berkshire stud, it is vital that we keep accurate and up to date records of the pigs we produce. Part of this involves being able to identify individual pigs from each litter. Year 8 got to assist this morning in the ever so important ear tagging of our sow Bianca Bettina's 7 piglets.
Through this process they were able to build on skills relating to livestock identification and the handling of piglets. Students had to help with separating the sow for everyone's safety and then safely yard the piglets using low stress stock handling techniques. They then had to record individual tag numbers and make note of whether the piglet was a boar or a gilt.
Student's additionally got to build skills relating to livestock selection as we assessed the gilts from this litter to find the perfect replacement for our future breeding endeavours. Students had to assess the gilts based on structural soundness, width and depth of carcase, number of teats, and whether the gilt met the breed standards of a black body with 6 white points - white on the face, the tip of tail, and 4 white socks.
The students are now eager to do this process again with our younger litter of piglets in a later lesson.
Agriculture industry visitor
On Friday at the ASC Farm we had an industry visitor, Mr Kevin White, come today to do some work with year 8 and 9 Agriculture.
Firstly with year 8 Agriculture, Mr White went through ram lamb selection at marking, correct marking techniques and lamb vaccination. The students had a great time catching and assisting with marking our school lambs as part of our annual husbandry practices.
Lastly with year 9 Agriculture, Mr White went through the assessment and selection of rams as breeding prospects. In this he went over assessing characteristics of breed type and structural soundness when comparing animals.
We would like to thank Mr White for taking the time out of his busy schedule to come up and help us with our lamb marking. We would additionally like to thank him for taking the extra time to help strengthen our students livestock skills.
Junior Judging success for ASC
In the last couple weeks two of our talented Agriculture students have seen success at a recent junior judging group final.
Darcy Andrews and Jack Clayton made the journey to Warialda to compete in a junior judging group final in an attempt to qualify to compete at The Sydney Royal Easter Show in 2027. Both boys returned to Armidale victorious with Jack securing 1st in the Fruit & Vegetables section and 3rd in the Poultry section. Darcy followed suit in achieving 1st in Merino Sheep, 2nd in Fruit and Vegetables, and 3rd in Merino Fleece.
Absolutely Amazing effort boys! We're looking
forward to hearing about how you go at Sydney Royal in the classes you qualified in!