Farm Manager

What’s been happening on farm? 

Recent events of course include Open Day, Cattle Club excursion to Beverley Show and Sheep students attending the Katanning Ram Expo. All three events took a lot of preparation and were all very successful. 

Starting with Beverley Show:

Staff and students travelled to Beverley on the 20th August competing in all Cattle and Student competitions. Staying on route at Narrogin WACoA campus, the team camped in the shearing shed and enjoyed a camp fire and BBQ dinner. The cattle were loaded early and transported to the show grounds in preparation for the events. Students got to exhibit the Inlet Views Simmental cattle winning both male and female Junior Cattle classes.

Students competed in the Parading and Junior Judging events with great success taking out most major awards. Thanks to Mr Seib, Mr Skipper and Mrs Kirkwood for travelling with the Cattle Club and supporting this important event on the calendar. Congratulations to all students for representing our College to a very high standard.

We also featured on the Department of Education media page. Read the article here WA College of Agriculture best in show - Department of Education

Scroll through some of our photographs from the day.

Katanning Rabobank WA Sheep Expo & Ram Sale

Selected sheep students travelled with Mr Shultz to attend this event held at the Katanning Recreation Grounds. During the morning students spent time exhibiting sheep studs and got to network with the owners and stud-masters discussing how their studs and merino breeding operations tick. 

This is a great opportunity for students to connect to real industry and make contacts and develop future employment opportunities.

In the afternoon students competed in individual and team judging events and achieved great results winning Champion School. Congratulations to sheep students, Dakota Dalton, Jesse Oldfield, Alison Findlay and Izzy Venn. Thanks to Mr Schulz for consistently dedicating his time and energy to the students and farm.

As spring speeds towards the farm things don’t slow down. Perth Royal Show is scheduled for the 21st of September with Sheep, Cattle and farm Skills teams travelling to Perth to compete. Along with that, let’s not actually forget the “farm” side of things. Ewes and lambs still need drenching and crutching, beef calves are growing well and will need weighing and selecting for sale shortly. The dairy cows are getting close to completing the spring calving with forty newborns in the shed needing feeding daily. As the calf numbers increase the number of cows being milked goes up as well and the dairy will be milking at full capacity for the next two months until summer dry off in December.

Fertiliser applications are still continuing with paddocks being conserved from now on for silage and hay production. Servicing and maintenance is happening across all of the silage and hay equipment with machinery being prepared to excellent working condition prior to the season starting.

The Horticulture and Viticulture areas are still producing well with operations getting prepared for summer crops to be planted. The vineyard has been pruned, fertilised and had slug and snail pellets applied. The vines are in, what’s known as, "bud burst” at the moment as the warmer conditions and longer days encourage life to explode in that area. The vines are sprayed with sulphur and copper to prevent the emergence of diseases and mildew. 

Good luck to all students competing in events at the Perth Royal Show. A lot of hard work and preparation has gone into the sheep and led steer programs so enjoy and value the experience.

Young Judges State Qualifier Event

On Saturday 10th September we hosted a Junior Judging special Qualifier for the 2022 Perth Royal Agricultural Show, for all those students that haven't had the chance to qualify due to COVID restrictions.

Such a great day when agriculture, education and industry can work together! We saw our students compete in cattle & sheep / fleece judging and parading. Our students performed exceptionally well and many qualified for the Perth Royal Show.

The sentiment from the day was definitely the sense of community. The work of our volunteers, judges and sponsors, like Harvest Road, to ensure that we had a professional event was outstanding! 

Thank you to the many parents and community members who attended and supported our event. A special thanks must go to parent and Board member, Sheena Smith, who was the driving force behind the day.

Congratulations students, you have again shown what wonderful ambassadors you are for our College and the agricultural community.