Farm

Wool

Term 1 Done and Dusted!

Huge effort by students in the shearing sheds this term. All Year 11's have had their 1st session shearing and there are now some very capable young shearers. Shearing has come to an end now; all the ewes are in good condition with lambing due to start in a few days. Great early rain brought the green feed up so let's hope for a good season ahead! 

Workshop

Year 12's finished the term working on completing the tank stand, new chemical shed door, dome shelter feed repairs, using the band saw, MIG and ARC welding. Year 11's have helped with the chemical shed doors, piggery floor rails, helping the shire with cut outs with the plasma cutter and using the MIG welder, rivets, the bender and the TIG welder. 

Pigs

Another busy term in the piggery with the exciting addition of 6 new purebred Myora Landrace gilts from Esperance to add to our breeding herd, as well a new boar selected on farm which the students have named ´Louis Vuitton´. The Cert III Pork students have selected their gilts which they will care for and monitor for the remainder of their school year.

I've been fortunate enough to have Miss Davenport now with a permanent position as Piggery Technical Officer 2 this Term which means double the number of students experiencing the piggery and completing pig-related units.

We are currently preparing pigs for the cold months ahead with vaccinations and repairing sheds and equipment. With many of sows being mated, we are due for lots of piglet's next term!

Cropping 

This term the Year 11 and 12 students have been busy preparing for seeding. Throughout this term we have had a great amount of rainfall recording 54ml over the 10 weeks. The old Combine has been put to work seeding oats, clover and serradella.  

This term the students were busy spreading around 500 hectares of lime, 400 hectares of Gypsum, and 180 hectares of TEKPHOS has been spread throughout the property. 

Cert III students have been busy calibrating the Air-seeder to put 30kg of Vetch per hectare, 150kg of TEKPHOS per hectare and 10kg of Alosca group Fe out into the paddocks!

Cattle 

This term has flown by with a lot happening in the cattle enterprise.  We ran a feed trial with our weaner cattle to determine whether it would be beneficial to wean our calves onto cattle pellets or stick with oaten hay.  

Our results will be analysed by the students and I’m sure they will indicate the best course of action for us in the future!  With the feed trial now finished, we are still feeding all the cattle to maintain the brilliant condition they are currently in. 

Students are becoming very competent in driving our front-end loader and operating our Giltrap hay feeder.  The breeders all received their multi-min injections with only 4 weeks left until calving begins.  Exciting times on the horizon as we see how Quantum has performed in his first year!

Chooks

The chooks are performing well with the young girls now at almost at 100% production!  Lovely fresh eggs for the kitchen again.  Students are also practicing for Easter as they hunt for eggs that the girls have laid in strange places (they are still learning the ropes of laying eggs daily). 

Third Party Reports

All parents and students will be emailed third-party reports to complete for seeding for any practical requirements that can go towards your units of competency. 

The third-party reports are evidence towards the students Certificate II in Agriculture or Certificate III in ​Agriculture practicals. Mrs Corsini will send the what the requirements are out via email, we also need video evidence that supports the paperwork. 

Mrs Corsini recommends getting a USB and putting all evidence on the USB each night or week, to bring back to the college on your return.  If any students are interested in completing these reports, please contact Mrs Corsini if you are unsure.  

Good Luck 

Good luck to our Certificate III students who have their third-party packs and have organised access to off-site industry experience (self-arranged) targeting specific Units of Competency for additional workplace experience and exposure (undertaken outside of school hours). A minimum of 5 days is required at a College-endorsed workplace/s. We are looking forward to seeing the third-party videos with lots of evidence on them.

Gate 2 Plate

Thank you to the 8 students below and Mr Lock, that attended the Gate 2 Plate it was great fun and had great results.  The students learnt about health and welfare, nutrition, stock handling, vaccines, working dogs and feedlots.

Thank you to Willyung Farms Feedlot for hosting and inviting us, and the sponsors for the day, Harvest Road and Coles.

• Brianna Barnes
• Navaeh Brown
• Elsie Cardew
• Kira Della Bosca
• Rhys Murray
• Jayden O'Meagher
• Montana Steele 
• Matilda Williams 

Results

• Kira Della Bosca come 3rd in the general quiz
• 1st- Denmark 1
• 2nd- Denmark 2
• 3rd- Harvey 1
• 4th- Cunderdin

Out of 8 teams.

Daniel de Beer

Farm Manager

Madison Corsini

Assistant Farm Manager