Agriculture excursion
On the 2/8/2019 the Agriculture boys were off on an excursion / assessment task with Mr Forsberg to the Moore’s dairy out at Camden. Whilst we were there, we learnt another vital aspect of the agricultural industry as none of the boys in the class have not had any previous insight to the life of a dairy farmer or a dairy operation. Mr Gavin Moore went through the daily routine of a dairy worker which entails waking up at 3:00 am to milk two hundred and fifty cows which takes roughly two hours, they then continue their day feeding the cows the appropriate proteins and pastures, washing out the actual dairy facility, feeding the baby calves which are taken off their mothers so that milk can be provided for the likes of us. All these daily activities take up most of the day until the cows are milked again at 4:00 pm and put back in their paddock ready for the same process the next morning.
This excursion again was very different to the industries that the agriculture boys participate in on their own places or businesses. The assessment entailed asking various questions ranging from climate, to pasture, to milk production etc. We were then presented a booklet that had to be filled out with all the appropriate answers relevant to the excursion. A very productive day had by all.
Primary Industries excursion
On the 9/8/2019 the boys from primary industries headed to the school property Colo with Mr Forsberg. In primary industries at the moment the boys are learning about the characteristics and welfare of livestock. So it was very fitting that we used the cows from Colo to asses the various areas. The assessment of the cattle consisted of mouthing the cows which is a practice to allow the farmer to have an understanding of the age of the cow which effects. The boys also learnt how to fat score a cow this entails feeling for the 12th and 13th rib and assessing it on how millimetres of fat the cow is. For the older cows they required an NLIS (National Live stock Identification System) button which has to be installed in their ear so that they can be sold at a public auction. We also had to condition score the cow’s. The condition scoring ranges from 1 which is a very light and poor cow to a 5 which is a very large framed and fat cow. The cows at Colo were scored 3’s and 4’s. This excursion was very beneficial and relative to the topic we are doing at the moment it again allows us to better understand livestock and the way that they are assessed.
