Issue 2 2025 - Farm Manager
Farm Manager
Kevin Marshall
What’s been happening on farm?
Well as usual the farm has been a busy site with the influx of new and returning students along with seasonal farming activities.
Student rosters have been challenging distributing students to the various areas of the worksite to give everybody an experience in each enterprise. Along with the farming activities to schedule in students and staff have had a busy term.
Dairy and beef calving has been very active with the majority of animals now calved down and going well. We have had several sets of twins which one of, inevitably ends up in the dairy calf shed being cared for by dairy staff and students. We are sad to say we lost a couple of cows early due to abnormal calving difficulties.
Last week Mr Seib and the Year 11 students were marking the commercial Angus calves and gaining valuable experience performing these essential tasks.
Denmark has had some March rainfall which has germinated clover, grasses and of course weeds. When Albany got heavy storms, Denmark received an nice 40 millimetres of rain which at this time of year is very welcome, especially after a challenging 2024 season. Pastures are being fertilised, and in some cases, sprayed out for pests like early double gee plants.
Seeding has also been very busy with the Vaderstad seeder getting put through it’s paces for the second year. Last year we made some seeding depth mistakes getting to know the new machine, so this year we are conscious of seeding depths and cultivation techniques. So far we have put in one hundred hectares of rye grass and oat mixtures with some fertiliser to power the plants through their start.
Events this term included the Wagin Woolorama and The Gate to Plate Schools Challenge. Both events went off without a hitch and students had an excellent time perfecting their skills within both the sheep and cattle industries.
The recent Gate to Plate event saw the Denmark 2 team place runners up to Harvey. A great day was had by all.
Shearing the merino ewes has also been a busy event with selected students doing the training towards their Certificate II in Wool handling. Staff helped with the shearing and students were taught the basic steps to skirting, wool identification and picking up and throwing a fleece.
Farm staff have been very pleased with the attitude and efforts of the students, new and returning. Staff encourage new students to step forward and try new challenges to demonstrate their abilities to staff.
Kevin Marshall
Farm Manager
WACOA - Denmark