Class act at Exeter school farm

The gumboots were slipped on and the sheep rounded up last week at Exeter High School for agriculture students to check in on their latest farm business enterprise.

A flock of 63 lambs were weighed and drenched as part of a fattening operation that aims to give invaluable knowledge and hand-on experience to young farmers of the future.

Two student-led farm business enterprises are running simultaneously on the 23ha Exeter High school farm right in the middle of the West Tamar rural township.

AST and year 11/12 co-ordinator Greg Finnigan has morphed from teaching science to agricultural science in recent years to oversee the combination of part-time and full-time ag students and deliver the program along with year 7-10 ag teacher Jamie Pullen.

While some students study agriculture as part of their vocational education and training, alongside core subjects such as maths and English, others are studying full-time for a Certificate II in Agriculture in conjunction with TasTAFE

Mr Finnigan said all 15 of his enrolled students work on a business enterprise for a year.

“Last year that involved fattening pigs which worked well,” he said.

“We like to make it a complete paddock-to-plate situation, which last year culminated in feeding the whole school pork rolls.

“There was a nominal cost charged and students had to be across every aspect of the venture and produce profit and loss statements.”

While the business enterprises are not designed to be money-making exercises other than on paper – any profits are absorbed back into the farm.

“This year we are fattening lambs and two students are working on a cropping enterprise,” Mr Finnigan said.

“All of this learning-by-doing is designed to have them knowledgeable in a variety of farm operations and be job-ready at the end of two years – or set them up for further education if they have a plan for a specific career.” 

From deciding what to do and setting up the business to organising resources, marketing, processing and financial records the businesses give a broad understanding of modern farming.

The school farm has near-new stockyards and twin races, a side-by-side vehicle, a new tractor, a Wildeye weather station linked to Ag Logic software and access to two agricultural drones that students can also use to help with day-to-day operations on what is a working farm.

Kallie Goss of Hillwood, Isabella Swain of Yorktown, Riley Evans of Beauty Point and Will Gangell of Westbury are fattening the lambs, with animal husbandry an important element of making the enterprise profitable. 

They sourced Coopworth lambs  – a popular and hardy breed of sheep developed in New Zealand by crossing Border Leicester rams with Romney ewes to produce high-quality meat.

“We paid $160 per head in late February and we’ll fatten them for around 100 days – so far they’re putting on good weight although that does tend to slow down in winter,” Isabella said.

Kallie Goss from Hillwood was lured into the course because she preferred to work in a small group and get hands-on.

“My favourite thing is doing the sheep, moving them and weighing them,” she said. 

Riley Evans of Beauty Point has been helping collect data that is assigned to each animal through the Gallagher head unit.

“It’s interesting to see how much weight they gain over a certain period,” she said.

Isabella Swain from Yorktown lives on a property with horses and sheep and can’t imagine not working on the land.

“I enjoy working with the sheep – I’d rather be doing that than being in the classroom,” she admitted.

Will Gangell grew up in Scottsdale but now lives at Westbury on a farm. He has a long-term plan to be involved in the beef industry and works with his dad on the farm at every opportunity.

“Hopefully the sheep will bring in some money, they’re getting pretty fat and once processed we’ll be making lamb rolls for the school and selling the excess meat,” he said.

Kai Calderon of Windermere is doing the winter oats project with fellow student Billy Wright.

About eight weeks ago the pair did all the tillage work with the contractor Kai works for, Andrew Brunacci at Horsepower Agriculture.

There’s just under two hectares in oats that will be bought by the school to feed and fatten its cattle.

“We’re getting a bit of pressure from birds but hopefully it will be a good crop,” Kai said.

“The addition of vetch, a legume that draws nitrogen from the atmosphere which is stored in its root system as a natural fertiliser, has come up really well too and that should help the crop.”

The school farm also has an egg production program run by the grade 7-8s.

It works with the TAFE Centre of Excellence in Burnie where students travel to complete specialised units and it works with the Forest Education Foundation to learn about tree farming.

Three years ago it planted several species in a shelter belt along the northern boundary of the farm.

“We take the students on tour to Forico at Scottsdale to look at their operations and we’ve started a new shelter belt this year with students involved with planting it out and building the fences,” Mr Finnigan said.

“It’s being developed so that the tree farm will be in rows to walk through with interpretive signage for the different species for all students to use as part of their education and explain the advantage of a shelter belt even when it uses up some of the land – the increased productivity will be well worth it.

“With a diversified farming operation students receive a broad educational and agricultural experience.”