Our Year 7/8 CCC students visited farms to help them prepare for hosting calves and to observe sustainable farming practices in action. At Matt and Renee Whitehead’s farm Renee outlined the importance of colostrum and students learnt how Whiteheads monitored calf intake with separate head stalls in one calf shed and could compare this with calves reared on their automated calf feeder and the calves reared at the Doolan farm. Sam and Belinda Doolan explained that all of the energy produced by solar panels was used in the business and that this system was to be extended to generate even more energy. Sam explained that the system produced between 50-220kw power per hour depending on the sunlight and time of year. He described the role of the effluent pond with solids utilized in their compost mix while water was used on paddocks with excess water stored in a large dam and used through the irrigation system. Students also saw examples of remote, infrared cameras and automated lead feed for calving cows in the calving barn, GPS on the tractors and some very familiar faces. Belinda shared ice creams with the students when they recounted facts learnt as part of their exit pass. Thanks Matt, Renee, Sam and Belinda. Comments are closed.
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March 2024
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