Farm

On the farm elective the students venture out to a private property where they are involved in maintenance on the property as well as being involved in a variety of tasks. Some of the activities that they have been doing are:

1. Calf Raising

Calves were obtained from a local farmer and the students helped and learnt how to bucket feed the calves with a combination of milk replacer & pellets. Mucking out the calf box, replacing with clean straw and making sure the calves had a clean water supply is also part of the program.

Here is some students hand feeding a calf.

2. Eggstavaganza

This part of the program saw the students help construct a chicken pen on the property, big enough to house 50 to 60 chickens. The chickens were either bred at the school, as a project for the younger homegroup, or purchased from a local battery farm. We purchased the battery hens to show the students the difference between these chickens and hens that were raised as free range. The project also incorporated watching videos on cruelty to animals and the students have written to a variety of politicians and organizations in order to see what they can do to outlaw battery farm type places.

Every week the students are rotated on cleaning out the chicken pen, checking the watering system, replenishing their feed supply and making sure the pen is in good condition. The eggs are collected and the profits from the sale of these eggs then goes back to the students. At the end of each term we look at flow sheets to see the profit margin in this type of venture.

These photos show from the construction of the pen, replenishing the watering system, collecting feed and rounding up some of the chickens.

3. Tree planting
The students have gone through the process of buying native trees in small tubes , repotting them and replanting them as part of windbreaks at the farm. The school has also been involved in national Tree Day and planted out a couple of areas with indigenous plants. The students are also made aware of what is a native tree and why it is important to plant them. Here are some examples of the trees that we have replanted and a small section of an area the students replanted.

4. Building Gardens
In tandem with other electives the farm group is involved with constructing a variety of gardens around the Berengarra community. The native tree garden, Octopus garden and the chess board are three such tasks that the farm group has been heavily involved in.

5. General Maintenance
As well as specified programs within farm, the students learn that they have to do general maintenance around the farm to keep things looking neat and tidy.
Tasks that have been undertaken include repairing and erecting fences, hanging gates, mowing and whipper snipping, cleaning up woodpiles and any general tasks that may have to be done around the farm. Here are some students doing their bit at the farm.

Graeme Barwise - Farm Co-ordinator