Wednesday May 14, 2014

Day seventy eight..

principles of land based machinery
we began the lesson with an introduction to the milking parlour - as this does form part of farming machinery! we looked at the different types of parlour / milking systems including herringbone (the most common), rotary, robot, abreast, auto tandem, milking bale and the traditional bucket and stool!!! we then entered into individual tutorials to discuss our pass criteria achievements for our machinery and land based machinery operation modules!

livestock practical
An afternoon of sheep shearing! After our introduction at the show at the weekend, we now have to attack the rest of the college herd! We worked in pairs with one on the power string at all times and in turns had a go at shearing a whole sheep! Dom was on hand to guide us round the sheep, telling us what lines to take with each blow. Luckily I had a really quiet sheep this time, with only a little wool on her brisket (chest and belly area). As she was young too, care needed to be taken around her teat area, as these were quite small! Once the fleece is shawn, it needs wrapping up by pulling in the sides alternatively then rolling up as tight as possible. It is then bagged ready for selling to the wool board or privately. Money is knocked off though if the fleece is not held together very well or is dirty (so remove any poops before wrapping up!)