What the Countdown
Downunder Farmer Short Course looks like
For information
about Farmer Short Courses in your area
contact (03) 5564 8575
The Farmer
Short Course offers dairy farmers, managers and staff involved in milk
harvesting a wealth of information about managing mastitis and a framework for
using and integrating service from dairy advisers. It also encourages farmers to
build a team approach to issues on their farms and to be comfortable about
seeking advice from professionals.
The mechanism
that the course uses to achieve this is to create a challenge for participants
to ‘close the gap’ between their current practice and best practice as
recommended by the Farm Guidelines. This is a powerful and efficient technique
because it allows participants to ‘fast track’ to the elements they need to
discuss in detail to improve the situation on their farms and tick-off on
elements that they already do well. It also enables them to structure their
plans in terms if their own risk management approach.
The Farmer
Short Course contains 21 hours of adult learning in six 3˝ hour sessions plus a
30-minute lunch break over six days. It is designed to fit between morning and
evening milkings. Courses are limited to 21 participants to encourage
interaction and vigorous ‘small group’ discussion.
Twenty four
topics are covered in the course including teat biology, calving management,
teat disinfection, milking routines, milking machines, clinical case management,
Dry Cow Treatment and culling. (Click
here for details)
The topics are
based on real farm scenarios, current farm activities, discussion in small
groups and demonstrations.
The Farmer
Short Course covers 24 topics relating to mastitis control and milk quality
Topics within
the course are woven together by four themes to support the management planning
process and two basic biological principles. The themes
are:
‘Closing
the gap’ – a technique that encourages milk harvesters to take actions to
align with best practice, namely the recommendations in the Farm Guidelines
Achieving a
team approach on farm – to enable implementation of the plan
The benefits
of using a team approach with people off-farm
Triggers for
action - early warning signals that alert people to possible changes in their
management systems that require follow-up action. Click here for example
triggers.
Many topics
start in one session and are completed in following sessions and instructional
techniques, such as the ‘closing the gap’ process, are repeated throughout
the course.
Over the
course participants build a “Mastitis and milk quality action plan” for
their individual farms using the Farm Guideline recommendations. In the final
session each participant is asked to present the plan for their farm to the
group. This allows others to contribute comments and increases the chance of
individuals taking home plans that are meaningful and practical to implement.
The course
costs $697 to deliver including administration, training, training materials,
venue hire and lunch for six days. However the out of pocket expense to farmers
is considerably less for farmers eligible for FarmBi$ or Dairy Industry
Adjustment Package subsidies (see the table below).
| State |
Available
subsidies |
Cost
of course to eligible farmers |
| NSW |
TBA |
|
| Queensland |
FarmBi$ 50% |
$348.50 |
| SA |
TBA |
|
| Tasmania |
FarmBi$
60% |
$278.80 |
| Victoria |
FarmBi$
50% |
$348.50 |
|
WA |
FarmBi$ 50% - Available to eligible participants as a reimbursement
after the completion of the course. |
$697.00
with a reimbursement of $348.50 to eligible participants. |
For information
about Farmer Short Courses in your area
contact (03) 9620 7283
| 
For
more information on Countdown Downunder