IT could not have been a better week to give students a taste of farming life.
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The days before eight Year 10 students from Albury’s James Fallon High School met their host families for a week-long farm exchange program parts of the North East had up to 50mm of rain.
Dederang dairy farmer Scott McKillop told the students they’d see a spring in the step of farmers, and an overdue green tinge across paddocks by week’s end.
When Murray Goulburn Dairy cut the farmgate price of milk students were able to experience the lows as well.
Mr McKillop, who runs about 350 dairy cows with his wife Belinda, hosted Howlong teen Laedyn Welsh-Hore.
Laedyn found farm work was hard-going but diverse. He found himself building fences, in the cab of tractors and covered in muck at the McKillop’s 50-stand rotary dairy. He also discovered modern technology played an important role in managing farm efficiencies.
“I expected the rotary dairy and early starts but I didn't expect the computer tracking each cow and showing all the data for each cow instantly,” he said of his on-farm experience this week.
“And the discussion group side of it was a surprise. Just to see everyone working together and sharing information and ideas."
He attended a meeting of dairy farmers in Tangambalanga to discuss the Murray Goulburn decision.
"By getting together you can at least talk about it and take the emotion out of it, talk rationally and think about it,” Mr McKillop said.
"This is what we've got, what can we do to manage our businesses better going forward?"
Mr McKillop said the price cut was met with anger but said it was mainly aimed towards senior management for not reacting sooner in the face of poor sales.
"We all knew it was going to happen, we just didn't expect it was going to happen in these next two months,” he said.
"We're at the bottom of the cycle and it will come up again … it's just riding with the wave.”
He and Belinda welcomed the chance to promote their industry to a potential new generation of farmers through the Rabobank-backed Farm Experience program.
It was launched around Finley, involving 10 Sydney-based students, in September last year.