Agriculture Courses

This course is designed to equip managers, supervisors, or people who want to work up to these positions within the industry (eg. at a riding school, race track, stud, farm etc) with the necessary management skills required to undertake such a role. 

Three horse care units coupled with a workplace project ensures that this comprehensive qualification is to a standard required in the horse industry.

Accredited by International Accreditation and Recognition Council

Agriculture today is a highly competitive, global market. Many traditional forms of agriculture are sometimes difficult to operate competitively, particularly within developed countries, but even in the most competitive economies, some agricultural enterprises still remain not only viable, but highly profitable. Success may be gained by value adding, or perhaps by filling a market niche not able to be readily filled by international or mass market competition. This is a very solid  training program for people wishing to work in alternative areas of agriculture at a technician or management level; in positions such as a farm manager, technical representatives, trainers or consultants.

This course is internationally accredited through I.A.R.C

Being a successful rural businessman or woman is a difficult managerial role. Very few non-rural businesses are presented with the continuing changes and variations that confront a rural business. The impact of climate means the rural manager has to continually consider, evaluate, assess (and reassess) often on a daily or even hourly basis, the numerous changes and types of information that may affect the rural business success.  A successful rural manager also needs to understand his unique markets, and how to capitalise on market forces to maximise business profit.

This course develops your ability to analyse and manage marketing problems in an agricultural enterprise. Topics covered include: market research, management of your marketing, promotions, handling produce, packaging, distribution, customer relations and more.

Develop a sound foundation knowledge of animal anatomy and physiology, as a basis to understanding care and/or management of animals in domesticated or wild situations.

This is the starting point for working with animals in any situation (farms, pets, zoos, wildlife, animal protection, etc).  Lessons cover: introduction, cells & tissues; the digestive system; the circulatory system; the urinary system; the nervous system; respiration; the reproductive system; muscles & meat; the skeleton; animal growth, eevelopment, and the endocrine system; comparing different animals.

Learn to plan implementation of an animal breeding program using genetic theory, practical applications to daily husbandry practice, and management of animal breeding programs.

• Includes a sound introduction to genetics
• Relevant to any type of animal (pets, farm animals, wildlife, horses, dogs, etc)
• Personal guidence from highly qualifed and experienced animal scientists and practitioners.

Lesson cover introduction to genetics; genetics; selection; pure breeding; introduction to cross breeding; cross breeding and livestock improvement.

Learn to care for the health of any type of animal (focus is on mammals and birds) and understand the scope of services offered by animal care services, including in veterinary practices. This course is appropriate for anyone interested in working with animals including on a farm, a wildlife park or a veterinary practice. It is a sound foundation course and designed to cover most of what is found in a typical veterinary assistants course in many countries around the world.

Comment from one of our Animal Health Care students:

" I cannot praise the animal health care course highly enough. I have learnt a great deal, far beyond my wishes" G. Kite

A solid introduction to animal health, where you learn to assess animal health, explain a variety of conditions and identify appropriate treatments or responses to a range of more common complaints or illnesses. Specific topics include Signs & Symptoms of Diseases , Disease Classification, Causes of Disease, Inflammation, Fever and Immunity, Tissue Repair, Wounds and Cell changes (eg. death, cancers etc).  It is helpful to complete Animal Husbandry I before attempting this course.

Improve production or start a new aquaculture venture.  This course can help you no matter what direction you want to take.  This course aims to develop your ability to independently analyse and make decisions about the development and management of freshwater aquaculture enterprises.

Aquaculture is the farming of water creatures for human consumption.  This subject is concerned with the culture and care of fresh water aquatic animals and focuses on Trout, Barramundi, Bass, Marron, Red Claw and the Yabbie.  You will also learn about production systems, other species, feeding, harvesting and health of fish as well as set up of an aquaculture venture.

Develop your abilities to analyse and make decisions about the management requirements of beef cattle.  The course is a comprehensive introduction covering such things as Cattle Breeds; Beef Cattle Production Systems; Cattle Breeding; Diseases in Beef Cattle; Nutrition for Beef Cattle; Commercial Herd Management; Feed Lot Management; Stud Herd Management; Management, Economics and Marketing .

Do you want to Raise Calves?

In Calf Rearing BAG 207 you will learn to select calves for specific purposes (eg. dairy, beef, breeding) and rear them to that end, identifying and dealing with health and other problems that may occur along the way.  Upon succesful completion of this course you will be able to independently analyse and make decisions about the requirements of calf rearing.

Lessons cover: calving and culling; calving management; calf health management; calf rearing systems; calf housing;weaning and post weaning.

Can’t find exactly what you want?
We can help you design a course that is tailored to your specific needs and interests.
Alternatively you can simply choose the required number of related modules (short courses), and submit your module list to the school for approval.
Designing your own certificate does have some major advantages, including:

• The capacity to have an education which is very unique (different to most people you are likely to encounter in your working life).
• The capacity to avoid studying subjects which are irrelevant or less relevant to you

By being different, you may well give yourself an advantage over your competition in business or work.
ONLY MODULES LISTED AS AVAILABLE ON LINE or ON CD MAY BE STUDIED BY THOSE METHODS 

DREAMING ABOUT WORKING WITH WILDLIFE?

This course provides with knowledge and practical skills to people working or wishing to work in wildlife care and management.
A foundation entry level course to develop skills that would be valued for working in wildlife parks, zoos, refuges or wilderness management. This course incorporates some key studies which are in demand for employees in such establishments.

This course is internationally accredited through I.A.R.C

This is the course for you if you want to learn about:

• dairy breeds
• managing anything from one cow to a large herd
• dairy products (milk, cheese, cream butter etc)

This is a very sound foundation course developed in collaboration with industry and by our team of experts including agriculturalists, animal scientists and veterinary surgeons. 

CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT 

If you want to work with horses, train horses, or just understand your horse a little better, this course is for you! The study of equine behaviour provides a foundation for more sensitive and informed care and training of horses, and can help you understand your horse's behaviour, and work more effectively with its inherent nature.  

Learn to manage the daily requirements of a horse at grass. The course aims to develop:

• The ability to handle horses using a range of different procedures
• Skills to evaluate a horses conformation
• An understanding of diet
• Knowledge of grooming procedures
• An ability to develop appropriate management procedures
• Knowledge of commercial opportunities, including trading horses.

This course follows on from Horse Care I.  While this course is relevant to horses at grass, it does focus heavily upon care of the stabled horse.  The course covers feeding, stabling, food care, bedding, tack and conditioning of the horse.  This is a stand alone course and may be taken without Horse Care I as a pre-requisite.

All about managing health and condition of horses in different situations. Learn to identify signs of poor condition, and address those problems appropriately. Understand the things that can stress a horse and increase it's susceptibility to problems. Know how to manage situations (eg. events, travel, weather) to minimse risk.

This course complements Horse Care I & II, but will also stand alone. You don't need to necessarily study the others to successfully do this course.

Water is essential to both plant and animal growth and is often the major limitation to productivity. Irrigation is now playing a more important role in agriculture than ever before. However, depending on the climate, the value of the plants or animals, the value of the land and it's suitability for irrigation, the cost, reliability and quality of the water supply, irrigation may or may not be possible or feasible.

Irrigation may enable plants (i.e. crops, pasture) to be grown in a dry climate where it would not otherwise be possible, or it may supplement the existing rainfall and improve growth rates by extending the growth period of the plant, or by ensuring there is adequate moisture during critical periods when the plant is growing most rapidly. The value of irrigation can vary greatly from year to year depending on the distribution of rainfall during the growth season.

There should be plenty of water for everyone..., however three controlling factors: very unequal distribution, rapidly rising demand and increasing pollution around urban and industrial areas means that some areas of the planet are already using water at a greater rate than it is being replenished. This includes parts of Western Australia, and parts of NSW and Victoria. Water management will become increasingly important to try and cater for the increasing demand for useable water.

The aim of irrigation management is to reuse water as much as possible, to collect and store as much water as possible, and to ensure that what water you do use is used in an efficient manner. This course builds on Irrigation BAG213. It teaches you to manage the design and operation of large scale irrigation systems.

Prerequisites:  Irrigation (Agriculture) BAG213 or equivalent (BHT 210 or BHT304) must be completed prior to commencing this course.

NEW June2009

Would you like to work and care for animals in a more natural and holistic way?  Natural Animal Health Care can help you to do this. This course covers holistic therapies such as naturopathy, homeopathy, herbal treatments, tactile therapy and natural nutrition amongst others.

Medical Technology has come a long way in the treatment of disease in both domestic and livestock animals. The conventional approach used by most veterinary practices has had great success in treating ailments such as acute infection and trauma. However, one problem that has arisen from this conventional approach is the narrowing view of how ailments can be treated and the growing reliance on chemical products for treatment. This has lead to the re-emergence of holistic therapies for animals.                                                

Pastures are critical to many types of farms. Farmers have been known to turn unprofitable farms into commercial successes by simply improving pasture. Whether dealing with small or large properties, pasture management is an important part of many types of farm enterprises. This course is designed to be useful to those already managing existing pastures and those who wish to establish  successful new pastures.

Every livestock farmer is first and foremost a pasture farmer. He may make use of the natural grasses or he may improve his pastures by planting special grasses or legumes. A good farmer recognises the different grasses and legumes, and understands how to get the best out of them. He will be able to distinguish between desirable and undesirable plants and he will know the grazing habits of his stock.

The whole art of understanding and managing pastures is highly complex because there are so many parts to it and each of these parts constantly change. For example, there are a great many varieties of plants that are used for grazing in any one area. Each plant has its own rhythm and will react differently to environmental conditions and treatment.

The distribution of pasture species is also limited by various climatic factors particularly:

• The soil type and class of land
• Temperature
• Rainfall
• Seasonal variations in the length of daylight

Learn to evaluate, design and make decisions about the management of pasture for different purposes. This comprehensive course investigates different pasture types, the structure, growth and development of grasses, grass identification, the establishment of new pastures, the importance of legumes in pastures, selection of pasture types, seed mix, management of existing pastures, native grasslands, weed control, limiting factors, managing stock on pasture, management works.

• A sound introduction to caring for a wide variety of different pets.
• Covers dogs, cats, fish, birds, rabbits, rodents, reptiles and amphibians.

This course was developed and tutored by highly qualified and experienced professionals (Veterinary Surgeon, former wildlife park manager, university lecturers etc).  This course provides an outstanding opportunity to extend your knowledge, perspective and capacity to care for all types of pets. 

1. sus vittatus, from Asia (mainly China and Thailand)
2. Sus scrofa , the wild pig of Europe and North Africa

The asian pig has short legs, a wide dished face and the ability to fatten rapidly. The influence of this pig can be seen in the Berkshire and Middle White breeds. The European pig was thin with a long, pointed face. The Tamworth is a modern pig that shows these characteristics. Fixing and improvement of breeds has been taking place for over one hundred years. Pigs are kept only for the production of meat. The meat can be used in two different ways - pork and bacon. As such, two distinct types of pig have evolved:

1. Pork type : for the production of fresh meat
2. Bacon type : for the production of cured meat, bacon and ham.

In modern pig husbandry, it is not so important to choose a pork type or a bacon type. Due to better breeding, stricter selection and, above all, scientific feeding the modern pig can produce good quality pork OR bacon. The feeding system and age at slaughter will determine what the pig will produce.

A sound founation course, it develops a broad understanding of pig biology and production; covering such things as breeding and selection, feeding, diseases, boar management, managing the sow and litter, fattening pigs, record keeping and more.

This course is designed to enable you to analyse and make decisions about the mangement requirements of poultry.

Learn about: terminology, breeds, dealth care; nutrition, diseases in poultry, housing and shelter, layers, broilers, incubation, brooding, record keeping, economics & marketing. 

Student Comment:
"Pleased with all aspects of the course"  K Houlden

Increase your knowledge and skills with Sheep in this exciting course.  This course aims to develop your ability to analyse and make decisions about sheep management.

Wool is an export product so good prices can be obtained when conditions in the market are favourable. There are fewer marketing problems associated with wool of good-high quality. Pure mutton breeds require less management than pure wool breeds. The lamb market is strong in many countries.  A dual purpose breed can provide the farmer with two products (meat and wool), and spreads the farmer's source of income should there be an overproduction one of the two products. Sheep can also be farmed for dairy (eg. sheep cheese can be as popular as cows cheese in some parts of the world.

Learn about: Breeds; Selection and Breeding; Nutrition of Sheep; Diseases of Sheep; General Management of a Commercial Flock; Care of the Lamb;  Wool and the Marketing of Sheep and Sheep Products.

Soil is the foundation for profitable farming. There are many things that can be wrong with soil (eg. poor nutrition, chemical imbalance, structural problems such as drainage, lack of microbial life etc). Often minor and relatively inexpensive treatments can make a huge difference to productivity, but the problems need to be identified first, and that requires a solid understanding of soil theory and management practice. Learn about soil properties and requirements in agriculture, and how to apply that knowledge at a management level.

Topics covered include the chemical and physical properties of soil, soil testing, soil management, earthworks, land degradation, container growing

This course presents many different techniques and general measures which may be adopted in part or full, in order to move a farm toward greater sustainability, whether the concerns are commercial, environmental or something else. Improving sustainability is sometimes as simple as changing what is being farmed or how it is being marketed; but it may also be a multi facet problem that requires changes in a whole range of farm management practices.
Developed by our principal, John Mason author of the best selling book "Sustainable Agriculture 2nd ed." published by Landlinks Press (CSIRO)

Learn to identify and effectively control weeds. You learn about both chemical and non-chemical control methods (e.g. mulching, burning, slashing), the use of spray equipment, and safety procedures which should be followed.

The course provides valuable learning for land managers, farmers, gardeners, orchardists, market gardeners, landscapers, spray contractors, nurserymen or anone else concerned with the control of weeds.