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Agriculture students evaluate higher options

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Agriculture students from across Cornwall and Devon descended on Duchy College, Stoke Climsland to investigate the Higher Education (HE) options available to them locally.

The day began looking at soil, identifying the soil type and structure, presence of worms, roots and pores to determine how good the soil management is, and the sward, identifying the diverse forages sown, species and varieties, they discussed the suitability of each for grazing and conservation and the nitrogen fixing ability of the clover in the sward.

This was followed by a meet the staff and question and answer session where the academic, student support and admin staff introduced themselves and what they do.

Student, Tori Quinn, said the day was “really beneficial”.

“I learnt a lot about what would be involved in studying a degree course,” she said.

“It was great to see what options are available locally so I can continue to work and only come to College two days a week.”

In the afternoon there were stations set up on the College’s commercial farm, manned by current Foundation Degree (FdSc) Agriculture students in year 1.

These focussed on topics such as mobility scoring, why we do it and how and mobility scoring some cows; plate metering and its use in grazing management; young-stock signals, what to look for and why; and a Penn State Separator, how to use it and what it shows us about the cattle’s diet.

HE Agriculture Programme Manager, Jo Vincent, said they were “very pleased with how the day went”.

“It was great to see so many level 3 Agriculture students from both Duchy College and Bicton College considering HE as their next step,” Jo continued.

“The day was designed to give them an insight to what life would be like on an agriculture degree and to highlight that these opportunities are available locally and you don’t need to leave the South West to study at this level.”

For more information on the range of agriculture courses available across The Cornwall College Group visit www.duchy.ac.uk or call 0330 123 2523.