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F A R M S K I L L S
Sophie Throup
FarmSkills Manager
Enabling farmers to access high quality, consistent training wherever they live in
the UK was one of the stated aims of FarmSkills when it was launched. After all,
one of the great strengths of XLVets is its spread of practices across the country
and it was felt using this network for training as well as veterinary services would
be of benefit both to the practices involved and to farmers nationwide.
Now, for the first time, farmers across the
Irish Sea are being given the chance to
experience FarmSkills training on their home
turf after Parklands Veterinary Group in
Northern Ireland became the latest XLVets
practice to launch a number of courses under
the FarmSkills brand. In many ways it was a
natural step for the practice as they had
already been running successful equine,
ruminant and pig conferences for a number
of years which were attracting well over 200
delegates. With the funding available through
the development agency for agricultural skills
training in Northern Ireland, it made sense to
build on this expertise with the introduction of
more focused farmer-led workshops which
could be offered at subsidised rates.
Once the commitment had been made, the
practice arranged for a 'Train the Trainer'
course for nine of its key staff, tapping into
their individual skills and enabling the practice
to have a number of trainers on hand for
course delivery. With trainers ready and
waiting, the next step was to launch the
courses. Evening farmers groups proved a
useful forum to get the word out there,
together with the IT know-how of one of the
trainers, but it still took time and persistence
to encourage farmers to see how a day
spent away from the farm could be of real
benefit to themselves and their business.
Undeterred, Parklands persevered and, by
spring 2010, were able to launch their
first FarmSkills workshops: Hoofcare and
Lameness and Fertility/AI. These were soon
followed by Lambing, Sheep Lameness,
Sheep Parasite Control, Infectious Disease
Control, Calf Rearing and Nutrition. Initial
concerns about finding sufficient trainees soon
began to fade as word spread about the
practical content of the courses and the
quality of training: 'very well demonstrated
and explained and in a method a farmer
could understand' as one of the attendees on
the Lambing course commented. By ensuring
all the courses were affordable and clearly
focused on equipping farmers with skills
which could easily be applied on the farm,
FarmSkills was very rapidly accepted by the
local community.
Farm
Skills
reaches
Northern Ireland...
Duncan Gaudie & Iain McCulloch
John Grant demonstrates
foot trimming
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
13
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