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F A R M S K I L L S
Sophie Throup
FarmSkills Manager
When asked in a recent survey by FarmSkills whether they thought a
training record card or qualifications should be held by farmers, between
50 – 60 % of beef and dairy farmers questioned indicated that they could
see the benefit in having this sort of information to hand.
Holding records on skills training attendance
can be useful when applying for capital grant
funding as well as to show competence in
licensed training such as DIY AI or sprayer
testing. The FarmSkills team can access your
records for you from their own database of
training and through the LANTRA national
online skills database, should you have taken
part in training in an RDPE funded area.
For some livestock sectors though, having a
training record is part of running the farm
business. Farmers in the poultry meat sector
have had to complete training as part of their
assured chicken production audits since
2009, a programme known as ‘The Poultry
Passport’. The passport records the skills
training of each individual and can be taken
with them should they change employer.
Recognising this training need, Minster Vet
Practice in York set up training for poultry
meat farmers, much of which is now marketed
within the FarmSkills brand, but also
expanded this to include laying hens and
even duck production. Outside the needs of
the Poultry Passport, farmers can choose to
take workshops in welfare, biosecurity, first
aid, environmental awareness and handling.
The FarmSkills Poultry workshops are largely
classroom based with some practical lab
sessions, as the bio-security implications for
visiting farms are more stringent. Minster Vets
have trained over 3,000 farm workers to
date at their centres in York, Hereford and
Sutton Bonington, near Nottingham. They
have also just started to roll out backyard
poultry keeping workshops through XLVet
practices across the country - look out for
forthcoming workshops taking place with
The Drove (Swindon), Castle Vets (Barnard
Castle) and Thrums (Dundee).
Andrew Warriner is a free range egg
producer from Pickering, North Yorkshire
looking after 22,000 hens. He had several
days of FarmSkills Poultry training with Minster
Vets in 2010 and is planning to book a
further 3 days shortly. He’s attended the
Veterinary Health, egg production and
vaccination and medication courses and
found the workshops very useful: ‘The courses
are fantastic. They’ve given me much more
insight and knowledge about hens and this is
helping to increase production and tackle any
issues with the flock. The training has shown
me how to spot problems earlier and I’m also
not vaccinating the pullets as often and at
different stages. As a result, they are looking
really healthy.’ Andrew said that the courses
have helped him carry out basic postmortems
and to communicate clearly with vets when
their assistance is required.
Farmer Training Records...
Poultry and Pig Industry
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
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LIVESTOCK MATTERS
Andrew Warriner