Drouin and Poowong teams win cow awards

Drouin Secondary College and Poowong Consolidated School were major prize winners in the Cows Create Careers farm module.

More than 260 students and teachers from Gippsland were recognised at presentation days last week, with local schools coming out on top.

Drouin Secondary College had teams place third and first in the senior section to win best senior school, while Poowong Consolidated School continued their success in the program to also secure a third and first place finish for best junior school.

Other local schools to take part in the farm module included Warragul Regional College and Nilma Primary School.

Students completed an innovative project over a period of three weeks, rearing two threeweek-old calves at their school.

A local dairy farmer teaches the students how to care for the calves, while an industry advocate visits the students to speak about their career in the dairy industry. Students are required to form teams to complete assessments based on the dairy industry.

Dairy Australia program manager workforce development Sally Roberts said it is encouraging to see secondary students passionate about Cows Create Careers and Australia’s vibrant dairy industry.

“The aim of Cows Create Careers is to increase the students’ awareness of the diversity of educational pathways and career opportunities in Australia’s dairy industry,” she said.

“Through the project, students learn about the different skills required in the dairy industry in a fun and hands-on way.”

Cows Create Careers was originally established in 2004 with dairy farmers in the Strzelecki Lions Club in Victoria and nine Gippsland schools.

Since 2006 the project has been supported by Dairy Australia, regional development programs, dairy farmers and sponsors. It has now grown to 244 schools across Australia with 13,163 students completing the project in 2017.

Last year alone 466 volunteers gave 2330 hours of their time across 23 Australian dairying regions.

Locally, the project is funded by GippsDairy and receives additional support across the state from local companies and Shire councils.