Dairy Australia and Marcus Oldham College refine farm management course with dairy focus
Dairy Australia is offering scholarships for a business course at Marcus Oldham College focusing on dairy management.
DAIRY Australia has combined with Marcus Oldham College to develop better dairy farm managers for the future.
The industry body will provide $50,000 scholarships for each of three students to complete the three-year dairy course under its Bachelor of Business (Agriculture) program.
Further scholarships will be provide to another three students starting the course in 2021 and 2022.
The aim is to equip those already working in the industry and new entrants with skills in dairy farm management.
Marcus Oldham College principal Simon Livingstone said students were required to work in the dairy industry for at least one year upon finishing high school before applying to enter the Bachelor of Business (Agriculture) program.
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Dr Livingstone said Marcus Oldham College and Dairy Australia were tailoring the normal Bachelor program to provide a dairy-specific focus.
He said the first year would be spent learning the principles and practices of farm business management.
The second year would be spent employed on a dairy farm with a large herd for 11 months.
Students would then return to the Marcus Oldham campus to continue business management education.
“Dairy students will get specific lectures on dairy management,” Dr Livingstone said.
“In the second year, they will be placed on large herd farms, the best dairy farms.
“That year will be a big one where they will be mentored on those dairy farms.
“It will be pretty rich learning.”
Dr Livingstone said the aim of the course was to educate young people for the future of the industry.
“We’ve been running this degree (course) for a long time,” he said.
“We’ve got dairy students here now but we are preparing a small group to be leaders for the future in the sector.”
Dairy Australia managing director David Nation said the skills needed to run a successful dairy farm kept increasing.
“Expertise in business management can often be the deciding factor in whether a farm turns a profit or not,” Dr Nation said.
“Our hope is that this course at Marcus Oldham College will enable people to kickstart their farm management careers and be industry ready upon graduation.”
Applications for the scholarships for 2020 close on October 18 through Marcus Oldham College.
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