It’s been a busy month for Shuttleworth College, part of The Bedford College Group…

as the land-based college embarks on a busy lambing season, offering students an incredible hands-on opportunity to welcome new life to the college farm.

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Support with husbandry and welfare

T Level learners in Livestock Production and Level 2 learners in Agriculture successfully lambed 320 sheep and 24 calves to date, with the support of teaching teams at Kingshill Farm, the College’s working farm and estate.

Students have been on hand to not only ensure the safe arrival of the new livestock, but support with husbandry and welfare – the day-to-day care of the animals to give them the best start in life whilst keeping an eye on the final lambs and calves due to be born over the coming weeks.

Hand-on, practical experience

The on-site working farm at Shuttleworth offers year-round hands-on practical experience for students to gain experience on farm operations. These include everything from delivering livestock to drilling crops using tractors and specialist equipment – a real time reflection on current best farming practise.

Elsewhere on the Colleges’ sprawling 500 acre site, activity around the campus has been laying the groundwork for future plans which continues to put the farm in good stead for future students.

Within the College’s fish farm and lakes, Level 3 Wildlife students have completed the initial steps of health checking and netting the grading ponds ahead of working with an external organisation for future fish production.

Land and wildlife students have also undertaken the work of planting 20 new trees on the college farm to support wildlife biodiversity and habitat creation and agriculture students have planted 800 metres of hedging with UK native hedge species as part of the T Level agriculture assessments.

Farm at Shuttleworth

Arrival of new tractor

The arrival of a new John Deere tractor is perfectly timed to help develop driving skills for spring-planted crops coming soon and, after a recent audit, the farm remains Red Tractor accredited for the sale of crops, sugar beet and livestock.

Links with the local farming community

The College continues to affirm links with the local farming community, adding two new companies to the farm partnership for industry support and continued development of the curriculum and events booked to host with local farmers organisations for meetings to discuss important industry topics.

Shane Durham, Head of Farm Operations and Resources at Shuttleworth College said:

“As well as delivering the real-time hands-on experience of farm life such as lambing, we always have one eye on the next step. In our industry our work never stops, and the work we do now will continue to provide great opportunities for our students in preparing them well for the working world.”

For more information about courses at Shuttleworth College visit: https://bedfordcollegegroup.ac.uk/colleges-and-campuses/shuttleworth-college/

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