Quality rather than quantity was the theme for this year's Stockperson Training Course! Five willing participants finished the course in October and have almost completed final assessment for their Certificate III in Agriculture (Pig Production).

While registrations were down on the usual 12-14, only five of the starting eight finished the course. The following article provides some suggestions for encouraging employees to complete the entire course and go on to gain their qualification.

Nevertheless, feedback from participants continues to be positive and at a time where holding onto staff is paramount I encourage producers to continue providing formal training for their stockpeople. Expressions of interest are being sought for next year's course and more information (dates etc) will be available early in 06.

Jess McVee & Justin Applegate (Westpork), Brian Hegedus (Great Southern Pig Company), Di Ireland (Wandalup Farms) & Paul Foster of (Western Savannahs Piggeries) holding their Certificates of Participation. S honi Hood-Penn (Agripork) was absent.

In an attempt to attract young people to the WA pork industry, Pork Industry Training (WA) has begun working with the WA College of Agriculture in raising the profile of our industry.

Emalyn recently visited WA College of Agriculture Cunderdin to talk to Year 11 students about the pork industry and its career prospects. Thanks to the enthusiasm of Piggery Manager Tom Hunter and Agriculture Teacher Maggie Paltridge, the pork industry's flag is getting a fair bit of flying time at Cunderdin.

Agriculture Teacher Maggie Paltridge & Piggery Manger Tom Hunter look over some gilts in WACOA Cunderdin's 45 sow unit.

Maggie is using the college's piggery to deliver components of her Animal Production & Marketing class. At the same time students undertaking their Certificate II in Agriculture have the option of incorporating pig units into their study.

Earlier in the year Emalyn provided the college with the draft Pigs in Schools resource package, produced by the National Centre for Pork Industry Training & Education (NCPITE). The package includes lessons, assignments and group activities covering all aspects of pork production. These resources are currently being field tested in schools throughout Australia with the final release due to coincide with the start of the 2006 school year.

The NCPITE is an APL funded project being undertaken by South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). It has four core areas including Schools, Training, Universities and Life-Long Learning. For more information about the National Centre visit their website www.nationalporkcentre.com.au

Jay Della Vedova, Jeff Thompkins, Lauren Bishop & Thai Nicholls weighing porkers as part of Animal Production & Marketing class.

Students participate in several periods of work experience during their time at the college and it's hoped that some will take an interest in pigs.

Emalyn is acting as the conduit for those wanting to find work experience in piggeries. The first choice for student placements will be the WA Pig Skills Centre where students can spend a week working alongside Sandy Gardiner where they will undoubtedly come out with a better understanding of production processes.

Emalyn will then assist those students who wish to gain further experience in finding placements in commercial herds.

Josh Moyle & David Lewis weigh weaners to track growth rates in the piggery's grower herd.

During the coming year Emalyn hopes to visit the other colleges in the WA College of Agriculture consortium in attempt to attract further interest in our industry.

On 18 October fourteen stockpeople and piggery managers attended the Herd Health Management course. The workshop, delivered by Portec's Barb Frey, revolved around "big picture" health management. Participants were encouraged to focus on disease and health management in the context of the pig's age, environment, housing system etc.

After lunch the group headed to the Department of Agriculture's post mortem lab to put the theory into practice. After a very enthusiastic demonstration from Barb, participants put their newly acquired skills to the test. The specimens provided some very interesting examination and discussion and, despite it being quite a warm day, everyone remained upright and healthy!

The workshop also included a session on emergency diseases to help participants comply with the new APIQ Biosecurity Standard relating to emergency disease recognition. Although not enforceable until the end of 2005, this training has put these producers on the front foot.

In March 2003 a database of training course participants was constructed using past training records. At that time a total of 184 owners, managers and employees were listed as having participated in some form of industry training.

In September 2004 there were 260 names on the database with participation in courses on artificial insemination, basic farrowing, advanced farrowing, OHS Systems, the Supervisor's Training Course, Pig Husbandry Training Courses between 1994 and 1998, and Stockperson Training Courses between 2000 and 2004.

Over 70% of this participation has been since 2000 and many people have participated in more than one course.

Let's see if we can reach 360 by September 2005!

Fifteen piggery employees from a wide cross section of the industry participated in the 2004 Stockperson Training Course. This year's group represented almost every aspect of WA's industry, from outdoor to fully intensive, corporate to family owned, large herds to small, breeder and grow out units to farrow-finish.

This is exactly what makes the course such a success. Participants with varied backgrounds actively share their experiences and ideas, a process which adds significant value to the formal training component.

This year's course began in February and finished early in September. Participants were taken through their paces by some of our industry's experts, covering all areas of production. Three of the modules, housing, AI & farrowing, enabled participants to undertake some hands-on training at the WA Pig Skills Centre, with valuable assistance from Sandy Gardiner.

Participants are working towards their Certificate III in Pig Production with on-farm assessments to be conducted between now and the end of the year. Traineeship incentives in excess of $80,000 have been accessed by employers this year, which is excellent news for the industry.

Below is the 2004 class, all smiles the morning after a celebratory dinner to mark the end of another successful Stockperson Course.

Luke Prestwidge & Mike Paton (Westpork), Russell Keene (Western Savannahs Piggeries), Brendan van Beek (Koolena), Murray Kay (Catholic Ag College Bindoon), Colin Gilbert & Ray Allan (Wandalup Farms), Jerri-lee Dickson (PR & LC Zis), Paul Moulding (Westpork), Jade Smithers (Tralka), Aaron Whitehead (CB Whitehead), Richard Gardiner (A & AJ Gardiner/Skills Centre), Leigh Dixon - hiding behind Richard! (Westpork) & Craig Zis (PR & LC Zis). Tiki Potter (Koolena) was absent.

In response to WorkSafe's proposal to inspect all piggeries in WA, WAPPA and Pork Industry Training (WA) have been busy providing producers with the necessary safety plans to make their piggeries and practices OHS compliant.

The five initial workshops delivered throughout WA ( Perth , Trayning, Kojonup, Cuballing & Bindoon) were very well received with 61 producers from 37 farms attending. These workshops provided an overview of OHS system requirements for piggeries and showed participants how to use APL's Workplace Health and Safety Policies and Procedures manual to implement an OHS plan.

The key piece of feedback from these sessions was the need to better induct staff and train them in a similar manner to employers. As a result, WAPPA funded trainer Ben Olsen to develop a detailed, pork industry specific induction manual, and to simplify and fine tune the OHS manual. This included the Job Safety Analyses for piggery tasks which were developed during and after the first round workshops.

Producers who participated in the first round of workshops were then invited to attend follow up sessions where this information was delivered. The follow up workshops also included a comprehensive session on employment issues (Awards, casual vs permanent, leave, fair dismissal, HR record keeping etc) from a Department of Consumer and Employment Protection representative.

Most producers hadn't actively applied APL's OHS manual however they suggested the new version would be more user-friendly. The staff management information was very well received and highlighted an information gap in the legal requirements of employing staff.

Twenty three producers attended sessions in Cuballing and Perth but unfortunately the rain beat us in Kojonup and Trayning. Now that seeding is finished we have scheduled the Trayning workshop for Friday 16 July and Kojonup for Friday 23 July.

Emalyn Loudon (Training Officer), Grant French (SJ & SL Martin), Russell Jolly (Westpork), Peter Bradley (Great Southern Pig Co), Jarrad Carter (SJ & SL Martin), Adrian Holloway & Raymond Schenk (Wandalup), Tom Hunter (WA College of Ag), Wayne Lansdell (Tralka), Steve Etherington (Westpork), Jared Pietrala (Great Southern Pig Co), Michael Norwell (M & JM Conley) & Shane Anderson (Great Southern Pig Co).

Modules 4 to 6 of the course were completed between July and September. They included sessions on farrowing, cost of production, ante mortem inspection, first aid and disease (including post mortems as seen below).

Trainer Bruce Welch assists Adrian Holloway and Wayne Lansdell with a post mortem of a weaner.

The last module on weaner-grower management also included a visit to PPC's Linley Valley abattoir and Globe Meats' processing works.

Participants joined their employers for a celebratory dinner where they were presented with a certificate to recognise the completion of the Stockperson Course. Once these participants have been deemed competent in all units, they will be awarded with a Certificate III in Agriculture (Pig Production) from CY O'Connor College of TAFE.

Well done to the participants and thank you to their employers for giving them the opportunity to advance their knowledge and skills in the pork industry.

Pork Industry Training (WA) would like to welcome Sandy and Annette Gardiner as the new lessees of the Skills Centre. Following the Department of Education's notice to withdraw and a rigorous selection process to find a suitable replacement, the Gardiner's were appointed by the Board of WA Pig Skills Centre Pty Ltd.

Sandy and Annette, and son Richard, officially started at the piggery on 1 August (2003) and are doing a magnificent job. Pork Industry Training (WA) looks forward to working with them in helping the Centre achieve its potential in terms of training.

Graeme Pope from Primary Industries and Resources South Australia - Rural Solutions visited WA recently to share some of his 15 years of experience in artificial insemination training, with WA producers.

Graeme visited Wandalup Farms and Great Southern Pig Company to conduct training on-farm, while 11 producers came to the WA Pig Skills Centre (Muresk) to participate in training.

The open industry day began with the theory associated with AI use and technique, followed by some hands on training at the Skills Centre. Participants each had a go at insemination using a variety of catheters.

Participants remarked that as much learning is done at morning and afternoon tea, chatting to other producers, as is done in the classroom. The training was well received and hopefully employers are seeing the benefits of sending their staff to training activities. The course was subsidised by FarmBis making it a very affordable exercise.

Congratulations to the fourteen trainees who have completed the 2002 Stockperson Training Course after attending six modules at the WA Pig Skills Centre - Muresk, from April to September.

An award night was held at the Ascot Inn, where Dr Bruce Mullan, Chairman of Pork Industry Training (WA), presented Certificates of Attendance. Most trainees also received a ProHand Certificate and a Basic Workplace First Aid Certificate.

Each participant will now be assessed on-farm, in 20 piggery skills and when competent will receive a Certificate III in Agriculture (Pig Production) from CY O'Connor TAFE.

The course covers all aspects of pork production including AI, farrowing, weaning, growing and marketing to meet desired quality. The farrowing module included dosing with artificial colostrum (see below) and injecting electrolytes into the peritoneum.

Emalyn Loudon preparing to dose a piglet with colostrum.

Course tours included Watson's Foods, Milne Feeds and Medina Research Centre.
Participants, including one employer, were from all parts of the state including Esperance, Bencubbin, Morawa and Northcliffe.

Mick Bates (Great Southern Pig Company), Emalyn Loudon (Pork Industry Training WA), Graeme Horlock (Northcliffe Pork Producers), Janet Elliot (SJ & SL Martin), Glen Anderson (Westpork), Mick Lindley (WACOA Morawa), Sharon Martin (SJ & SL Martin), Andrew Collins (Glorbay Farms), Johnno Gillis (Shark Lake Piggery), Paul Regan (Westpork), Phil Smith (Shark Lake Piggery), John Kopriwa (Wandalup Farms). Andrew Chalmers (Agripork) & Andrew McCooke (DL & NJ Dent) were absent.