Inaugural Farm Skills Schools competition in South Africa.
Free State-Farm Boys and Girls Show Their Skills in disciplines from Tractor Driving to Classing Wool
Whether they had to build boxcars, classify animals, shear sheep, class wool, show cattle or chickens or master large tractors, 185 agricultural learners from the Free State showed their mettle in the inaugural Farm Skills schools competition in South Africa.
Free State Education agricultural subjects hosted the competition on Thursday, 31 August to Saturday 2 September at the High School Trio in Kroonstad in which 13 Schools, of which some are non-agricultural schools, from across the province participated. The Free State Education Department and various other sponsors had made funding available for this event.
The competition was divided into four Categories;
1. Agric Technical skills
- Boxcart building.
- Fence erection
- Tractor, ploughing and driving skills.
2. Farm Animals
- Identify wool and handling, shearing.
- Ewe and ram selection (Phenotypic and genotypical)
- Condition score and age (sheep)
- Bull and cow selection.
3. Youth Show
- Livestock and static animals
Elias Matshiwa with his first place in youth show catagory.
4. Crop Section
- Rijk Zwaan project (school based)
- Grass and weed identification
Pupils could choose in which category they wanted to participate in the show, animal judging, wool or technical categories.
“A subdivision that was very popular was the boxcar building in the technical category. Technical skills taught in the subject of agricultural technology were tested here. 12 teams with three pupils per team entered. They spent two days building the boxcars and on Saturday morning their workmanship was tested in a fun race around the farm buildings.
Of the 12 boxcars, six ‘survived’ in the fun races against time” said EP Nel, subject advisor for Agriculture in the Department of Agriculture in the Free State.
Amorie Vorster, a gr. 11, pupil who comes from the farm Moreespan just outside Bultfontein, said that she now looks at grass and weeds differently after winning the trophy for grass and weed identification. She had to identify 20 grass species, 20 species of weeds and several grains. This she had to do by identifying their usual and scientific names. She also had to explain what chemical agents should be applied to control them.
Mr. EP Nel, subject advisor for Agriculture in the Department of Agriculture in the Free State. Mr. G.B. Marx, Head department of Agriculture in the School, stated that the school won the overall prize as a reward for their hard work.
Girls also showed their mettle by competing against the boys on an equal footing. 30% of the participants were girls.
Chrizel Gildenhuys from Winburg, a Gr. 10 boarding student at Bultfontein High School won the wool clasification section·. She said that when they took the week-long wool classification course this year in the subject Agricultural Management Practice, it was stressful but she improved over time. “The competition was a really nice experience and really had an impact on me.” said Chrizel.
Stehan Marias, a Gr. 8 learner at Hendrlk Potgieter High School in Reddersburg, came second in the ploughing competition. The competition where mainly gr. 11s and gr. 12s participated in the competition. The learners were roped into the skill set by the South African Veteran Tractor Ploughing Association. Hendrlk Potgieter High School in Reddersburg was the runner-up as agricultural school of the year.
The learners had to go further through the safety and mechanical aspects before a tractor could be started, hook up a trailer and complete an obstacle course, while transporting bags between two points in the driving skill competition.
The plants section competition is sponsored by Rijk Zwaan. They supply seedlings to agricultural schools in the Free State. The proceeds are mainly used for feeding schemes at schools or made available to school residences. Products left over are sold or processed.
According to EP Nel, the aim of the competition is to test learners’ skills that they are exposed to in the agricultural subjects and also to make the broader public aware of everything that is being done in the subjects at the various agricultural schools.
Other participating schools not mentioned was Trio Highschol, Unicorn High School (Tweespruil), Seotlong Agricultural and Hotel School (Phuthadltjhaba) and smaller agricultural schools like Nampo Combined School, Highschool Bothavllle, Reitz Landbou-akademie, High school WiIgerivier, and Combined school Vrede.
The importance of agriculture in the South African landscape is also highly regarded by the education department. This is emphasized by the phasing-in of Agricultural Studies as a subject at schools in Grades 8 and 9.
Currently there are approximately 1700 learners in the Free State who enrolled in Agricultural Studies as a subject at 17 schools in the province.
Thank you, also to the sponsors involved: Cape Gate, BKB, OVK, Matus, Free State agriculture, Novartis, MSD, Senwes Kroonstad, NWGA, Procartidge Kroonstad Free State Dept. of Agriculture – Sheep and wool, Santa Gertrudes breeders’ association, the various judges involved in the youth show and the Free State veteran tractor ploughing association.
This competition would not have been possible had it not been for the support of Trio High School in making the site available, planning committee, and the farm manager of Trio Agriculture.