The Hay Inc Rural Education Program graduated it's 7th intake of students at the Hay Merino Sheep Show on Saturday 19 June.
This year's group included 16 young people aged 18 to 15 years, with a great achievement that 12 of these are currently working on properties in the Hay district.
This now takes the number of young people to take part in the program to 99.
Richard Cannon, Hay Inc Chairperson thanked the many involved in the success of Hay Inc, including sponsors and supporters and graduates were presented their certificates by Michelle Humphries representing Australian Wool Innovation.
A special gift was presented to Chris Bowman from the Hay Inc committee for his dedication to the program during his time as Chairperson and his continued involvement.
The Mathew Vick Memorial Scholarship was presented to 2021 Hay Inc Graduate Laura Shearman by John Vick.
Hay Inc Alumni 2021 Kasey Mullighan from South Australia was an associate judge at the Hay Merino Sheep Show.
The group had a busy week in their block 3 of training in the lead up to their involvement in the Junior Merino Sheep Judging competition at the Hay Merino Sheep Show.
Hay Inc Graduates Dimity Crowe and Erin Shalders were successful in receiving second and third place.
The training week included fence construction and maintenance where they worked on fences for Shear Outback.
Cattle handling with a practical presentation from Coopers on vaccinating and animal health.
Local land services supported the day and included grazing and natural resource management and Animal Health Australia conducted hands on lamb post mortems.
That evening a dinner was held for the participants and Hay Inc volunteers and trainers to get together for some informal conversations on their careers in agriculture.
Training during the week also included lamb marking, prime lamb assessment and merino sheep classing.
Expressions of Interest for the 2022 program are now being encouraged.
The unique program is a 15 day course run in February, March and June that provides hands-on training covering all the necessary skills of stockmanship in both sheep, cattle and farming skills. The affordable $400 training includes accommodation, some meals and bus transport during some of the training days. It has a strong focus on networking and mentoring and graduates become part of the Hay Inc Alumni which is continues to share information.
Hay Inc are planning at Hay Inc Alumni gathering in March 2022.
- For more information check out the new Hay Inc web site which includes a great video explaining the program. www.hayinc.com.au Email: info@hayinc.com.au Ph: 0439 938119
Have you signed up to The Land's free daily newsletter? Register below to make sure you are up to date with everything that's important to NSW agriculture.