Our courses are ideal for students who want to learn more about the broader aspects of agriculture. They prepare students well at the start of their career, and to support them as they progress onto the next level qualification to give students the opportunity to develop skills at a higher level to develop their managerial skills.

Students also develop underpinning knowledge whilst practising skills that are essential in the agricultural industry. We focus on practical work and hands on experience, with classroom sessions to help build knowledge. At Bridgwater College students benefit from excellent facilities and expert staff.

Students study a range of subjects including livestock husbandry, machinery and crops. They will have an opportunity to work on the college farm and undertake work experience. Their work will be a balance between gaining theoretical knowledge of animal and plant systems and practical work to underpin this theory. Below is a summary of activities that students have been involved with over the past month.

Ben Roberts

On the run up to Christmas all students are busy finishing off their final pieces of College work before the holidays. The second year Level 3 students are busy applying for higher education and university level courses which includes writing a personal statement and applying for courses they are interested in. I am applying for a range of different courses but my main choice is to continue my education here and study a Foundation Degree which is validated by Plymouth University.

Throughout the Christmas holidays I will be busy relief milking for local farmers and working at Exeter livestock market for Kivells. On Christmas day I am doing the afternoon milking to earn some final money before I go skiing on Boxing Day. I am looking forward to my holiday and having a break from work.

At home, all my pedigree Texel ewes are in lamb and are out on my winter grass for the next couple months before they come in for lambing. I am looking forward to lambing and hopefully getting some top quality ewe and ram lambs on the ground so that I can establish a good flock.

Adrian Netherway

Throughout the last month at College, students including myself have been preparing for our higher education pathways, this involved registering to UCAS and applying for undergraduate courses at university and colleges. Furthermore, writing personal statements about my previous experiences and my future ambitions.

In our practical’s we have been servicing some of the farms equipment so it is ready for the spring when field work becomes more possible. During one of our afternoons off in November, a group of the machinery students went to WestPoint to the beef South West event, which we found very interesting as there was a mixture between machinery and livestock stands.

We have also had a GPS technician come and talk to us about how it works, how this piece of technology has changed and what is still to change in the future. This talk had a major part to play in me completing one of our upcoming assignments. At home all of the crops that have been drilled are looking well, much like the livestock which are now all housed for the winter.

Beth Toogood

This month at College I have been learning lots of new and interesting things, it is beginning to get to wet to do machinery practical’s outside so we have started working in the workshops fixing and servicing machines.

I have attended many talks which have been put on by the College, for example a talk from Volac which I found really interesting because it was about calf rearing. We have also had a talk from a lady who is from the other side of the Quantocks, she came in to talk to us about her New Zealand style farm, she has even offered us to go for a farm walk next summer.

At the beginning of the month I will be completing my second lot of duties which will be on young stock which I am looking forward to.

Charlotte Scott

Over the last month we have had a number of guest speakers from companies such as Volac, talking about the most efficient ways of feeding calves and also Dave Selway from AgriCentre came to discuss the causes and effects of liver fluke, a very topical subject for this time of year. Finally, we had a talk from a local dairy farmer, who farms in the New Zealand style, near Kingston St Mary. All three of these talks have been both informative and useful for our current studies.

Recently I have been involved with an interview on BBC Radio4, for Farming Today, talking about future jobs within the agricultural industry, from this we are still receiving positive feedback. Along with these I have been continuing to broaden my knowledge of the agriculture industry through, interesting lectures, both practically and theoretically.

Katie Vincent

I have been gaining confidence due to the amazing friends I have made at College the Lecturers encouraging us to get involved. I have been really enjoying the practical's, we have been maintaining machinery and de horning calves. I have also been getting involved in stock judging with Young Farmers.

As we are approaching Christmas we went on a trip to Sedgemoor market to the Christmas fat stock show which was lovely. We have also had some business talks from Stags and Volac. I have expanded my knowledge on sheep including the shepherd’s calendar and also how to grade sheep.