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Chancellor applauds plans for cutting edge Food Futures Centre

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George Osborne cuts the first sod for the National Centre for Food Futures and the Environment, watched by Reaseheath Principal Meredydd David, MP Stephen O’Brien, MEP candidate Kevin Beaty and Martin Smout, executive chairman of construction partner GB Building Solutions.

George Osborne cuts the first sod for the National Centre for Food Futures and the Environment, watched by Reaseheath Principal Meredydd David, MP Stephen O’Brien, MEP candidate Kevin Beaty and Martin Smout, executive chairman of construction partner GB Building Solutions.

Chancellor George Osborne has congratulated Reaseheath College’s efforts to help food producers meet the challenge of world population growth and climate change.

Cutting the first sod on the site of a £8.5 million National Centre for Food Futures and the Environment, Mr Osborne said: “Reaseheath College is rightly renowned for the quality of the education it provides, especially in the agriculture industry. I always want to try to provide funding for projects like this.

“One of the key elements of our long-term economic plan is to deliver the best schools and skills for young people  in all sectors so the next generation can succeed in the global race.”

The Chancellor chats to members of the Reaseheath’s Student Association.

The Chancellor chats to members of the Reaseheath’s Student Association.

The industry-led project will enable the Nantwich, Cheshire, college to support the government’s agri-tech strategy, which aims to make the UK a world leader in agricultural technology, innovation and sustainability. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills, through the Skills Funding Agency, has allocated £5.8m of capital grant for the project.  The remainder has come directly from the college.

The building will provide a national centre for horticultural production, environmental management and conservation and renewable energy, and will be the leading one of its type in the country. It will include a visitor and interpretation centre and a schools unit and is the latest of a string of world class facilities to be built on campus.

In a second project, the college, in partnership with Cheshire East Council, is to develop a state-of-the-art centre for students with learning difficulties and disabilities. This £1.5m project, funded by the Education Funding Agency, will develop desperately needed specialist facilities for students from the Cheshire East area.

Both developments are to be sited on the former college golf course. The buildings have been designed with considerable input from industry advisors and are planned to be open for students and the public by September 2015.

George Osborne chats to arboriculture students.

George Osborne chats to arboriculture students.

The college also intends to reconstruct its existing turf based sports pitches and build new 3G and multi-use artificial sports areas. A sports centre for use by both students and the local community is also planned. This will cater for grass based team sports and sports requiring an artificial playing surface such as hockey, as well as offering  a six court sports hall, team changing facilities and a fitness centre.

Space released by the relocation of the horticulture department has been earmarked for further halls of residence, with construction planned to start this summer.
 

Vice Principal Dave Kynaston, George Osborne, Stephen O'Brien

George Osborne with Reaseheath Vice Principal Dave Kynaston and MP Stephen O’Brien.

Welcoming the Chancellor’s visit, Principal Meredydd David said that Reaseheath was delighted to be involved in the development of another world class educational facility.

He said: “I am thrilled that the government has identified Reaseheath as their preferred location for investing capital to develop this national Food Futures Centre. This will ensure that Reaseheath can continue to deliver specialist technical and educational training to next generation leaders.”

Mr Osborne was accompanied on his visit by local MP Stephen O’Brien and  MEP candidate for the north west Kevin Beaty.
 
 
 
 

Old Hall Field Sumo Subsoiler Demonstration

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Earlier this month our Agriculture Department received a machinery demonstration from SUMO UK Ltd. Richard Hales, sales manager for Sumo, brought the machinery on-site for a demonstration and to start a trial on one of our fields.

Staff and final year Level 3 Extended Diploma in Agriculture students were involved in the machinery demonstration. As well as being able to see what the machinery is capable of, the demonstration linked in with the grassland module our students are currently completing.

Anthony Jones from Agriculture, along with Farm Manager Mark Yearsley, have teamed up with Richard Hales from SUMO to organise this grassland trial. The trial will investigate the possibility of more consistent grass growth, extended grazing season and reduced chemical fertiliser costs as well as better soil health and structure.

The trial is expected to lead on to further research of the improvements that the subsoil machine can bring to the grazing grassland at Reaseheath.

The field was split into three areas. The first strip has been treated with the subsoil machine provided by SUMO at a depth of 8 inches. The middle strip was left untreated. The final strip, at the far end of the field, was aerated to a depth of 4 inches by first year Level 3 Extended Diploma students on one of their practicals. This enable staff and students to compare and contrast the different treatments available to existing swards.

This research will be ongoing in Field 7 over at Old Hall and will be repeated in the autumn through to next spring 2015.

The public will in fact be part of this trial as in May Field 7 will be used as a car park for our annual Family Festival. This will put pressure on the field and compact it. Following the Family Festival the recovery of the field will be monitored and hopefully the area which has been treated with the SUMO machine will hold up to compaction the best.

 

Reaseheath students look for alternative to soya in sheep feed

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Agricultural students from Reaseheath College are helping to carry out a trial to replace soya with a more sustainable UK grown protein in ewe feed.

Thirty Level 3 Extended Diploma in Agriculture students are assisting Reaseheath Sheep Unit Manager Oliver Bagley and Course Manager Richard Wheeldon to run the trial during the Nantwich, Cheshire college’s busy lambing period in March and early April. Data will be evaluated to see if replacing soya with alternative sources of protein affects the growth weight and kill weight of lambs.

Soya is traditionally imported into this country from South America and is often fed in meal form to pregnant ewes and lambs. Experts believe that the UK needs to produce its own sources of protein to improve the long term sustainability of its sheep production.

The project is funded by EBLEX, the organisation for beef and lamb levy payers in England, and run by ADAS, the agricultural and environmental consultancy. It was offered to Reaseheath because of the college’s partnership with the National Sheep Association.

The trial involves feeding different rations to six groups, each containing 40 twin bearing ewes. All groups are fed TMR rations based on home-produced grass silage. In addition, the control group receives supplementary barley and soya which is replaced in the other groups with blends of rape and fodder beet, barley and wheat dark distillers grains, barley and beans, rape and barley or wheat dark distillers grains and fodder beet.

Callum Pitchford and Laura Bellis fit an EID tag to a lamb

Callum Pitchford and Laura Bellis fit an EID tag to a lamb

Uneaten food is methodically gathered and weighed. All lambs are systematically weighed at birth, four and eight weeks, at weaning and at sale. The lambs are EID tagged, enabling the students to record the data efficiently. The ewes are also weighed directly after lambing.

Kate Phillips, Principal Livestock Consultant with ADAS explained: “There is a need to find  viable and alternative sources to soya which are more sustainable to the UK feed industry. We are delighted that Reaseheath’s agricultural students are helping to carry out this important project for us and we are very much looking forward to receiving their feedback.”

Richard Wheeldon said: “Our students complete investigative projects which include research and data collection as part of their Level 3 course. We believe that these projects, which are similar to a dissertation, encourage our students to continue their studies to degree level and to look at the many science based careers within the industry.

“Taking part in a real life, hands-on trial like this also gives them the unique opportunity to deliver results which will hopefully benefit the industry.”

Visit the Agriculture pages on our website to find out more about our courses.

Reaseheath’s lambing and zoo promise twice the fun

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Local families can enjoy twice the fun if they visit Reaseheath College, Nantwich, during the first two weekends in March.

Preparations are well in hand for the college’s popular lambing events and the campus zoo will also be open to the public.

Reaseheath’s lambing weekends have been a community highlight for over 20 years and attract thousands of visitors eager to meet the new arrivals in the lambing sheds. The college has a flock of 500 sheep ready to give birth and about 1,000 lambs are expected over a three week period.

A big screen will show highlights of the action and experts will be on hand to demonstrate the special care required for fostering lambs. Children will be encouraged to watch and learn as lambs are bottle fed and given health checks.

Reaseheath’s shepherd Ollie Bagley, 21, a former Level 3 Extended Diploma in Agriculture student, is in charge of a rota of students who are gaining practical experience in  lambing sheds.

He said: “Everything is ready for the lambing weekends. Fortunately for us the sheep are indoors but we are obviously hoping that the weather will pick up and that the fields will dry out.”

Families will also have the chance to see some of the  animals in Reaseheath’s zoo, which include meerkats, lemurs, tapirs, otters, birds of prey and companion animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs.

This year’s theme is agricultural rare breeds and visitors will be encouraged to meet the college’s golden Guernsey goat kids. There will be children’s arts and craft sessions and other fun activities along with educational talks by Reaseheath zoo keepers. Young visitors to lambing will also be able to plant up baskets with Spring bulbs and flowers.

 

Reaseheath College’s lambing sheds and zoo will open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, March 1 / 2 and on Saturday and Sunday, March 8 / 9 from 10am to 4pm. Hot refreshments will be available and outdoor plants from the college’s Crop Shop will be for sale.  A family ticket for both attractions is £25. For further details see www.reaseheath.ac.uk/lambing  phone 01270 613215 or email miriamh@reaseheath.ac.uk

Farm and dairy herd brings in the cream

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Our farm staff were over the mooooooon last week after receiving one of the most prestigious awards in the Cheshire County Farms competition.

We won the category for best farm over 500 acres, a tremendous accolade as we were judged against some of the best commercial farms in the county. The farm was judged as a whole, with the judges inspecting our dairy herd, pig unit, sheep flock and arable and growing crops.

Awards in this competition are particularly welcome, as the judging panel are made up of farmers who really know the industry.

Reaseheath Holsteins were awarded third place in three categories: premier dairy herd, in calf heifers and maiden heifers.

Farm Manager Mark Yearsley said: “gaining these awards against competition with the best shows what a great farm and great staff we have. We were delighted to win the awards and I’d like to thank the team for all the hard work they put in to make it happen.”

The awards, which were handed over at a dinner at the Civic Hall, Nantwich,  also included a new category ‘Competent Young Person in Agriculture’ which is sponsored by Reaseheath.

This is open to young people aged between 16 and 24 who work on a Cheshire farm. Marks are awarded for enthusiasm, passion, competence, responsibilities and future aspirations. The applicants are judged at their workplace as they carry out their job.

All the young people in the top four places were trained at Reaseheath. The winner, David Marrow, completed his agricultural apprenticeship with us as did second placed Andrew Dodgson and equal third Richard Venables. Will Mansell, also equal third, is a current Level 3 student.