A Scottish Pig Academy to encourage stockmanship training in the Scottish pig industry was officially launched today (June 21st 2012) at the Royal Highland Show.
The initial cohort of 10 Scottish Pig Academy trainees is currently being recruited with training due to start in August. The Academy has been developed by Barony College with input from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), VION and Scottish Agricultural College (SAC).
Funding for the course development has been provided by ASDA, QMS, the European Union and Skills Development Scotland.
The inspiration for the new Scottish Pig Academy came from pig producers, unit managers and staff taking part in the Pig Business Network run by Quality Meat Scotland.
“Farmers and staff attending these meetings voiced concern about the lack of a structured training programme for the industry, which erodes skill levels in existing staff and make it more difficult to recruit new people into the industry,” said Uel Morton, Chief Executive of Quality Meat Scotland.
“The objective of the Scottish Pig Academy is to implement a recognised vocational training programme for basic and advanced pig stockmanship in Scotland. Crucially the programme can be delivered locally and at low cost to farmers,” Mr Morton added.
There are currently around 500 people employed on Scottish pig farms and the aim is for the new Academy to train farm staff to develop the technical knowledge and skills required to maximise productivity and efficiency on pig farms.
Among the areas covered by the course are herd performance, herd health, machinery use and maintenance along with personal performance. It is expected that to complete all 13 modules to achieve the Modern Apprenticeship should take about two years, although this will vary depending on the time each individual can devote to the apprenticeship.”
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