CAFRE’s Level II Agricultural Business Operations Course open

Jonny Watson from Ballymena who completed his Level 2 Agriculture Business Operations course in sheep production at Greenmount Campus in March this year pictured on his home farm

The deadline for prospective students to apply is July 17.

Course Manager, Kenneth Johnston, explained that the training will be delivered over 20 weeks from October 2020 to the end of February 2021. He also advised that the course will be available at the three CAFRE Campus locations with classes in beef, sheep and dairying being offered.

Jonny Watson from Ballymena, who completed the sheep production course at Greenmount Campus earlier in the year said: “I really enjoyed the course and learned a lot from it. The course suited me as it was held in the evenings and I work as a design engineer with Wrightbus during the day.

“I have always had a keen interest in sheep as I grew up on the home farm where we have a Zwartble flock, produce Texel cross pure Charolais hybrid tups and also run commercial ewes. I have a keen interest in the pedigree side of things and I do all the dressing of the sheep for shows and sales.

“It was great to meet up with other likeminded people and we had a large class of over 30 people all with different backgrounds and reasons to be there. I am hoping to start my own start my own flock at another farm soon and as well as obtaining a good qualification in Agriculture to go alongside by Engineering qualifications I wanted to make myself more eligible for any incentives going for young farmers in the future.

“While I enjoyed the whole course I especially enjoyed the Livestock Production module. And, I have no hesitation in recommending the course to anyone interested in agriculture and hoping to achieve a worthwhile qualification.”

You can book a place on a course by visiting the CAFRE website at: https://www.cafre.ac.uk/industry-support/young-farmers-payment-regional-reserve/

Course manager Kenneth Johnston added: “A range of evenings, Monday to Wednesday will be available, however, choices will become more limited as classes fill up. Therefore, it is important that you book early to ensure you get the training event which best suits your needs. The cost of the course is £150.00.

“The CAFRE Agricultural Business Operations (Level II Certificate) qualification meets the agricultural training eligibility requirements for the Young Farmers’ Payment/Regional Reserve Scheme.

“If you require any assistance when booking a place on this training, you can call CAFRE Industry Training Administration on 028 9442 6880 or by emailing [email protected].”