An important strategic objective of Owl Farm is to provide educational opportunities and exposure to dairy farming which demonstrates career opportunities to students.

St Peter’s Cambridge

St Peter’s Agri Centre offers many courses for its students. These include Agriculture and Horticulture Science for years 9-13, Agribusiness and practical primary industry courses in years 12-13.

Owl Farm is used extensively to support all Agri Centre courses, whether in an academic chalk-and-talk forum supporting curriculum learning or on the farm demonstrating practical application. Students are always encouraged to be as hands-on as possible when opportunities arise. Activities can include relief milking, calf weighing and drenching, pasture dry matter calculations, fencing, pruning our Pinus Radiata plantation, and identifying crops, pasture and weeds. Students are invited to learn about any research activities happening on the farm; these could include visiting the CO₂ towers, taking water and soil samples and studying the wetlands.

Particularly important to the curriculum is demonstrating the technology and innovation Owl Farm uses.  This is easily represented in the use of Halter, Owl Farm’s breeding programme, fertiliser use and application, and the statistics collected around carbon emissions, profitability, production and effluent usage.

The Agri Centre also has a vineyard, lavender, garden plots and beehives; staff have a great relationship with the Trees for Survival programme which helps transplant 1000 seedlings as part of the native plantings that the students carry out every year around Owl Farm’s waterways.

Secondary schools

Owl Farm hosts students from other schools including 300 Year 10 students from Cambridge High School every year and Year 11 Ag/Geo students from high schools across Waikato and BoP for “Dairy Sustainability in Action” workshops in conjunction with Lincoln University. If you are interested in attending the Dairy Sustainability in Action workshops, or wish to provide a hands-on learning experience for your students to support the class curriculum, contact Demonstration Manager Jo Sheridan enquiries@owlfarm.nz to arrange a visit.

Primary schools

Owl Farm is also part of the DairyNZ school farm visits. Primary schools wishing to visit a working dairy farm can contact DairyNZ to arrange support and resources, along with access to a local farm to create a memorable experience for primary school students.

Tertiary institutes

Educators of students at tertiary institutes are welcome to arrange a visit to support specific topics for dairy trainees or to use Owl Farm facilities for training. Focus Day and event resources can be found here.