At Mudgee High School, Agriculture endeavours to broaden a student's experiences by exposing them to a range of animal and plant activities. Junior modules and Primary Industries in the senior years include a 50% practical component while senior Agriculture is 30% practical tasks.
Activities that students can be involved in include:
Showing of poultry from the school's purebred stock; showing white Suffolk sheep from the school stud flock; steer preparation and parading; animal care for chickens, rabbits and larger livestock; propagation in the commercial nursery; farm maintenance and tractor driving.
Year 8 undertake a compulsory Agriculture module as part of Technology Mandatory. This is a one semester unit timetabled into Semester 1 or 2 and is based on a personal vegetable garden at the small farm located in the school grounds. Elective junior modules are summarised below:
AG01 Poultry, Plants and Pests (50 hours)
A module aimed at Year 8 & 9 students, giving them an introduction to Agriculture with the main emphasis being poultry and basic plant production. This is a practical module with students carrying out many varied agricultural practices.
AG02 Sheep and Cropping (50 hours)
A module aimed at students in Years 8 – 10. The focus is on sheep management with students given the opportunity to develop a wide range of practical skills. This unit also covers some general aspects of cropping in our local area.
AG04 Alternative agriculture and trees (50 hours)
A module aimed at students in Years 9 & 10. Students carry out an investigation into an alternative agricultural industry of their choice eg deer, yabbies, alpaca, lavender. Excursions are conducted to several local ‘alternative' farms in our local area.
Also included in this module is the importance of trees on farms, sustainable farming and our environment.
AG05 Intensive Agriculture(50 hours)
A module aimed at students in Years 9 & 10 that covers many intensive farming systems, with pigs and poultry being studied in detail.
Horticulture is also covered with particular attention given to tractor maintenance and operation, nursery production and a plant propagation experiment.
AG20 Cattle and Pastures (100 hours)
A module aimed at students in Years 9 & 10 with emphasis on cattle management. Students will prepare animals for show competition during this unit of work. Animal nutrition and the role of pastures, breeding techniques and genetics are also included in this module.