Students help with animal care at the Royal Show

Thursday, 1 September 2016

Almost 100 University of Adelaide animal and veterinary sciences students will be displaying their animal handling skills and providing animal care at the Royal Adelaide Show, open this year between Friday 2 and Sunday 11 September.

About 50 members of the student-run Roseworthy campus Pig Club will be at the show and taking responsibility for the cleaning, feeding and husbandry of all the commercial and stud pigs at the Show this year, as well as the Club’s pigs.

Another 13 students from the final year of their veterinary science degree, and five staff, will be operating a round-the-clock veterinary service for all the animals at the Show (excluding the horses, and the dog and cat pavilions which have their own vets).

A further 35 animal science and veterinary students have prepared and will be showing nine steers in the Led Steer competition.

“Our Roseworthy students have a proud tradition of bringing prize livestock to compete in the Show, and our Waite staff exhibit the latest in agricultural research,” says University of Adelaide Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Warren Bebbington.
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“Our Vet School also provides care to hundreds of animals on site at the Show, a service we are happy to provide.”

Pig Club: Students from the University’s Pig Club will not only take care of their own 12 pigs at the Show but also all of the commercial and stud pigs housed in the Pig Pavilion. The Pig Club will also take part in the University section of the School’s pig handling competition on Friday 9 September. Students will be present throughout the show to answer questions and encourage supervised interaction between pigs and public.

Veterinary care at the Show: Final-year veterinary students will assist three University of Adelaide veterinary staff to provide round-the-clock veterinary services for the livestock section and other animals. Students building their clinical, problem-solving, communication and technical skills, and further their experience in patient care and professional behaviour under high-press situations, while providing a valuable service to exhibitors and the Show.

Led steer competition: Students have prepared nine steers for the led steer competition, involving learning skills including showmanship, ring craft and animal judging. Students learn about animal handling and behaviour, nutrition, production and market specifications. The led steers will be judged at 9am on Thursday 8 September.

Golden Grains Pavilion: Students and staff from the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine will be on hand at a display in the Golden Grains Pavilion, 9-4.30 daily. Activities include making a mini terrarium to learn about healthy soils, planting some legumes, examining plants under a microscope; and finding out about the four undergraduate degrees at the Waite campus.

AGSPLORERS: Children can take part in the fun educational #AGSPLORERS trail around the Showgrounds as part of Children’s University Adelaide, run by the University of Adelaide. Children collect stamps from eight ‘challenge stations’ around the Show, collecting passport stamps. Pig Club members will man the AGSPLORERS station in the Pig Pavilion.

 

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