We were lucky enough to get a visit from Laura Phelps who works with Australian Pork Limited and also a Young Farming Champion. Laura introduced herself as a country-city hybrid moving from a farm to Melbourne. At the age of 19, she decided to pack up her bags to study science and agriculture. Her dad, a vet and mum, a scientist, supported her choices. Amongst the years of Laura’s studies she travelled to Indonesia. Here she noticed that farmers weren’t taking care of pesticides properly. It was at this moment; Laura was able to see how agriculture can present itself it many forms. She began to work with local farmer groups, village leaders and farmers to improve pesticide safety management. Agriculture is very important in Laos as it provides for proper nutrition which we noticed was similar to our Australian farmers. Laura continued to explain how she fell into the world of pigs. Pigs are actually raised in different ways such as an indoor system, outdoor shed and free range. They also need to be separated in stalls if they are pregnant because they can have crazy hormones! After that, Laura explained that methane produced by pigs could and does run an entire farm! We were pretty intrigued by this point and it gave us great ideas for our Archibull designs. We learnt a lot about the different by products of pig poo and how they can be vital to helping the environmental impact of the farming industry. Lastly, Laura explained swill feeding, which we had never heard about before. Pigs cant eat meat or dairy as they can get foot and mouth disease. She even said that this disease can cripple the economy…. Eeep This is why biosecurity is really important in the pork industry. After Laura had finished her presentation she stuck around to answer our questions and help us brainstorm some designs for our archie. It was really helpful and she provided some great ideas. Thankyou for visiting Laura, hope we will keep you porkin on about our schools. p.s. we love our mini pigs!
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