Students had to care for, maintain and record information on dairy cows which were under their care for three weeks.

The students had to feed the cows each morning and make sure they were comfortable, ranging from patting and talking to the calves, to letting them suck on their fingers.

Penelope Whatman, Nadine Smith, Haylee Chellas and Samantha Wilson were part of the class that participated in the program.

“We learnt a lot about the diary industry,” Penelope said.

“We had to take responsibility, feed them, weigh them and make sure they were okay,” Nadine said.

The calves, named Milko and Jigsaw, were ‘lent’ to the Canowindra students by Linda Kinsela, who is a diary farmer.

The calving program Cows Create Careers is a joint initiative with Dairy Australia and Dairy Industry Development Company (DIDCO).

Deanne Kennedy of Cows Create Careers said this is a great way for students who are interested in agriculture to learn more about the diary industry.

“There are a lot of opportunities and this is a good way for the students to be interactive.”

“We really enjoyed looking after the calves, and learnt a lot at the same time,” Samantha said.

Forbes and Canowindra students finished off the course with a visit to the Services Club in Canowindra.

The students got to see a powerpoint presentation of themselves and other students from across NSW participating in the program, as well as play games and discover more ways in which they can get into the diary industry.