Next gen Wagga butchers, shearers, mechanics get hands dirty in crash course

Students from a dozen high schools visited the TAFE NSW Primary Industries Centre on Thursday, learning from those currently working in the field to give prospective students a hands-on experience through eight different exhibitions, ranging from wool marketing, butchering to agriculture mechanical.

Jack Rodham from The Riverina Anglican College (TRAC) already works on the family farm, driving tractors, feeding livestock and doing a bit of auctioneering, which all started thanks to a school competition.

"I just put my name out for it, somehow I went pretty good, and it just progressed and got a lot better from there," he said.

But among all the things on display on the day, it was the mechanical side of the industry that caught Jack's eye.

"Ag mechanical, it sort of jumped out at me... I wouldn't mind to get into the mechanical side of things," he said.

"Get your experience in them early and learn how to fix them."

Scarlett Jones from Mount Austin High School believes these industry days can provide crucial chances for students to learn about a particular field they're interested in.

"I think it's good for everyone, because if you're not quite sure what you want to do, it's a good opportunity to learn," she said.

"It's just a really good experience."

She is hoping to work in the sheep industry one day and got the chance to learn the dos and do nots when it comes to handling sheep.

"We learnt how to shear a sheep, how to remove bad parts of wool and how to spread out the wool," she said.

"You've got to spread the wool out and then get all the bad yellow stained bits out and put them in individual piles".

The importance of days like these isn't lost on the Wagga TAFE's head teacher of agriculture primary industries, Rob Harris.

"It really is important, because there a lot of people who want to get involved in agriculture, but a lot of them don't realise there are so many different opportunities," Mr Harris said.

"Today we've only got eight stations... but within each of those eight stations, it just opens up a like an umbrella.

"Behind all knowledge and skill is training, so if you've got people going onto farms, one of the best things they could ever do before they start is getting some basic grounding on agricultural skills."

Mr Harris has seen a decline in people finding careers in primary industry recently, but is confident the future of agriculture is only strengthened when he sees students attend these events.

"It doesn't matter really where you go, there's just career opportunities everywhere because there's so many different job opportunities."

"The beauty of this group today is they're halfway there, because they're interested in agriculture anyway.

"For them, there will be quite a few who will think I didn't even know that existed, or I didn't know the opportunities could extend that far."