Free online courses helping lot feeders drive efficiency

Australian Lot Feeders’ Association (ALFA) and MLA recently launched a suite of online short courses aimed at driving efficiencies and supporting career development for feedlot employees.

The courses are designed ‘for industry by industry’ and cover the fundamental skills required to operate a successful National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme (NFAS)-accredited feedlot. All online training can be accessed for free via Feedlot TECH – a feedlot training, education and careers hub that meets the feedlot industry’s need for skills development. 

ALFA President, Barb Madden, said the recently released Fundamentals of Feedlot Nutrition, Feeding and Milling online training supports the feeding and milling team, who play an integral role within the day-to-day operations of a feedlot.

“Understanding the fundamentals of record keeping, commodity processing and the science behind rations is important for all feeding and milling staff,” Barb said.

Topics covered in this course include:

• feedstuff energy and what constitutes a ration
• the basics of milling and grain processing
• a more advanced milling and grain processing module
• commodity and ration testing
• record keeping.

Another recently launched course available on Feedlot TECH as part of the Feedlot Fundamentals training program is Fundamentals of Livestock Handling. This course includes seven modules:

• good stockmanship
• receive and dispatch
• working your facility
• team leader
• animal wellbeing for transport
• chain of responsibility
• lairage.

Future courses will meet the training needs of other key teams:

• office and administration
• environment and maintenance
• general training.

“All courses are designed to assist feedlot operators in ensuring new and existing team members have access to core skills training, grow capability within their teams and continue to foster high performance in the operations of their business,” Barb said.

“The industry is hungry for training opportunities, however we’re often time-poor and short on labour, so the online courses have made huge savings in terms of time spent off site for training and engaging staff.

“With e-learning tools, we have been able to deliver a quality product that is really hitting the mark in terms of efficiency, flexibility, and technical appeal.”