Become a dairy farming mentor

The MPO Institute annually engages in programmes, coordinated by various agricultural colleges and universities and the AgriSeta, to help agricultural students gain experiential learning on dairy farms for a period of one year.  These students are usually in their final year of Animal Production or Agricultural Management and need proof of experiential learning before they can be awarded their official qualifications.

Dairy farmers who agree to act as mentors for a student or students are expected to:

• provide accommodation for the student on the farm;
• ensure that the student gets exposure, mentoring and supervision in any of the following dairy disciplines:

calf and heifer rearing

reproduction

dairy feeding and health

milk harvesting;

• write two AgriSeta reports: one after six months of internship and a final report at the end of the internship (12 months’) period.
• The format of the report includes a rating of the student on the various learning areas and general performance. The report will be emailed to the mentor for completion, and must then be returned to the MPO for further distribution.
• Students also need to compile two reports for their respective university/college. However, it is the student’s responsibility to discuss the requirements of the learning experience and reports with the mentor. The mentor should monitor the student’s work progress, sign off the student’s report and also submit two reports on the student’s performance during the training period.
• The MPO will pay monthly stipends of R3 150 to the student.
• The mentor should be in possession of an equivalent qualification, with five years’ experience, or higher qualification in the same field that the student is studying. The MPO will act as the master mentor, should the mentor not have the required qualifications. The MPO will, therefore, sign off all the reports before they are submitted to the university/college.
• Note that experiential learning can also be used as a skills development element in BBBEE scoring.
• Experiential learning will take place from February 2017 to Jan 2018.

Kindly contact Helene Pheiffer (079 528 1394 / 012 843 5749 / helene@mpo.co.za) if you are interested in mentoring a student for experiential learning and any further enquiries.