Under the professional guidance of Dr. Wolfram Richardt, Head of Agricultural Research in Niederwiesa (Saxony), specialized cattle veterinarians discussed together with farmers and agricultural specialists
AVA workshop: joint evaluation with veterinarians, farmers and advisors on a dairy farm
Under the professional guidance of Dr. Wolfram Richardt, Head of Agricultural Research in Niederwiesa (Saxony), specialized cattle veterinarians, together with farmers and agricultural consultants for dairy cattle herds, spent two days intensively discussing animal feeding, animal performance and the effects on animal health; for the benefit of the animals and the company.
In the practical part of the workshop, a dairy farm near the Agrar- und Veterinär-Akademie (AVA) was visited in order to “apply what has been learned and practiced” directly in practice using checklists.
“Look – think – do”. The cows, the barn, the technology and of course the basic feed were “assessed” by the participants accordingly, notes were taken and later discussed and evaluated in the AVA seminar room together with the animal owner and the participants. A few “rooms for improvement” emerged, despite the company being in the top 25% in the country. The farm owner was given three main points that he could optimize. This joint discussion on and about the company was extremely interesting for the entire group, instructive and you could learn a lot for your own consulting work and “take away” “concepts” for practice.
AVA boss, Ernst-Günther Hellwig, himself an agricultural scientist and specialist veterinarian, as well as workshop leader, Dr. Wolfram Richardt, were very impressed by the interest and active participation of all workshop participants. In particular, the exchange of knowledge and experience between the two professional groups, farmers and veterinarians, who should regularly “update” themselves due to their great responsibility for the dairy farm in order to successfully fulfill their professional task, was the focus of the AVA event. Only the “common approach” to improve and optimize the influencing factors on a dairy cow herd was developed in the AVA training as the be-all and end-all. The professional exchange between the different professional groups who advise “their” farmers and the intensive discussions with the supervising farm veterinarians and farmers are the most important pillars of a modern advisory concept for daily cattle practice on the farms.
This unique and extremely successful advanced training concept of the Agricultural and Veterinary Academy (AVA) was once again put to the test with this AVA dairy cattle workshop. No other training of this kind offers this practical relevance in connection with the scientific basics. The evaluation of the workshop with an overall grade of 1.3 (according to school grades) clearly showed that this joint AVA training met the expectations of the participating veterinarians and farmers in all areas.
The participants would like to inform colleagues about the AVA course so that all other specialists (veterinarians, farmers, consultants) are also updated at a high level, but also so that they can “experience” this successful joint AVA training offer at all.
Veterinarians and consultants agreed that the many new technical insights that specialist Dr. Wolfram Richardt conveyed that it is essential to apply it in daily practice. As the course instructor said so aptly: “If you don’t keep up with the times, you will keep up with the times…”
Information on other AVA courses on this topic is available on the AVA homepage ( www.ava1.de) to retrieve.
The AVA is a training company with the aim of training and further education and the distribution of information for the agricultural and veterinary sectors. At the same time, the AVA is a forum for farmers and veterinarians that looks at the challenges of producing healthy food over the coming decades.
»The aim of the Agricultural and Veterinary Academy is to discuss the problems of modern, sustainable agriculture and animal husbandry. Together we want to find ways to work in an animal-friendly, practical and consumer-oriented manner.«
Ernst-Günther Hellwig, founder and head of AVA, Steinfurt-Burgsteinfurt
Contact
Agricultural and Veterinary Academy (AVA)
EG Hellwig
Wettringer Str. 10
48565 Steinfurt
02551-7878