Milker Technician associate certificate

FEATURES:

• Practicum provides work experience and industry contacts
• Hands-on training with industry standard equipment in UFV Agriculture Centre's demonstration barn
• Program eligible for financial aid

UFV's Milker Technician associate certificate is perfect if you wish to learn to milk high-producing dairy cows quietly and efficiently, following sanitary procedures and correct milking techniques. Find out how to ensure sanitation of all milking equipment and cleanliness in the milking parlour. Also learn to assume other duties as needed, including feeding, care of young stock, barn cleaning and maintenance, record keeping, and machine operation.

Credits earned in the Milker Technician associate certificate program are transferable to UFV's Livestock Production certificate and Agriculture Technology diploma (Livestock Production) programs.

All students are required to work without remuneration in the UFV barn and/or on host-farm sites during the program. During practicum, you can expect a combination of early morning milkings (around 4 am start) and afternoon milkings (around 4 pm start). AGRI 192 - Practicum I may be worked during regular term time, before and after classes, if you can make suitable arrangements. Otherwise, AGRI 192 can follow completion of your on-campus studies.

You must have reliable transportation to and from your host farm and the campus and be able to complete the on-farm work as assigned by the instructor. Host farmers will assess each trainee on such qualities as punctuality, reliability, willingness to follow instruction and to learn, and attitude in working with others and handling dairy animals.

The Milker Technician program is only offered in the winter semester. You must complete all required courses with a minimum grade point of 2.0 (C) in order to receive a Milker Technician associate certificate.

With dairy farm cash receipts over $624 million, B.C. is the third top producer of dairy in the nation, after Quebec and Ontario, and is an essential driver of Canada's agricultural economy.

B.C. dairy farms are some of the largest in the country, with an average farm size of 135 milking cows, although some farms have milking herds of over 300 head. Work is often divided into a morning and evening shift; sometimes a milker lives on the employer's farm.

Competent milkers are in demand in the dairy farming areas of both B.C. and other provinces. In fact, there are more than 10,951 dairy farms and 444 plants in Canada that need personnel to operate seven days a week, every week of the year.

View Milker Technician associate certificate entrance requirements in the UFV Academic Calendar