Agriculture
Agriculture
Milking is the single most important function on a dairy farm. And a worker who can milk efficiently and manage cows with a gentle hand is worth gold.
UFV's one-semester Milker Technician certificate prepares you to manage dairy cows so that they can produce the optimum quantity of milk. You learn to follow sanitary procedures, use automated milking equipment, and apply the correct milking techniques. You get fully trained on how to ensure sanitation of all milking equipment and cleanliness in the milking parlour.
You also explore animal health, crop production, and pest management to prepare for other duties often performed by dairy workers, such as watering and feeding, caring for young stock, monitoring the health of cattle, and keeping records.
To gain hands-on experience, you complete two practicums, with host farmers on surrounding farms. There is nothing like real-life experience to help you decide if dairy farming is the right focus for your career in agriculture.
Credits earned in the Milker Technician certificate program are transferable to UFV's Livestock Production certificate and Agriculture Technology diploma (Livestock Production) programs.
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.