Green cert diary question

Tjkav

I've recently started the green cert distance learning course in Kildalton.

We have to keep a diary of weekly/daily events as part of the course.

I was wondering has anyone on here done this recently or would anyone have any sample entries to give some inspiration.

Thanks in advance.

Sam Kade

You just keep a diary of the daily events on the farm e.g. You left the cows out to grass today and injected a cow with an antibiotic.

anthony500_1

Just keep a dairy of what your actually doing on the farm. Eg feeding 5 bales of silage to all stock housed daily, feeding ad lib meal to 20 heifers for finishing, 4 cows calved had to jack one, gave vaccine to all stock for black leg, put out 2 bags per acre of 18.6.12 fertilizer on 12 acres of dry ground etc etc Its just a brief description of what's actually going on, on your own farm. Its more to show there is farming activities going on, Word of advice is keep on top of it. 5min a week will keep a good record instead of trying to think what you did 2 months ago and making a balls of it cause its impossible to think what you did last week let along last month

6480

anthony500_1 wrote: »

Just keep a dairy of what your actually doing on the farm. Eg feeding 5 bales of silage to all stock housed daily, feeding ad lib meal to 20 heifers for finishing, 4 cows calved had to jack one, gave vaccine to all stock for black leg, put out 2 bags per acre of 18.6.12 fertilizer on 12 acres of dry ground etc etc Its just a brief description of what's actually going on, on your own farm. Its more to show there is farming activities going on, Word of advice is keep on top of it. 5min a week will keep a good record instead of trying to think what you did 2 months ago and making a balls of it cause its impossible to think what you did last week let along last month

Just start to write wit a pen in your diary

Tjkav

anthony500_1 wrote: »

Just keep a dairy of what your actually doing on the farm. Eg feeding 5 bales of silage to all stock housed daily, feeding ad lib meal to 20 heifers for finishing, 4 cows calved had to jack one, gave vaccine to all stock for black leg, put out 2 bags per acre of 18.6.12 fertilizer on 12 acres of dry ground etc etc Its just a brief description of what's actually going on, on your own farm. Its more to show there is farming activities going on, Word of advice is keep on top of it. 5min a week will keep a good record instead of trying to think what you did 2 months ago and making a balls of it cause its impossible to think what you did last week let along last month

Thanks very much for your reply. I keep a diary for myself anyway but the format of this diary seems a lot more detailed than your normal day to day activities. There's sections in the diary for weekly activities, managerial decisions made and it has to be quite detailed. It's a bit over the top IMO. I was hoping someone on here may have done the exact diary before and give me an example of an entry

Sparkles2012

Is your Diary Contents the same as this one:

1. Describe the typical daily routine
2. Describe non-routine tasks and/or management decisions
3. Enterprise Performance Checks
4. Animal/Crop Pests and Disease/Disorders

Muckit

All diaries for the Green Cert are the same as they are all Teagasc publications. There is a sheet towards the front that tells you what kind of things to write in for each section.

Muckit

6480 wrote: »

Just start to write wit a pen in your diary

This is a lot of it. Just do it and stop over thinking it would be my advice.

Tjkav

I was just talking to some lads who have completed the course and they told me they were told to put more content into the diary so I was just trying to keep a step ahead.

Muckit

If they completed the course, they probably did enough.

Who2

Tjkav wrote: »

I was just talking to some lads who have completed the course and they told me they were told to put more content into the diary so I was just trying to keep a step ahead.

Just fill the pages, they just want to see an effort. I'm finished it and it's a whole heap of repetitive muck to be honest . It doesn't take into account the lad with a half dozen stores behind a ditch compared to the lad milking 200 cows so for that reason alone we were told just fill the pages and make stuff up if you can't. Look it's a pure paper ticking exercise just get on with it.

C0N0R

Section 1 is the same each week with slight changes though the year, 2,3 and 4 are the important parts, if you had a sick cow this week, follow up with saying she is better/worse the following week. Stick the spread plate on the pen and write a heap of mundane stuff, stuff like putting down rat poison, count your silage stocks, say you got a price on meal, your considering shutting up more ground for silage etc. Week one record what you're thinking of doing in week two, week two do it and week three comment on how it went! There are technically no wrong answers, but blank pages are bad. I've done two of the things and I'm glad not to have to do a third, there a pain but it's handy at the same time.

Tjkav

Thanks very much for all your replies!!

Densey12

Hey TJKAV,

How are you getting on with the diary?
Did you source any samples???
As I am currently completing the green cert too.
At present my home farm is not being farmed which makes it increasingly more difficult to fill in, as I need now to source a farm.
Does any body know if the diary goes towards your final grade?
Really hoping to get a merit or distinction, so if the diary is heavily marked ill need to put in a lot of effort into it even though I am not currently farming at present! 12 months is a lot to fabricate!

Any help appreciated

Denise

Tjkav

I am almost half way through this years diary and I've had it corrected by the college twice. They seem happy enough but want a little more technical information (meal price etc) but as far as I'm aware it's just about putting pen to paper and they're happy enough.

A lot of it is repetitive but for my course you can't pass without attempting the diary, it's worth 10%.

Hope this helps.