Learning for All in Milk Quality Courses With more than three decades of dairy farming behind her, Katrina Knowles was surprised how much she learned when putting together the resources for the new Fonterra/Agriculture ITO courses, dubbed Licence To Milk. "I thought I pretty much knew all there was to know about milking - I've been doing it for 31 years! "But I found out quite a few things I didn't know - which just goes to show how valuable these courses will be for pretty much everyone on the farm. Licence to Milk consists of two optional modules, one for farm workers and one for supervisors. Katrina says the potential payback from having a better skilled workforce and reduced penalties is clear. "Coming from a town background I had a lot to learn when I came on farm. Because there is so much to learn, often the training is directive rather than informative - so while I had been taught the best practice through on and off farm training, there were some gaps in my understanding of the reasons why these things are best practice." Katrina worked as a training adviser for Agriculture ITO three years, and is now a moderator for the ITO, ensuring consistent training delivery and assessment standards across the country. She worked with Fonterra's milk quality team to develop the Licence to Milk course, using charts, information and resources from Fonterra and DeLaval. "Nothing is black and white in farming," Katrina said. "Sometimes things need to be tailored to your own situation." That's where formal learning helps. "Having this knowledge can help ensure that the adjustments will still give you the desired end result, which is quality milk for supply." "The business of farming is evolving and changing all the time so we need to keep up with the latest trends, and training assists us with this." Fourteen tutors, from Qconz and AgriQuality have been given special training in delivering the courses throughout the country. The two modules each involve five hours of training, with an hour long assessment that takes place in the on-farm dairy.