On the 20th October the students of the Superior Degree in Livestock and Assistance in Animal Health visited the farm Mas Bes, in Salitja. Mas Bes is a dairy farm that produces milk which is sold under the brand name ATO Natura. Joan Viñolas, Carles Comas and Maria Viñolas explained to the students the evolution and how the farm operates nowadays, the biogas plant where they produce electricity, and the farm’s visits available to all kind of groups of people interested. The visitors can supplement the experience visiting the historical Farm Museum, seeing the evolution of farmers’ lifestyle, in the shop where you can buy several farm’s products, and finally eating in the restaurant farm. We, the School, thank the Mas Bes farm, for giving us the opportunity to make this interesting visit.
+ info: http://masbesdesalitja.blogspot.com.es/
On Friday, October 9, we visited the company Bruc Jardí. This is a company dedicated to gardening materials for professionals and recently also for individuals. Francesc Caballero, Bruc Jardí manager made us visit the whole company where we saw different materials: stone, aggregates, laminated wood, beams, fountains, etc. He very kindly answered everything we asked him. I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks for all the care, attention, and the professionalism of Mr Francesc.
Students from 1st CFGM of Forestry made a technical visit to Vicreu, distributor for Sthil and Huqsvarna. During the visit one of the technicians presented different models of chainsaws and brushcutters, their technical characteristics, maintenance and security aspects. Students have seen the machines, the latest models and were able to ask about technical issues, pricing and safety. We want to take this opportunity to thank Vicreu’s collaboration with the school for many years, what is very rewarding.
+ info: http://www.vicreu.net/
The students of 1st year of CFGM Gardening did during last October a five days study trip to the Côte d'Azur (France) with the aim of learning in a practical and direct way many basics about gardening and plants recognition, styles and concepts of gardens and landscaping, technical aspects of construction, maintenance and conservation as well as other important issues such as teamwork, observation, field notebook, preparing reports of the trip and living together with classmates, adapting to different situations, language... During this trip the students visited and studied eight gardens, each one with different characteristics, "La Bambouseraie" a very important collection of bamboos with spectacular specimens of trees, a japanese garden called "The Valley Gecko "and the aquatic plants area. They also studied how a botanical garden is organized, what the objectives are, which the research tasks are and what the educational role is. "Hanbury Giardini Botanici" with 150 years of history and its 18 hectares is an example. One objective was to deepen the concept of Mediterranean garden and all the vegetation of this climate, "Domaine du Rayol" is a garden with representations from all regions of the world including the Mediterranean climate within a protected area. It is an example of landscaping garden which seeks the true essence of the Mediterranean, a leader in the management and maintenance of gardens and landscapes typical of this climate. With the following statement by Gilles Clement, garden designer, we can summarize the philosophy that surrounds it: " Faire le plus possible avec, le moins possible contre. " In Monaco there is one of the best Japanese gardens in Europe, a good place to learn the philosophy of a Japanese garden, their relationship with nature, symbolism, a well done garden full of details and always in perfect maintenance conditions. In the peace and serenity of this environment, students worked to understand the basics of such a garden, the basic design features, getting relief in small spaces, distribution of plants according to volumes, appearance, colour... The visit to "La Fontaine" garden in Nimes achieved to handle a public park within a city, specifically aspects of maintenance and conservation. The garden "Villa Ephrussi" near Nice, on the other hand, is a spectacular garden with different styles represented, French, Italian, exotic, romantic, etc.: an example of exploitation of a private garden. During the trip we visited other gardens like the medieval garden of St. Agnes, managed by a private, where students discovered what was the purpose and objectives of a garden at that time. That same day we visited another garden in Menton with a rural atmosphere that reminds you of the English landscape gardening "Serra Madonna." We spent a few days of work abroad and time for reflection and conclusions. It is a good way to provide students motivation to go on with education and motivate them and inspire them to become first level professionals.
The first visit of the academic course of the first of Agricultural Middle Grade was carried out at Can Doménech. This is a company that in one hand has 150 milk cows and in the other has 200 sows in closed cycle production. It is located at the town of Sant Martí Sescorts. Mr Josep Domènech and his son, Mr Marc (an old student of Quintanes), received them at their home and explained them the entire production process of a litre of milk and how to produce a kg of the highest quality pork meat. They also explained their beginnings in the livestock sector, their management of animal feed, the facilities of their farm, etc. From these lines we want to thank this family their collaboration in training students of Quintanes.
On the 29th September a group of 20 students who study the second year of the Medium Degree in Agricultural and Livestock Production visited the farm Mas Reixagó , in Olost de LLuçanès. Josep Bruch explained the dairy farm, and the growing pigs’ farm, the agricultural crops, the machinery, etc. Paula explained the cheese-making process from the cow’s milk. In this farm, they generate electricity with solar photovoltaic panels: We, the School, thank the Mas Reixagó farm, for giving us the opportunity to make this interesting visit.
First year students of the Superior Degree in Livestock and Assistance in Animal Health visited the farm Soler de N’Hug. They have the chance to observe the different productions in the farm: dairy cows, sows farrow-to-finish, veal calves, sheep, and cereal crops for self-consumption. The enterprise owns one butcher shop in the nearby town Prats de Lluçanès, called El Taulell, where they sell a substantial part of their pig, sheep and beef meat production. The explanations were given by Abel and Toni Peraire
I wanna be a farmer ? Where do you have to go? Practical course of the government for young people, who will achieve knowledge and officials European certifications specific for cattle breeding. Students will get direct access to different exams as: application of biocides for animal use, animal welfare for pig and beef cattle.
On 20th March the first year, medium-level farming students visited the site of the John Deere concessionary in Gurb, the company Vernis- Taberner. We were well-looked after by Lluís Vernis who showed us around the facilities and explained all about managing sales, repairing machinery and residue recycling. Afterwards a former Quintanes student told us all about the latest developments in the world of tractors, including their maintenance and attempts to reduce their particle emissions. It was an excellent visit which we would like to thank the company for.
