There’s a common saying that you should never work with animals. Try telling that to a Penguinologist… Whether you’ve got a passion for your penguins, you’re crazy about your cats or you have an almost unhealthy love of llamas, working with animals could be the perfect career move for you. Key skills include being confident handling animals, patience, and a willingness to get your hands dirty. Being good at belly rubs and the ability to scratch behind ears are also desirable. Barnsley College has it’s very own farm! Set in the Worsbrough Country Park area of Barnsley, Wigfield Farm has three main functions:
· A working farm producing livestock
· A base for Barnsley college land based courses
· An open farm and visitors Ccntre accessible to the local and wider community
Although farm staff are employed, the day to day work of the farm is undertaken by students following one of our many programmes of study. This gives them a real working environment to develop their skills and knowledge. We have a wide range of animals including meerkats, cows, goats, Shetland ponies, donkeys, alpacas, pigs, sheep, chickens, red deer, guinea pigs, rabbits and much more. There is also a rodent room and an aquatics room featuring many different varieties of fish and other aquatic life. Our students take a walk on the wild side in our exotics room where they care for and study a variety of reptiles. This course is ideal if you are interested in a career working with animals, introducing the main principles and practices of animal care and welfare.
Jobs you could do
What you could study next
A Level 3 animal management qualification opens routes into higher study and specialist roles. You could progress to a Foundation Degree or BSc in Animal Science, Animal Behaviour, or Zoology at university. A Higher National Certificate (HNC) or Higher National Diploma (HND) in Animal Management is another option if you want to stay in further education before moving into work. Some graduates go on to study veterinary nursing at degree level.
