Overview
This unit prepares you for an industry placement in the area of livestock enterprise management. You will build on your existing theoretical knowledge of livestock production systems to analyse the physical and financial performance of a livestock industry and prepare a whole-of-business plan.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Corequisite AGRI12005 Sustainable Livestock Production Prerequisite AGRI11003 Livestock Production Management AGRI11007 Agricultural Breeding Strategies
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2020
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Self, unit staff and students
Assessment 2 - PowerPoint presentation of the student interview with the livestock producer.
The due date of the assessment be shifted to Week 9 with the practice (group evaluation) non-assessed presentation to be held Week 8.
Feedback from Self, unit staff and students
Assessment 3 - Not all beef producers would divulge, or knew, the key performance indicators of their enterprise.
The financial statement (key performance indicators) of a standard (a fictional property of central Queensland) to be uploaded to the Moodle site. All students will assess this fictional property.
- Communicate appropriately within the livestock industry.
- Analyse the physical and financial performance of a livestock industry.
- Prepare a business plan.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 10% | |||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 30% | |||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 60% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||
| 5 - Team Work | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 10% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 60% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
Beef Cattle Production and Trade
Edition: 1st (2014)
Authors: Cottle and Kahn
CSIRO
Collingwood Collingwood , Victoria , Australia
ISBN: 338.1762130994
Binding: Hardcover
Additional Textbook Information
Copies can be purchased at the CQUni Bookshop here: http://bookshop.cqu.edu.au (search on the Unit code)
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
d.swain@cqu.edu.au
r.koech@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Unit Introduction including overview of assessment items
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Assessing the business, and taking a strategic overview to identify key drivers and implementation timelines
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Assessing the physical performance of a business
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Professional communication - effective interaction with beef producers.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Livestock business assessment tool Due: Week 4 Wednesday (1 Apr 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Marketing strategies and International trade
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Cropping/livestock presentation
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Open discussions and presentations from staff from Queensland Department of Agriculture
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
The event will start at 9:30am and be held in the Harvard Lecture theatre
Module/Topic
Student presentation of producer survey
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Assessing new business options including presentations on regenerative agriculture
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Livestock producer interview Due: Week 8 Wednesday (6 May 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Data management in a cattle production enterprise and whole farm business planning
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Students will get access to DataMuster and need to bring a laptop
Module/Topic
Understanding whole-farm business plans
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Assessment of business strategies and the role of spatial data in cattle businesses
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Wrap up and review of assessment 3 reports
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
Develop a business assessment tool identifying the key information and outputs that would be required to assess a livestock enterprise. In your assessment tool, you should explicitly identify how you would collate, analyse and present the information as part of a livestock business report. The tool should include details on how to benchmark current physical and financial performance, how you would identify future direction options and how you would develop a future business plan. While developing the livestock business assessment tool, you should be considering how this might be linked to future innovation options for a livestock business.
The assessment item should be a business assessment tool that can be used to gather information for a business report. The tool should have clearly defined sections and identify explicit questions and information that will be gathered from a livestock producer as part of the second assessment. The assessment tool will be used for a later assessment, so should have a layout that can be used to collate livestock business information later in the course.
Week 4 Wednesday (1 Apr 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 5 Friday (10 Apr 2020)
Grades will be returned within 10 working days of submission
You will be assessed on your:
- Demonstration that you can link information gathering to analyses
- Demonstration that you have researched the practicality and relevance of the information you will seek to gather
- Presentation of the document
Further details and a marking rubric will be available on the Moodle page.
- Analyse the physical and financial performance of a livestock industry.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Practical Assessment
Using the business assessment tool developed in Assessment 1, you are required to identify and interview a livestock producer about the key physical and financial influences on their production system. During the interview, you should identify the market for their product so you can ask questions to establish how that links back to their on farm practices (note: you require details of the strategic decisions they make, not just the livestock targets).
You are then required to summarise the key points from your interview in a presentation that should be pitched to a non-expert. The presentation should include:
- an introduction
- outline of the key physical and financial influences of the production system gathered from the farmer/producer
- details of strategic priorities
- examples of the interview questions and answers
- conclusion
In addition to the business assessment tool, the data that has been collected should be entered into a spreadsheet so that it can be used to generate tables and graphs for the final report.
Week 8 Wednesday (6 May 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 9 Friday (15 May 2020)
Grades will be returned within 10 working days of submission
You will be assessed on your:
- Demonstration that you can manage data collection and are able to ensure all critical information is available for further analyses
- Demonstration that you are able to communicate and respond to information from a livestock producer
- Ability to safely store and provide initial data analyses that can be used to inform strategic business planning
Further details and a marking rubric will be available on the Moodle page.
- Communicate appropriately within the livestock industry.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Written Assessment
Using business and biophysical data provided to you, you are required to write a livestock business report. This report should present the findings and through analyses identify business strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Using the information gathered, you should identify where there are business opportunities for change and link these to the application of an area of emerging innovation. The report should also identify how the business can use ongoing monitoring to track progress against clearly-defined goals.
The report should present the findings from assessment 2 to identify business strengths:
- Overview of the industry/farm/company
- Some primary (collect your own) and/or secondary (published) data or statistics. Examples of data/statistics include: production methods, yield, prices, inputs and costs
- Physical and financial performance
- Threats and opportunities
- Analysis of business performance
- Proposal of new business ventures or adoption of a new innovation
The following is a guideline of the structure of your business plan:
- Title Page
- Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Business Environment Strategic Goals
- Operational Planning
- Financial Plan & Analysis
- Legal Obligations & Risk Management
- Performance Management
- Implementation Strategies & Review
- Conclusion & Summary
- References
- Appendix
Note: You do not have to follow this structure exactly, but it should help to ensure that critical elements are included in your document.
Number of words: 2,500-3,000. (The word count excludes Tables/Figures, Table of Contents, Reference List and Appendices - if any).
Week 12 Friday (5 June 2020) 11:59 pm AEST
Exam Week Monday (15 June 2020)
Grades will be returned within 10 working days of submission
You will be assessed on:
- Content, including relevance and innovative thinking
- Structure
- Writing style
- English
- Referencing
Further details and a marking rubric will be available on the Moodle page.
- Prepare a business plan.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
