| 49 RURAL SERVICES » Otiwhiti Station Land Based Training Otiwhiti Station Land Based Training Sixteen kilometres inland from Hunterville, Otiwhiti Station provides the perfect learning environment. Richard Loader Ever since 2007, residential cadets have enjoyed a comprehensive theoretical and experiential learning experience at Otiwhiti Station, delivered by the Otiwhiti School of Agriculture in partnership with Land Based Training. Each year eighteen cadets are accepted from fifty applications nationwide, and undergo an intensive twelve months that makes them work ready to meet the needs of employers on busy sheep and beef operations. This year there has been a 50/50 split between young men and women and that will be the same next year, with a growing number of women keen to enter the sheep and beef industry. Sixteen kilometres inland from Hunterville, Otiwhiti Station provides the perfect learning environment, encompassing 400 hectares, along with a further 400 hectares used for finishing, of which 120 hectares is irrigated. Ranging from steep to very steep Otiwhiti Station is home to 1200 ewes, 400 replacements, 5300 trading hoggets, and 120 Angus cows plus their replacements. The Station is owned and operated by the Otiwhiti Westoe Limited Partnership. The school’s experiential training encompasses every aspect of farm work, with a philosophy of learn-by-doing and repeating the task so that it is mastered and remembered. “The cadets do a New Zealand Certificate Level 3 in Agriculture, complemented with a practical aspect that embraces our five pillar skills of; shearing, fencing, killing and cutting up a sheep, breaking in and working a dog, and riding a horse,” says Charlie Duncan, the founder of Otiwhiti School of Agriculture. One of the key points that differentiate Otiwhiti School of Agriculture from other agricultural training providers is that it complements Otiwhiti’s own farming operation with nine farmer partners that are amongst the bigger farming employers in the community and encompass about 500,000 stock units. “Our students experience each of those businesses throughout the year, sharing equal time on them, meeting the people involved and understanding different management processes. By doing that, they are also putting themselves on show for future employment. Of those nine farming businesses there is about one hundred staff, which presents a unique red meat sheep and beef networking opportunity.” Another key point of difference is that Ninety percent of the students will return to Otiwhiti at the conclusion of their first year to complete their level four certificate in Agriculture,. “In the second year the cadets are employed, predominantly in and around this community. Of the nine partner farms, we will generally put nine students into those businesses each year. Of the remaining nine, we find employment for them through our contacts, and we like to match the person with the farm. Proudly thanking our sponsors: Pleased to support Otiwhiti Station Land Based Training School for their transport requirements. For all your ground spraying needs contact Graham on 027 4574 861 or 06 327 6774 The company with the specialised trucks 06 323 0309 | tractors@trctractors.co.nz Charles 027 224 7678 | Logan 027 224 7679 | Lewis 027 224 0403 • Tractor & Machinery Sales • Side by Sides By the time they have ‘earned and learned’ during their second year, the cadets have the same qualifications as other residential training schools, but they will be $35,000 better off through wages, and will have six working dogs and not two. “With an average price of $4000 per dog, that gives them an extra $16,000 of equity that they have created. They will also have a real work reference, not a cadet school reference. Ninety percent of the students will return to Otiwhiti at the conclusion of their first year to complete their level four certificate in Agriculture, again with a high success rate.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=