| 89 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Waikeria Prison Prison farm opens doors for inmates Russell Fredric “They do everything on our farm that you would expect to happen on any other farm.” We offer expertise in milking machines, water reticulation, effluent and stainless steel fabrication to maintain and help grow your business Milking Machines | Water Stainless Steel | Effluent AFFCO is proud to support the Waikeria Prison Farm Waikeria Prison farm is necessarily staff intensive and employs a total of 18 farm instructors. Two principal instructors essentially ll the role of farm managers. For some men at Waikeria Prison, the grass is not only greener on the other side but potentially life changing. The prison operates a substantial 1100 hectare dairy operation farm which is based on sustainable farming practices and peak milks 1800 cows through two rotary sheds. The land is leased from various iwi and the farm is split into two separate units. Of the total area, 300 hectares is a dry stock and dairy support unit which carries young stock from both farms. Principal instructor industries, Stewart Morgan, says the farm is located on prime Waikato dairy land that grows grass really well. The qualifying prisoners who are selected to work on the farm through an advisory panel process are usually within six months of parole eligibility. “They do everything on our farm that you would expect to happen on any other farm,” Stewart says. “All our instructors are Primary ITO assessors and prisoners all achieve some NZQA unit standards towards a level two quali cation in primary industry skills and micro-credentials certi cates at level three. “The time that the guys are with us tends to be the factor limiting for what they can achieve, however in the last year 14 prisoners achieved a level two certi cate while 20 achieved a level three micro-credential and ve got a Growsafe certi cation.” “We spend quite a lot of time with them and you do develop a rapport. We quite often end up hearing their stories and offer advice.” Although the farm is run on a commercial basis and is usually pro table, it is necessarily staff intensive and employs a total of 18 farm instructors, about half of which are rostered at a time. “We try to employ up to 30 prisoners each day.” Two principal instructors essentially ll the role of farm managers. “Because of the custodial aspect of what we do our labour costs are quite high. We run a low input, low stocking rate, a low input kind of system which is done for environmental reasons.” Fifty hectares of maize silage is grown seasonally as well as grass silage being cut and turnips for a summer crop. The farm used to run a high production, high input system, but for practical reasons cows are now milked once a day. This has not only bene ted staff, it has also created health bene ts for the cows’ including lower somatic cell counts, reduced lameness, lower inputs and a lower empty rate of around 10 to 11%. “Just about all those KPI’s that you can measure have improved under the once-a-day system.” “We see the bene ts to us more than offsetting that production cost.” The past season’s production of 458,000kgMS was lower than the long term average due to covid- related labour shortages. The farm was recognised in the 2020 Ballance Farm Environment Awards when it received the Bayleys People in Primary Sector Award, the Synlait Climate Stewardship Award and the Waikato River Authority Catchment Improvement Award. Almost 200,000 riparian, wetland and woodland plants have been planted including thousands of natives, while a considerable amount of land which includes river banks, drains and waterways has been retired. The prison operates two nurseries which supply plants for the environmental enhancement projects. “Some of the decisions we make are sometimes dif cult, but getting the recognition through those awards was a big thing, it kind of justi ed some of those dif cult calls in recent years.” Where quality and service count For all your contracting requirements Phone 07 872 0000 www.johnaustinltd.co.nz
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