46 | nzdairy During the past year 12 have achieved a NZQA agriculture general skills level two qualifications. Tranforming lives Russell Fredric A former Waikeria prisoner has become an icon of the prison’s training farm and what can be achieved by a life turned around. Ben Purua, (Tainui), who was sentenced to prison as a 15 year old, was named the Young Maori Farmer Award 2024 winner. A previous finalist for the Young Maori Farmer award, Ben, now 29, is the farm manager at Waimakariri Lands which milks 540 cows near Tirau, Waikato. Working on Waikeria’s prison farms in the approximately nine months prior to his release became the catalyst for Ben, who had no previous farming experience, to rebuild his life and gain a passion for farming. “It was awesome,” Ben says. “I fell in love with the freedom and also to just be able to learn about the whenua, the land, and eventually give me an opportunity to work with the animals because I actually started fencing when I first went out on the farm. Pretty much from there I just fell in love with the farming.” At the end of his work experience, Ben’s competencies included building seven wire fences, operating tractors, driving two and four wheeled motorbikes, operating chainsaws and cupping cows. He has since achieved an apprenticeship in agriculture and level three and level four qualifications in dairy farming He gained employment on a farm during the first week of his release, with his fencing experience being a key factor in getting the position. He subsequently worked as a dairy farm assistant on a 600 cow farm in Whakamaru and progressed from there. DAIRY PEOPLE » Waikeria Prison Waikeria Prison principal instructor industries Stewart Morgan says prisoners who can qualify to work on the farm are selected through an advisory panel process and are usually within six months of parole eligibility. Since leaving prison, Ben has visited and spoken to prisoner farm workers several times. Waikeira’s farm has a been operating for 110 years. It covers 1100 hectares and until recently included two dairy units, milking 1800 cows through two rotary sheds. However one farm of 230ha has become part of Waikeria’s beef operation, while the sole remaining dairy unit now peak milks about 950 cows once-aday on 320ha, Stewart says. “The beef farming operation is just less labour intensive, we don’t require the numbers of people that we do to run the dairy farm.” It is anticipated that reducing the scale of the dairy unit will contribute to reducing the overall greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reducing the demand for supplementary feed. The change was also provided a good opportunity to select best cows with the best average age, breeding index and performance from the herds of each dairy unit. Waikeria currently has seven prisoners employed on the dairy unit and four on the dry stock farm. Prisoners working on the beef farm have the advantage of more time to study towards obtaining NZQA unit standards, but the credits apply to any kind of farm operation. During the past year 12 have achieved a NZQA agriculture general skills level two qualification and there have been others who have gained unit standards in driving a tractor or light utility vehicle, or milking a cow. There have also been opportunities for some prisoners to gain other skills through working on Waikeria’s new 600 bed prison which is currently under construction. “We have education and training consultants who work with prisoners pre-release to find them employment post-release.” “We’ve had a number of success stories, I believe 16 or so who have gone to work for an external employer over the past three or four years who have been released from prison and continued to work for that employer.” - Temperament - Constitution - Protein Production - Excellent Legs & Feet - Longevity - Constitution - Fertility - Temperament - Neat Udders - Cross-Breeding - Milking Ability
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=