| 69 nzdairy advantage of in-house apprenticeship DAIRY PEOPLE » Waka Dairies Waka Dairies embraces 235 effective hectares along with 50 hectares of support land, and peak milks 650 autumn calving cows through a high-tech 54-bale rotary shed. Manager, Apprentice Herd Manager, and three dairy team members,” says Michael. “We’ve developed more of a family culture to better understand the needs and personal goals of our staff. My focus now is on the in-house apprenticeship system that I have been developing over the last six months.” Michael’s motivation for developing the scheme is born from both the need and challenge to retain good people and to provide them with a clear progression pathway in their chosen career, that bene ts both them and the farm owner. “For people passionate about farming, career and dairy focused I’m trying to provide a speci c pathway for people to be attracted to the dairy industry, to reach their end goal, and to meet our end goals. By publicising the opportunities available I’m also trying to create a demand for people to want to be in the industry.” The broad framework being developed by Michael delivers a career pathway over a ten year period in the Waka Dairies business, with that broken down into different learning and apprenticeship systems each with different xed term employment contracts. Two of Michael’s team members have already taken advantage of the opportunity — with one doing a Herd Management apprenticeship and the other a Farm Management apprenticeship. “They have technical learnings to complete, core learnings, and on farm learnings. I use Land Based Training for levels 3, 4 and 5 dairy farm training, and they come to us on farm once a week. “As well as the pathway and contract that I give to them, they have an understanding of where they are now and where they will be in future, what their pay rate is, what their job description is, what their roster is and their working conditions.”
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