Christchurch Prison’s piggery has won first and third places in the Pork Section of the Freshpork Carcass Competition, which was open to all South Island farmers.
Farms Manager Allan Gorton says good staff running well-managed systems, the right feeds and attention to detail were responsible for the prize-winning pigs.
"The good management was helped by some hard-working prisoners," he says. The pigs are reared barns, with as much as they want to eat and drink and warm sawdust bedding.
The piggery employs 19 prisoners and plans to increase this to 25 in the near future. The prisoners study towards NZQA unit standards, are trained in tractor safety and fencing, and often get jobs doing similar work once they’ve left prison.
"In fact, we’ve got job openings for prisoners in the pipeline at the moment," Allan says.
The piggery is expanding and will soon house 15,000 pigs for bacon and pork.
"Forty percent of pork in New Zealand is imported, so there’s a big market out there for us to provide high-quality NZgrown pork to replace overseas imports," says Allan.
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