15 July 2010
The Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) run Otago Corrections Facility dairy farm has won two awards from Fonterra this season: a Merit Certificate in Milk Quality and a Certificate of Achievement for Low Somatic Cell Count – an indicator of herd health.
“Our low Somatic Cell Count is a measure of Herd Health, and an indicator of best dairy shed practice. Our average Somatic Cell Count (SCC) of 121,382 ranks us 1004th among Fonterra's 10,000 suppliers,” says Corrections Inmate Employment Southern Farms Manager, Allan Gorton.
“To achieve this result we had SCC levels of 80,000 for a period of the year, which is an outstanding result for our instructors and the prisoners working the farm.
“We run the farm in a way that allows prisoners practical hands on work skills, and along side this our instructors help them achieve NZQA recognized qualifications. By helping prisoners gain the skills and experience to find sustainable work on release we help reduce their chances of reoffending – ultimately making our communities safer,” says Allan.
The farm produces milk from 330 cows on 125 hectares of secure land surrounding the Otago Prison and a 40 a-side herring bone milking shed. “The herring bone shed set up is ideal for prisoner training as it involves more people in the milking process at any one time than many other types of milking sheds,” says Allan.
“The average dairy farm struggles to attain this level of achievement and these results rank us among the top 5% to 10% of producers supplying Fonterra,” says Allan.
“Last season 75 prisoners worked in our shed and between them gained 283 NZQA Unit Standards. We know of seven prisoners that had little or no farm experience that trained on the OCF dairy farm and now have good jobs on dairy farms thanks to their Corrections Inmate Employment training.
“The way the farm is run is a huge tribute to the three Instructors who impart pride in the look and standards of the farm whilst fostering enthusiasm for hard work and 5.30 am starts. This shows in the dedicated learning and work of the prisoners on the farm, and both of these awards are very much team awards, Instructors and prisoners working as a team to achieve an outstanding result - well done to all,” says Allan.
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