Cadet trainee scheme a success

Trainee Sam Phillips, Christchurch, moving a mob of cows on his big Hanoverian-type hack. “He just powers up hills”, Sam says.

01-07-2008 | Barrie Gordon

Not quite 18 months since it began, the Waipaoa Station Farm Cadet Training scheme on Waipaoa Station, 70km northwest Gisborne, is already proving a great success.

Officially opened by Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton on June 22 last year, the concept was developed by a small group of farming leaders who had a vision for the future.

The trust has completed one full year in which the first five cadets have gained high accreditation that will open doors to further education at university, to good jobs on the land or in many other fields that service the rural sector.

The start of 2008 saw a further five young men, selected from a number of different regions, commence their first year of training.

Getting the concept up and running has not been easy!

Initially funding was a problem, and while generous help from individuals, companies and organisations enabled training to begin, funding is always needed because assistance from Government has been limited so far.

Waipaoa Station owners Rob and Jenny Telfer and their business partners, Andrew and Nic Macpherson, made the idea possible when they offered the large complex of buildings on Moonlight, a complex that housed many of the staff on the original property when it was almost four times larger than the present day 2000ha.

With a 10-room building for single men complete with modern cook house and several other houses, it was ideal for the present purpose.

The property is ideal in other ways.

As an enterprise undergoing an intense development programme with changing livestock practices, there was opportunity for cadets to participate in and contribute to those changes, making them feel part of the whole scheme.

After just 18 months, the benefits and knowledge they have gained is evident in their attitudes to the entire concept. They are bubbling with enthusiasm!

And that enthusiasm is a two-way street!

It starts with the board, is driven by Cadet Training Manager Laurence Burkin and his wife, Di, and filters through the individual trainers who are mostly permanent staff members of Waipaoa Station.

At the conclusion of the two-year course, cadets will graduate with a Local Certificate in Rural Safety, a National Certificate in Agriculture Level 2, a National Certificate in Agriculture Level 3 (Sheep/Beef), and a National Certificate in Fencing Level 3, equipping them to follow many paths of achievement.

The progress of 10 young men is a source of great satisfaction for the trust board.

It is chaired by Pete McCarthy, until recently general manager of the large Tauwhareparae Farms, and comprises Ted White, J.P. a retired farmer with a background in farm administration; James Brownlie, a high country farmer associated with the Agriculture ITO; Peter McKenzie, a farmer, farm supervisor and who is also on the board of Smedley, together with George Williams, regional manager of Williams & Kettle, plus station owner Rob Telfer.

The board can take quiet pride in the fruits of the seeds they have sown.

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