Farm employment for school leavers

By Dr Clive Dalton

Remembering the students in my time (1993-2000) who went through The Waikato Polytech (TWP) farming courses, we learned so much from them and their experiences, and we also learned from their employers, many of whom had been former students years before.  There are a host of issues for young folk leaving home and starting their first farm job – with the aim of making farming their long-term career.

From school to adulthood

Teachers with students who considered them as low academic achievers always saw farming as a good employment option.  Investing further time in trying to rescue them was not worth it, and in any case the school didn’t have the time, facilities or money to fix the problem.  The problem still exits and nobody in the education system seems to have a solution.

The education system had failed these and generations of students, and as they could leave school at 15 if they had work or further training to go to, the story was to get them out the school gate as fast as possible. 

So a full-time farming course like our Dairy Farm Trainee course was ideal.  Many students told me that their teachers said that ‘it would be better for the teacher and the school, if the student left!  So the student couldn’t wait to get out of boredom, and frustration that school was.

Full-time training

It was hard for many 15-16 year-olds who had had a bad experience at school, to realise that they had moved into the adult world where what was expected of them was very different.  I regularly failed to get them to realise that school class behaviour didn’t apply at a Polytech, where we were tutors and shouldn’t be expected to wast time (and their money) on class discipline. I regularly reminded them that they or somebody was paying for their tuition.

But a Polytech full time 6-month course (January till June) for these young folk was ideal, as they could enjoy the social bonding with their peers, at a time of their lives where they matured so quickly in so many ways – before the shock of going to a farm to start the calving.

They came to the Polytech as youths and left as young men and women ready to play their part in the farming world. The two periods of work experience (three weeks each) that students did on Polytech approved farms were invaluable, for students to see what was required of them, and the farmers could provide an accurate assessment for the Polytech about the student on their strengths and weaknesses before full time employment at calving.

Many work experience farmers employed the students they had for work experience, as they were so pleased with them.  The sad thing was the dropout rate when measured 2-3 years later and showed what could only be described as a large exodus.  We had no accurate data on this, as it was hard for the Polytech to keep track if the initial trainees, unless they came back for further advanced courses.  It was from these students that we found out what happened to their classmates and where they had gone.

Living with the boss

This is probably unique to farming. What other jobs do you live 24/7 in close proximity to your employer?  It’s a situation rich in hazards. For the first-time trainee, the student had to eat with the family with meals provided, with their own separate bedroom in the house, or they could have a ‘sleep out’ attached to or near the house.  In some jobs a farm cottage was available as part of the contract (if there was a signed contract which is mandatory).

Depending on the contract the new employee could be faced with the added chores of cooking, laundry and cleaning, and other chores, which parents may not have taught them. One of the things we included on our Dairy Farm Trainee course was how to make a bed, how to sew on a button, and how to prepare some food.

Then there were issues like the choice of music in the house and in the milking shed, and the TV programmes watched.  Later the use of the Internet was the main issue.

The employer’s children could also be a problem for the young worker, where the kids pestered them or the kids’ behaviour caused frustration in the house and the worker could not discipline them in front of the parents.

Who is the boss?

It would seem clear at interview that the boss was ‘him’ on the farm, and ‘her’ in the house.  But after a few ‘domestics’ during milking and other arguments on the farm, that the trainee found out that ‘she’ was in charge of all directions and management decisions, so taking orders could be tricky to avoid getting reprimanded from one or other of the employers. 

Three is a bad combination.  That's why three sheep are used in a dog trial because they split into a 2:1 combination.

So the biggest risk area to avoid conflict is job priorities – the question of which jobs had to be done and in what order?  And whose instructions did the employee follow to avoid conflict?

What will I learn?

This is a key issue for a young person starting work on a farm, as so often despite all the great prospects with a top farm employer, by the end of the season, very little has been learned. In so many cases all the employee gets to do is to milk and then spray weeds between milkings. 

It’s easy for this to happen as the employer finds it easy of letting staff concentrate on what they are good at, and forget about their mental stimulation and ambition to learn as much as possible, so they can climb up the farming ladder and build their CV to move to management in quick time.

I remember one top student who we helped get employment with a local prize-winning sharemilker so he would progress at maximum speed.  I saw his mother and asked how he’d got on.  She was not pleased and said that all he had done was spray weeds and spread Urea on each grazing block when the cows had vacated.

How much time off?

Time off the farm was ‘the’ top priority for the new employee as well as everyone else on the farm, but for a young first-time worker, in some contracts time off was never enough.  One weekend off a month in the contract was the standard, with variations of this to cover calving.  But when you think about this – it’s not all that generous for a young worker away from home for the first time.

Depending on the isolation of the farm, the question was where did you go for a short break?  So many young folk were so tired that they spent most of their time off in bed.

I once asked a class – what was the biggest deficiency on a dairy farm, expecting to hear it was pasture quantity and quality.  Once student was in no doubt – he said it was ‘sleep’ and the whole class of 20 others agreed with him.

Most farms are separated by distances that need a vehicle to get anywhere, and for many the nearest town for a drink and a feed could be at least 30 minutes away.  Then there were the hazards of getting home again, depending on where you had been and what you had been up to when out.

I was often surprised at how many 15-16-year-olds were secretly homesick, but maybe not in these days of social media and Skype.  But then we know the other side of this – getting off the phone to do some work!

Time off for classes

It's critical that first time employees are encouraged to attend classes so they can start on their NZQA Units, and that the employer agrees to help with this and becomes an approved trainer.

Your CV

In the old days when you had to handwrite your CV, this could tell the employer a lot.  But since word processing came in, fancy paper and folders and folk in town who will come and organise your CV for a fee, things are different as a fancy layout can cover up a lot of deficiencies.

It’s still a good idea to add a covering hand-written letter to your CV, but make sure there are no spelling mistakes and it’s neat and tidy.  There is plenty of good information available these days on the Net about preparing a CV. See my blog (http://woolshed1.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=Preparing+a+CV)

The thing to remember is that an employer could have 10-20 CVs to look through for a top job, and it’s not a daunting task deciding which applicant to call up for interview, as it cost considerable time and money to do this.  More employers now are hiring an agent to sort out a short list for interview.

One student had a trick where he knew the employer would have many applicants and he phoned him to say he was passing the farm soon and could he call in for chat about the job.  He always got the job as he knew that he would save the employer hours of work sorting out who to contact.  Mind you, he was a really top student and has gone on to great heights in the industry.

Memorable student tips for interviews

See my blog (http://woolshed1.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=Preparing+a+CV)

1.     On the way to an interview, ask at the local garage or shop for directions to the farm, saying that you are going to see about a job.  Carefully note the response you get.

2.     Ask the employer how long the previous workers had stayed.  See if you can be given their contacts.

3.     Ask how long milking takes, as there’s plenty of evidence that shows after an hour and a half, concentration falls and you’ll need some food and drink to boost your energy.  Some workers are milking for four hours twice a day.

4.     And at the interview, check early on if the female boss is signed up with Jenny Craig, because if she is you’ll die of hunger.

5.     If the employer takes you for a farm inspection, make sure you get out of the vehicle and open the gates!

6.     If you have a serious girlfriend or partner, be up front and take her along.

7.     If you’ve been on dope – don’t apply for the job.

8.     Be careful about listing your pastimes, as many bosses see these as demands on farm work time.  But be honest.

Farm working Dogs in New Zealand. 5. Further training

By Dr Clive Dalton
 

Casting

This is the wide sweep a dog takes around stock when sent to gather them.  It’s a strong natural instinct in the Border Collie.   When the dog sights its first sheep, it then takes another wider cast so as not to miss any more, and it keeps on casting wider itself. 

Problems arise when dogs don't cast well and run straight at the first sheep they see, or cut in on sheep and split mobs.  A wide cast is especially important if you send a dog away to find sheep that may be out of sight, called "casting blind". 

Some dogs have a favourite side to cast and will "cross the head" to get to it.  To stop this you'll have to go back to the basics of "putting the sides" on the dog.  Do it up against a fence so the dog cannot cross.  For a novice handler, teaching a dog to widen its cast is not easy.  You can end up souring the dog by over-checking it, at the stage of high excitement when it sees sheep to gather.  

Probably the simplest technique is to get the dog on a long cord.  As it moves away from you on the go-right or go-left command, start to add another command to “keep out” getting it to go wider, and use a long stick to direct the dog further out.

Some experts dog trialists teach this by driving the dog in a harness and one trainer (Mills et al, 1964) used a system of ropes around a post to pull the dog to widen its outrun.  Other trainers have used a chariot-like device to steer the dog while giving spoken and then whistle commands.  Another trick is to attach a spare collar around the dog's loin carrying a cord from the neck collar.  At your command to “keep out”, pull the cord and it shifts the dog's bodily direction.

It would not be wise to get involved with these techniques unless you had expert help.  Contact a local dog trainer for some simpler way to solve the problem.

Recasting

This can be hard for some dogs, as it means leaving the sheep they've just captured.  First you have to strengthen the commands to "stop," and then "leave go" the current job.   Then the new command to recast or "go back" is taught. 

It's also useful to teach a body signal as well as the go-back command.  An extended arm or stick is good, as the dog being visually alert can see this at a long distance, and it helps to reinforce the message, especially if you walk in the direction you want the dog to go.

Driving

Some dogs with a strong heading instinct find driving sheep away from you difficult.  The way to overcome this is to teach the dog in a race so that it's hard for the dog to head up each side.  When the dog heads, keep calling it "in behind" until it will work the sheep on short heads itself.  Accompany the dog at the start of the drive and then gradually hang back and let the dog do it alone from your distant directions.

Leading

This is where a dog stays ahead of driven stock, holding them up but not too much.  It simply restrains the leaders without balking the mob.  It learns to hold the mob until the last minute and then backs off.  It's best taught in a race with a big mob moving up to the dog (under pressure from behind) which naturally will want to hold them.

At the appropriate time as the pressure builds up on the dog, give the command to "back off" or "get outside".  A hand signal will help too.   A good dog won't need commands once it has learned the job. 

Shedding

This is the ability of a heading dog to separate off a sheep and prevent it from joining the mob again.  In British dog trials, it has to keep on doing this until a marked group are shed off.  It's a useful trait at lambing time when ewes and lambs may have to be sorted out individually in the paddock.

Note the dog has to do the shedding and not the person!  The TV spectacle of the shepherd running around frothing at the mouth, and the dog standing watching with a smile on its face is not the general idea.

The dog is trained to come through gaps between individual sheep at great speed, indicated by the shepherd's stick to a command of "here" or "here this."

To get the speed into the action, you need a sharp eye dog and the dog on a light cord.  On the command, "here", if the dog is confused, pull it towards you.   You need great control after the shed, as many dogs want to go around and chase the sheep back again.  The dog has to understand that you want that sheep kept separate. 

Jumping, backing and bike riding

Dogs generally love to jump and can be taught this trick from a young age.  Get them to jump on to anything around the place, into their pens, on to boxes, wool bales, bikes, etc, to the command "get up".  Make sure they are strong enough to do it, and give them a hand in the early stages in case they get hurt and are put off.  Reward the dog with plenty of fuss when the task is completed.

Use the same technique to get them to jump on to sheep.  But make sure the sheep are well woolled and tightly packed so the dog doesn't fall off and get stood on.  Only when the dog is competent to run along on sheep, should it be commanded to jump on loose sheep.

On bikes and vehicles make sure dogs are safe and drive slowly until they learn how to balance to stay on.  Make a proper tray on a bike for them to provide grip and protection.

Catching sheep

Trainers disagree strongly on whether dogs should be taught to catch sheep.  Some are concerned it encourages sheep worrying, and can spread through the shepherd's team of dogs.   Other shepherds (as they age) like a dog that will catch sheep, especially at lambing time and at docking.

Remember that dog's teeth can puncture hides and tear muscles, and this costs the industry a fortune each year.  So you need a dog with a "soft mouth" for the job, that holds with its mouth rather than bites.   Huntaways generally have much softer mouths than heading dogs, but the heading dog has the speed and agility to be ideal for catching sheep.

Teaching this task can be tricky so talk to someone who has been successful.  You have to develop the "catch-to-kill" instinct in the dog, and this is done by exciting the dog, then making sure it is checked at the right moment.  This is when YOU have hold of the sheep.

You can easily get things wrong.  The dog will often hold the sheep and under fear of your approach and being reprimanded for biting, will release it just before you grab it! This exercise can repeat itself two or three times, ending in a very punctured and suffering sheep, a confused dog and a crazed shepherd.

Some trainers teach pups to catch or hold things by playing with a piece of rubber or a rag.  Others are against the whole idea.  Some dogs show a natural ability for this job while others should be banned.  It depends on the nature of the beast.  Talk to an experienced handler about this.

Heeling cattle

This is a strong instinct in some dogs such as the Border collie and the blue heeler.  These dogs will bite the heels then the noses of cattle and can cause utter confusion to the beast if not controlled.  Some dogs will even finish the job off by swinging on the beast's tail.

The dog has to be fearless of cattle and have the skill to lie low once the heels are bitten to avoid flying back feet and injury.   The dog has got to have the instinct to do it properly or it doesn't survive.  You cannot teach an unwilling dog to do this.  Your concern is generally to keep the trait under control.

To test the dog’s instinct, try a hiss-hiss sound while moving cattle and see what the dog does.  A keen dog will dive in and heal stock straight away.

Negotiating fences and gates

Conventional fences

These are no problem.  You can get hold of the dog, reassure it and push it through between the wires or through the bars of the gate.  Use a command like "get through" and reward the success.  An arm signal may help to reinforce the command from a distance.

Power fences

These are a disaster for dogs.  Some dogs seem to get an unpleasant sensation through the ground from the fence, long before touching it so get very shy of fences in general.  Manufacturers have generally not faced up to this fact, and make suggestions that dogs can be taught to jump fences.  They can, but pups and old dogs can't jump very high.  The late Neil Rennie suggested power fence companies should design special insulated "bolt holes" for dogs in a fence, but nothing eventuated.

If using power fences, at least be consistent.  For example, don't make the bottom wires (or the middle wires) hot.  The dog will then learn where it is safe to get through.  Powered outriggers make things worse, so try to keep them above dog-crawl level.

You have to be very patient, as many dogs will not get through the fence and will go long distances to get through the gate that they know is safe.  That's fine if you don't have an urgent job for the dog to do through the fence.

The most important fact about dogs getting shocks (which seems inevitable on modern farms) is not to speak to the dog for at least 5-10 seconds after the event.  Then it won't associate YOU with the shock.

Handling a pre-owned dog

With a new dog, the task is to build a new bond to replace the old one.  This could have been quite strong, so be patient.  Dogs with very strong bonds to one owner can be a nuisance at times, especially if someone else needs to work them during an emergency.  The old dog on the farm that will work for anybody is a great asset.  He's usually working his handlers if they only realised it!

The first thing with a new dog is to take it everywhere on a lead and give it plenty of fuss and attention.  This is especially so at feeding time.   Let it off the lead in a confined area first and strengthen the "come here" command.  Start to work it only when you're sure it will stay and come to you.   Keep a short chain on its collar and tie it up when not working. Most keen dogs will work for a new owner after about a week.

The previous owner will tell you the commands the dog responds to.  Apart from a demonstration, vendors may provide a tape recording of whistles.  Don't expect too much from the dog when you try them, as the dog will hear them as close but different sounds to the vendor’s.

But the dog will recognise enough to know what to do, and then you can add your command or whistle to the old one if you want to change anything.  Remember to be patient, especially if the dog has been strongly bonded to the previous owner.  It will be missing its former “pack” of the boss and other dogs.  It now has to try to work out where it fits into a new pack.

Team working

If you start to build up a team of dogs, the key to avoid extra work and disaster is to make sure you have ALL team members under control.  Disaster is assured when you command one dog to work, and the whole team join in and help. 

Remember it's very hard for a keen dog to sit and watch.  The dog's name is its alerting signal, and most top handlers have different whistles for each animal's commands.  The most important one is the "stop" whistle, especially on Monday mornings after the dogs' weekend off!

Regular work with the team and firm kind control is the key to success.  Build the team up slowly and be aware of the social ranking within it.  You are the pack leader and keep it that way.  Be alert to threats and changes within the social order.

Some handlers use dogs to discipline other dogs in the team.  This can be very effective but can also get out of control with severe damage inflicted on the culprit.  The top dog handlers do not recommend it.

Biting people

This is now a big concern.   Biting dogs are a “hazard” under Occupational Safety and Health laws where you have to Identify, Eliminate or Isolate them.  You could be responsible for any damage.  Why do dog's bite people?  Some possible reasons are:

·      The nature of the dog.

·      Over-stimulation or excitement.

·      A bitch protecting her litter.

·      To protect the pack leadership.

·      In fear (eg against vets and Dog Control officers).

·      To protect their territory (eg kennel or run).

·      Confusion or frustration.

Dogs don't like rules that change so be consistent, especially if more than one person is involved.  An example is Dad says one thing and Mum and the kids operate a different set of rules.

When meeting a strange dog, stand still and hold your hand out for it to sniff.  Never grab it by the scruff and pat its head madly.  That's a very dominating thing to do to a dog, as this is where dogs grab each other in fights!  Rub its chest or somewhere low down instead.  Adopt a low posture if you dare risk it.

Aggressive strains of dogs should be culled.  Dogs that are known biters are a concern and veterinarians say they rarely can be cured.  It's too big a risk these days to keep them.  Muzzling dogs all the time is not a very practical solution, and one day you’ll forget but the dog won’t.

Biting sheep

The concern here is that biting leads to worrying.  Working a dog in a muzzle is not practical.  Some veterinarians will advise removing the canine teeth in valuable dogs, but the dog can still do damage to stock with the remaining teeth.  A much more humane method these days is the electronic-training collar when properly used.

If you have a savage mature dog that bites consistently, the solution is often euthanasia.  The problem could be genetic and you don’t what those genes in the strain or breed.   The time to check this problem is at the puppy stage before the habit has developed.  Talk to your vet about the problem.

Sheep worrying

Dogs are dogs, and any of them are capable of worrying sheep.  The dog's diet has nothing to do with this sin of sins.  Tying dogs up when not working is a basic rule that will prevent dogs taking off.  A pair of dogs can be a lethal combination - and can be very cunning. 

If a dog has disappeared, then be suspicious.  They can travel long distances in a short time to kill on a neighbour's property.  Research shows that the weather and stage of the moon can be implicated.  They can come home free from any evidence of slaughter.

The electronic collar is about the only thing you can try before euthanasia, provided you catch them red-mouthed!  Once a dog has worried a sheep and the vice grows, then euthanasia should be next on the list. 

More on killer dogs

It's a heartbreak when a top dog you have trusted for years is accused of killing sheep, or worse still, is caught in the act.  The following information is based on work done at the Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia by Dr Garth Jennens.

Dogs are dogs and it's a myth to believe like so many people do, that their little pet dog could not possibly go out and kill. Any dog is capable of killing sheep, and the fact that it's in the garden when the owners are at home, or is back on the doorstep sleeping in the morning is no proof of innocence.  Attacks can happen any time but 80% are between 5am and 7am.  You cannot breed this killing instinct out of the species.  If you did they wouldn't be dogs!

The image of killer dogs going around in packs is a myth.  Ninety percent of dogs that kill sheep are pets, working on their own or with another dog and they come in all sizes and breeds.

You can't predict which dogs will turn out to be killers.   They can be pets for years or your top working dogs, and then all of a sudden something triggers off a desire to be a dog and go out and hunt to kill.  One common factor to all sheep killers though is that they are wanderers.  So if you have wandering dogs near stock, you can very easily have a killing problem.  Wandering dogs are the key.

Most dogs that kill sheep don't have a mark on them.  This is because after their bit of fun, they regularly go and have a swim and cool off.  Check the collar (if they have one - most don't), bloodstains can be seen in the leather.

Killer dogs have a set pattern.  They enter and leave properties by a set route, and have usually been around the area that they kill in for a few visits before they get to work.  These dogs are predictable and stick to their pattern.   They like to travel near water or up valleys where scent is funneled down to them.

The cold of winter and the heat of summer are the off season for sheep killing.  It's more comfortable at home!  But the cool of the Autumn or the freshness of Spring get them going.  They like the damp spell after rain and the full moon for their sport.

You can predict the breed and size of dog from the kill pattern such as where the sheep is attacked.  Experienced dogs will actually kill a few sheep and not maim many.  Learners will maim a great number but not be able to kill any.   Dogs have got to learn to kill sheep - and they do some awful damage while they are learning.  If it's a food kill, only one sheep will be killed.  Generally it’s all a big game of chase and catch for the dog or dogs.

A dangerous combination is a large and small dog, eg a heading dog and a terrier.  The big dog heads and catches and the little dog goes in for the kill.  They can be very cunning and quick.  Many of them can disappear and kill a sheep or two in no time, and nobody notices them disappear.

The general conclusion is that a dog that has killed stock will repeat the act and euthanasia is the kindest solution for the dog.

Bolting

Here, in the middle of a job, the dog decides it has had enough for the day, and goes home early - without asking your permission!  The day ends with the dog waiting for you on the back door step, stretched on its back urinating as your approach composing your speech, begging for forgiveness before the inevitable beating.  It can be very frustrating to have dogs that bolt.

What can you do?

·      Try to find out the cause of the problem.

·      Re-establish the bond with the dog, especially if it is shy.

·      Let it trail a light cord or fishing line with a stick on the end, that you can stand on if it takes off. This cord will likely get entangled in a fence on the way home.

·      If the problem is persistent, then dispose of the dog.  It's too big a threat to your blood pressure.

Car sickness

Being sick and defaecating in moving vehicles can be a problem for some dogs - and their owners.  The solution is to get pups used to travel for short distances, stopping at the first sign of stress.  Excess salivating and whining are signs of trouble.  Reassure pups as much as possible - and drive slowly!  Then increase the distances making sure there is plenty of cool air in the vehicle.  Consult your vet as some good drugs are now available.

Jumping up, sniffing people and leg mounting

It's very annoying for strangers, and embarrassing for you the owner, to have your dog jump up on guests, sniff their crutch (both back and front) and then when they sit down, mount their leg and start thrusting.  It's not the sort of welcome most of us like and it's often very hard to get a determined dog off!  Large dogs are crutch sniffers and small ones foot mounters.

The problem develops most often with male dogs.  The secret is to break the habit as soon as a young dog starts, with a reprimand that it will remember.  It’s very hard to break these habits in old dogs.

Scent rubbing

This is a nice name for when a dog rolls in any dirt or faeces, afterbirths or a rotting carcass it can find.  Dogs love it, coating their heads, cheeks, shoulders, and then when they've had enough they depart the scene, often scratching the ground with their hind feet to leave a signature.  They seem to see it as a great experience which they are keen to share with their owner.

Check it in the pup or young dog, and not later on.  It's certainly too late when you find the dog in the front of your vehicle, smiling and delighted with it's new-found aroma, hoping you are too.

Discipline

This is a vitally important subject as there is no way you can train a dog without it!  Dogs are pack animals and discipline is part of the bond building that guarantees survival.  The important question is - how should discipline be given?

Here are some key points from experienced handlers:

·      Discipline should fit the crime.

·      It must be instantaneous.  Research has shown that it must be within 5 seconds of the crime.

·      A loud voice or stern tone can be effective, so keep your normal commands as quiet as possible.

·      Beating dogs is not a solution.  It may do you some good but does little for the dog.

·      Before the electronic collar was invented, discipline at a distance was impossible.  Throwing stones was an option, and getting the pack to attack the sinner can lead to injury, but at least the reprimand was not associated with the boss.

·      One handler disciplines the dog by calling it back, holding it down in a submissive pose, which he says cools him down too, and he has time to think what HE did wrong to get the dog into the problem situation.  That's the comment of a very wise person!

·      After a reprimand, make sure you rebuild the bond with the dog.

Agricultural education in NZ. Improving farmers' image of farmers

By Dr Clive Dalton

 NZ 2025 export targets

Fifty thousand new people needed for the agricultural industry to achieve our export targets by 2015 says the Minister of Agriculture and  Forestry by 2015.   He is quoted as saying that ‘we have got to get out and sell the primary industry story better than we have done.’  Indeed, we'd all agree but who are the ‘we’?

For a start, the bureaucrats and politicians should keep well out of it, as they couldn’t sell anything that would attract young folk into farming.  Look how they have gutted agricultural research, and offering scientists who move locations two years guaranteed salary. Isn’t that fantastic  - two whole years!

 School visits and careers' evenings

When at the Waikato Polytechnic (which now has no farming courses), I used to visit schools to talk to students about a farming career, and go to special careers evenings, along with other organisations pushing their barrows.

I learned one very clear lesson – the biggest problem getting in the way of promoting farming as a career is ‘FARMERS’.  Farmers criticise school careers teachers, who also handle problem students and slow learners.  I felt sorry for them, as in their tiny offices they had a wall full of box files starting with ‘Army’ and ending with ‘Zoo keepers’ – each organisation expected them to push their particular careers.  They had no resources and even less help.

I could pick farm kids arriving at careers evenings with their parents, and when asked if they were going to do some farm training, their guaranteed reply was that ‘farming sucks’!  When asked who told them that, they always said ‘Dad did’.  It was a losing battle, as I’d hoped these students would be good promoters of farming to their peers.  Now that idea did suck.

The Minister’s ‘we’ to find the fifty thousand had better start nutting out now how to change the farmers’ ‘image’ of themselves, as that’s where the problem starts and ends.  Forget everything else in the meantime.

 Draw a farmer

Ask any primary school child to draw a farmer, and you’ll see what I mean, and then work out where they got that image?  I bet the farmer is a he, and is not looking at his iPad in the paddock.  He’ll be in gumboots and a black singlet for sure. Fred Dag didn’t help, neither did Murray Ball, Edna or David Henshaw’s Jock.  Note the farmers in TV drench adverts during test matches, and the dirty udders cups are put on during TV news clips about dairying issues.

My biggest failure was trying to change some basic images with dairy students on our Polytech Herd Manager’s course, which was a cracker which we had to kill when the NZQA dumbing down Units came in.

The health food business

I started by banning the word ‘shed’, on the basis that sheds are where tractors and bikes are kept, calves are reared and rubbish stored.  Milk is harvested in a ‘farm dairy’ or even a ‘milking parlour’ because it’s a ‘human health food’ or ‘neutraceutical’. 

So ‘milkers’, (many in the Waikato are called ‘hairies’) were to be ‘milk harvesters’, and when asked what their job was when they went to town on a Friday night, they told enquires that they were milk harvesters, and their business cards (which the boss was to provide for them) showed the details:

•  Joe Blogs
•  Senior Milk Harvester, or Assistant Milk Harvester 
•  Meadow Lee Farms Ltd, 333 Whatnot Road 
•  Dairyville 
•   Phone number and email
•  Location map on reverse side
•  Motivational slogan such as - ‘We harvest and export nature’s best health food to the world’.

One student actually got himself some business cards and followed my advice, and he said it was amazing the improved response when he shopped in town and handed over his card.  He said the assistant called him ‘Sir’!

Students arrived at class in spring with hands like 40 grit sandpaper, with green stain embedded deep in the cracks and open sores that never healed.  I used to tell them to keep well away from their girlfriends till well after calving.  It took a long time for it to be OK to wear milking gloves in those days.

 Clean overalls each day

I suggested that employers provide clean overalls for every milking, and they pay for the laundering done commercially.  I even suggested that they even milk in white overalls like we pommie students were made to do under the eye of a ‘dairyman’.

 Farmer comments

You can imagine how this went down with employers, whose reported comments at the next class were unprintable. I was simply trying to get students (and their bosses) to be proud of what they did – harvesting the world’s most important health food that was fed to infants, invalids and seniors because of their special nutritional needs.  As I said – the idea was a total wipeout.

Employers killed it all because they didn’t believe in an image change themselves. This is why the Minister’s ‘we’ has to start with farmers.  Don’t waste any more time or money goading farm trainers and teaching institutions, with so many different outfits competing with each other all over the country. It’s a dog’s breakfast that will need a big sort out before long.

Agricultural education in New Zealand. 5. Better ways needed for learning

 

 By Dr Clive Dalton

A new approach is URGENT

New Zealand’s primary industries should be screaming for a new approach to education, using every possible aspect of the Internet access aided by ultra fast fibre. What we are using today is already old technology. The big problem for our future exports is that we are suffering badly from DKDK  (don’t know what we don’t know) to meet future technical and economic challenges.

KDK (know what we don’t know) is bad enough if we are honest enough to admit it, but many aren’t, and there are few signs in overall Ag learning to get action to fix things.  You rarely see this subject raised in the farming media by industry commentators, or what the PrimaryITO is planning to do. 

Farming just seems to accept that the status quo is OK as nobody is complaining and demanding more money and resources from the government where the Minister of Agriculture is around 13^th in the caucus pecking order.  PrimaryITO staff have to spend far too much valuable time finding enough students to fill classes, and then make sure they attend to complete their NZQA Units.  In my Polytech days we were buried in paper concerning the NZQA farming Units, and I suspect it’s no better now.

But would current Ag educators welcome drastic change, as it will commit the old ways to the scrap heap. I'm sure they would.  The variation between tutors’ ability and resources at their disposal over the country was always an  issue, and the bureaucrat's answer was 'moderation' where tutors would meet and marks compared.  It drove most tutors mad with the paper work and waste of time involved.

more use of the Internet and sharing of the best national resources available is the obvious way to help this.  Thankfully it’s starting to happen – but far too slowly to meet the 2015 targets.

When I was interviewed for the job of Assistant University Lecturer’s, I was never asked if I could teach, or even if I liked young people.  It was assumed that if I had tertiary qualifications I could teach, which is both arrogant and outrageous.  And it’s equally dangerous to assume that any qualified technical person can teach in a way that students can learn from them.  Finding out is the hard part – and is often take as being too hard, so everything just carries on the way it has done in the past.  This won’t do for the needs of 2025.

As you age in teaching, it’s easy to assume that what you know now will get you through, without the chore and more likely humiliation, of having to retrain. Imagine if you couldn’t cope and were found out!  I had this experience after retirement on the Polytech IT course when I struggled among a class of folk who had done very little academic work.  I got so frustrated by seeing far better ways to teach things, that were easier for us dummies to learn.  But again, nobody complained about the tutors or the organisation.

This hope of not having to update is also common with scientists, when faced with ever increasing numbers of published papers to read, with statistical techniques that we don’t understand and dare not take on trust.  We rarely bother to try and understand them, and are always reluctant to find somebody (younger) to explain them to us.  What would happen to our ego?

Many of us think that we don’t want any more technology, even if others say we need it, as we can’t handle what we’ve got already.  And making things work is frequently far too difficult, with manuals generally of little help beyond the ‘quick start’ page. And even that page needs reading about ten times.

When you have found out how to use something by trial and error, you then find that the manual or the ‘Dummies Guide’ is helpful.  The only hope is to get one-to-one help from someone still at school – while reminding them all the time to go slowly, and repeat things again – and again.  Or get help from the Internet.

Urgent actions needed to meet 2025 targets

Individual learning

People have differing learning abilities, and people in employment have different work and family responsibilities. Everyone in education knows this, so learners are going to learn better if they can have their individual needs met, provided they get help when needed to avoid getting discouraged.  Too much failure leads to frustration and puts learners off, especially if there’s a time limit on their learning.

Professor Sugata Mitra did some amazing research in deprived areas of India with his ‘hole in the wall experiment’, where nobody had ever gone to school and nobody would go to teach.  He stuck a computer in a wall down town like an ATM and left it, knowing that in no time kids would gather around and start pressing keys to see what appeared on the screen. He secretly observed what went on over a period of months.

The kids gathered in droves to press keys and help each other, and surprisingly nobody vandalised the machine.  So in no time they had learned how to work the computer and use it to find information.  Some had even learned English from it.  See link below.  It’s mind blowing.

https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=TED%20Prof%20Sugata%20Mitra

So the message is that young folk will learn what they see a need for, and especially if learning has a strong element of fun and reward.  And they love learning from each other – helping, challenging and celebrating success in learning. The good news is that this is going on in an increasing number of New Zealand primary schools with full use of computers and other support equipment, and continuing up the system into higher learning. It’s an IT world already; so all schools need all the technology they need.    It shouldn’t depend on parents to provide this.

Young folk today are not afraid to make mistakes using computers, which is in direct contrast to the older generation who were brought up in an age of the teachers’ feared red pen, marking large crosses to show that you got it wrong - again.  It engendered fear of failure, and took all the fun out of learning.  Looking back on my school days, fear of failure and it’s consequences was sadly the main driver. 

So the obvious solution is to organise – or let learners organise themselves, joint sessions with friends, peers, mentors, employers, coaches, or anybody else they trust, to learn using the Internet what they see is needed to advance their Ag careers.  They could race through the material very quickly and keep moving on.

New Zealand agricultural education. 8. Better ways needed for future learning

 

 By Dr Clive Dalton

Challenges that need to be faced - and fixed immediately

Challenge 1.

With the current poor public and media image of farmers as employers – how are we going to get farmers to take an interest in demanding employees with qualifications, and pay them adequately for them, especially if farmers have never had any formal training?  
 Also how are we going to get farmers to contribute to training of staff as they pay half the cost and the other half is provided by government. So where you see 'no fees' somebody pays. The farmer may recoup their contribution from the trainee.
 Few if any employers at present pay bonuses for qualifications, and some don’t even pay the minimum wage for hours worked, although this is being remedied. There will always be a large pool of immigrant labour prepared to work for low wages and poor conditions so why bother about trained staff?

Comment: 

It’s a supply and demand situation.  Poor employers (who are said to be the minority) will always get poor labour, which presumably reflect in their costs and profit.  So if they are prepared to carry on like that, that’s their choice and nobody can do anything to change it – other than the banks beign less keen to lend them money.  This may be a telling factor for change, especially when profit margins narrow.

Top employers seeking top performance will see the benefit of hiring qualified staff and paying them for their qualifications.  The word hopefully would soon get around about who to work for, and who to avoid.  Good employers in the past have always had a waiting list of staff, and they need the publicity and promotion, and not those at the bottom end.

Helen Kelley, current President of the CTU commenting on the lack of trained farm staff said that only 50% of farmers currently are willing to pay for staff training.

  

Challenge 2. 

Would employers provide time during work hours for staff to do course work, and attend mentoring/training sessions when needed?

Comment:

Top employers seeking top performance would surely see the benefit of meeting the needs of staff.  The sooner staff completed their learning units, then the sooner the farm business would see the benefits – and they will be more keen to stay on, saving the enormous cost of annual hiring and firing of staff.  Current costs of staff changes on a dairy farm can be anything from $2000 to $3000 per employee.

But this would need the current time limit imposed on completing NZQA Units would have to be abolished. If learners are smart enough to complete the required Units in a short time, then all to the good, and they shoud be encouraged to keep moving on.

Challenge 3. 

Who will drive the urgent changes needed in increased training for primary industry to meet the 2025 targets?

Comment: 

The PrimaryITO is the obvious organisation to take control over all training based on NZQA Units.  If they need more power, then the government should provide it urgently, and especially for increased Information Technology to achieve their targets.

All the old excess bureaucracy and red tape needs to be rooted out.  Here are some key points from a former MAF colleague about her recent experience when teaching NZQA farming Units for a provider in the North Island. It says it all, and from my experience, I can support every word.  The amount of paperwork required by the old Waikato AgITO drove us in the Waikato Polytech agricultural department to despair - and we needed to hire another office staff member to handle it. 


Comments from a former colleague who has just quit teaching 
I've given up Ag teaching as I found the hierarchy was more concerned with completing paper work and justifying their funding, than with what or how, (or even if), I was teaching the students. 

A field trip required authority from a superior in triplicate, with license numbers of any drivers and assurance that the vehicles had current WoF and registration. Even if we just went down the road to measure the grass in the paddock, or dig a hole to look at soil profile and earthworms.

·      It was compulsory for me to attend a two-day workshop/seminar/lecture, which involved learning from an ‘expert’ how to do a lesson plan, writing goals and objectives, and session reviews etc. 

·      We then had to submit a lesson plan for each and every session we taught, and a session review complete with all examples of where we incorporated 'literacy and numeracy' into the lesson If we didn't do this we wouldn't be paid! 

·      As far as listing every example of literacy and numeracy enhancement - I had to spell everything for these guys anyway, teach them how to multiply by 100, convert acres to hectares, calculate Dry Matter in a bale of hay, and do this ALL THE TIME! 

·      I think that the people who have managed successfully to get on the bandwagon, are talented at getting funding and filling in the paperwork required by the government. And they have people who know how to copy tonnes of paperwork for you to fill in, or hand out.

·      As for the resource material we were issued with, I started commenting on spelling errors, errors of fact, and ridiculous requirements in the ‘assessments’. 

One unit on wool had a respectable resource handout, but the assessment questions appeared to have been written by somebody who may have had English as a second language. Qualified staff at the local wool store were appalled at the questions in the assessment, and the 'required' answers.

·      I didn't have anything to do with the practical side of the training, since that was left up to their bosses, and unfortunately some of them really didn't take their teaching responsibly very seriously at all.

·      The best thing that came out these 'lecture' situations was providing a great place for people to meet and share ideas, compare theories and methods of doing things.

Challenge 4. 

Will learners on farms have access to suitable computing power and fast Internet access to meet their learning needs?

Comment: 

Most staff on farms have access to computers but without fast Internet. But it’s got to be (and is becoming) a high government priority.  If computers appear to be expensive to any young learners, ways could easily be found to help finance them by loans or sponsorship.  But with wider access and use of the Cloud, computer size won’t be a problem.  Portable devices will be the best option for learners, as they could take them to group sessions, and be independent of the farm computer.

Challenge 5. 

How will the massive problem of young folk leaving school with literacy/numeracy/dyslexia problems be fixed? 

Comment

The technical information required by those in Primary industry increases daily, so literacy/numeracy problems will have an increasing negative effect on farm exports and profits.

This won’t be fixed by 2025, based on the current political and educational climate. So right up to 2025 at least 40% of young entrants to primary industry will still be unable to read technical information effectively. There is little or no sign of those producing technical information taking this situation into account in the material they produce.

If the problem was fixable, it would have been fixed by now, as its been recognised for recent decades or longer. And it’s not just farming’s problem - it’s a problem for all NZ industries.

But the good news is that it probably doesn’t matter as much as it did in the past, as using computers which can deliver more support and better results than many teachers currently can – especially for learners those with literacy/numeracy problems.  For proof of this, check out Sugata Mitra’s ‘hole in the wall’ experiment with illiterate kids in India to see how they learned unaided by teachers. 

And there are schools at all levels in New Zealand doing all their work and achieving outstanding results using laptops and tablets with no course textbooks needed. The good news is that computer learning is a fast way around the problem with voice-activated software already available, along with other applications like apps to help dyslexic learners, which read their text aloud to them for checking while typing.

Some help has always been available in schools with 'reading recovery', but the cost/benefit of it has been very questionable.  It's been of no benefit to the thousands who didn't get help as schools had no money or resources to put into the programme.

Polytech and Universities have had reader/ writer support for lectures, but it was never ever enough to help the numbers  needing it, and the learning methods were too slow and costly.  Most adult learners don’t have the time to devote to this kind of support, as jobs and families were always a priority.

Challenge 6.

What about drugs in the workplace?

Comment

This is not just the 'elephant in the room' - it's a whole herd of them, and all the solutions your hear about are depressing.  The numbers of addicts seen to increase every day and are highly linked to unemployment. Drugs clearly are used to take the mental and physical pain away.  

This problem is going to get worse among young folk, who through social contact and social media are in contact every minute of they day.  Employers in all rural industries will have to introduce compulsory drug testing, which is common practice in most employment contracts.

This could reduce the number of young folk coming into the industry, and take out many who are already employed. 

As far as 2025 is concerned - things will be worse by then rather than better with  New Zealand already in the top rank of world drug users, .

Challenge 7.

Who is going to get things moving?

Comment. 

The Primary ITO is the obvious organisation to take total control of all primary` industry learning needs, and make all providers work under their direction.  Otherwise the current confusion and waste of money and resources will remain.

The PrimaryITO is already set up to cover the different NZQA Units, and all that’s needed would be for some smart IT people to put the whole thing on the cloud to be accessible by all who wanted training.   

High schools are the obvious place to start to promote primary industry and the science behind everything that goes in the industry.  I used to point out to my students that milking a cow involved chemistry, physics and maths!