Agricultural students learn fencing skills

HARD ground made for tough work by Wairarapa College students building a fence on their school farm yesterday.
The year-12 students were working through a two-day course supervised by Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre tutor Mike Bird and school farm technician Ian Horsbrugh.
The old fence, made of netting and iron standards, was removed to make way for a new standard eight-wire fence, and the class will also strain up another fence that has fallen into disrepair.
Mr Bird said a lot of the course is "hard work, which they're not that used to", and "with the way the dirt is, it's tough; it's crowbar stuff".
"If everything had gone according to plan, and there'd been enough rain in the past few months, it would be easier," Mr Bird said.
As student Paul Harvey finished digging a posthole and lining up the post inside, Mr Bird instructed him to fill it in and "try and get all your stones back into the hole".
Wairarapa College head of agriculture Murray Ford said the fencing course was "to give some practical experience" that also worked towards NCEA.
"More than that, it's giving them the satisfaction of doing some hard physical work, which they love, and also contributing to the assets of the school farm."
Mr Ford said the school pays Taratahi "to provide the instruction and the expertise". Wairarapa College leases the farm from Masterton Trust Lands Trust.