Men at Fulham Correctional Centre are completing intensive dairy industry training in an innovative pilot program offering employment opportunities post-release.
On Tuesday 6 August, six men in custody in the Nalu minimum-security unit at Fulham graduated from the second Cows Create Careers pilot program.
This follows the first Cows Create Careers pilot program at Fulham in April this year, with three of the six participants from that program already securing work on local dairy farms.
This is the first time the Cows Create Careers program – developed in South Gippsland by the Lions Club of Strzelecki and running in schools nationally since 2004 – has been trialled in a prison.
Throughout the intensive three-week course, the participants learn about a range of dairy industry topics. These include biosecurity, rearing healthy calves, farm safety, farm technology, and career options in the industry.
The men learn how to care for three-week-old calves brought onsite at Nalu, including how to feed, clean, weigh and walk them. Through external site visits, the men observe working dairy farms first-hand and learn about the milking process.
The Cows Create Careers program is delivered at Fulham through a partnership between GEO, Gardiner Foundation, GippsDairy and Jaydee Events, with support from local dairy farmers and dairy industry course facilitators.
It is one of many programs delivered at the Nalu unit at Fulham to support men nearing the end of their sentence to build new skills and improve their employment prospects post-release.
