Born and bred on a working arable and beef cattle 300 acre farm. I have done 2 harvest seasons using a new holland round baler and ford tractor. I also have done general trailer experience, mostly carting corn. Different duties on the Manitou telehandler using both tines and bucket, also filling the silage feeder using a silage grab. I have spent 2 harvests using a John Deere and Fendt tractor and a stewart trailer corn carting. I have also used both 12m and 15m rolls, spring tine cultivator and a subsoiler. Whilst my equipment experience is not extensive I am a quick learner and have an eagerness to improve and gain more experience.

I have done a handful of hours helping out on a local sheep farm - main duties included sorting, worming, trimming hooves and general daily care.

I have also worked for 3 months on a pig farm - main duties included caring for the pregnant sows, the recently birthed piglets and sows, the 3 month old piglets and also AI sows. A day in the life consisted of feeding the sows, cleaning them out, feeding the piglets, injecting piglets as required, moving groups around and artificially inseminating the sows.

I have some hours working with chickens, ducks and pheasants. Main duties - cleaning of coops, collecting eggs, and maintaining pheasant pens.

Growing up on a beef cattle farm, I have done many hours working with the cows. Our farm has around 200 head of cattle, with around 75 breeding cows and 4 pedigree bulls. Calving runs from February to April and I have assisted many births both naturally and C-Section births. I have also many hours experience during TB tests and moving cows through a handling system. I have experience in tagging, worming and injecting cows. We have a CCTV system for observing the cows during pregnancy. I have experience moving cows also. As well as this, I have lots of experience with the cow management system, using BCMS for passports, I have setup a spreadsheet for our herd for breeding information and also a spreadsheet for our fat beast weights too.

As well as this experience I have spent 6 months working on a cattle feedlot in Western Australia. The feedlot had at any one time 16,000-18,000 head of cattle, mostly Bos Indicus breeds but some Bos Taurus breeds, mostly Angus and Wagyu cattle. Main duties included, pen riding the 130 pens daily to check for sick or injured cattle. Taking and treating the cattle in the hospital block, both injecting intramuscular and subcutaneous injections. Loading and unloading cattle onto livestock transport through a handling system. Drenching, injecting and tagging new arrivals. Performing autopsies on cattle to determine cause of death. Whilst this job was based in Australia and followed slightly different ways of working, I feel I strengthened my knowledge and understanding of cattle.

Whilst I appreciate my livestock experience is mainly cattle based, I have a love for all animals and would like to improve on my livestock knowledge and understanding in other areas. I am attentive, caring and compassionate which I feel are strong attributes to have when working with animals.