Hydraulic Turnover Crate: For routine foot trimming and administering treatments in cattle contributing to hoof health.

Hydraulic Cattle Crush: For routine vaccinations, dosing, injections/intranasal doses, bull fertility tests and ultrasound muscle depth scanning in beef cattle.

Fixed/Mobile Sheep and Cattle Handling Systems: As part of routine husbandry practices, at times working with up to 1000 sheep or store lambs at a time in a team of 4-6 workers (At times using mobile systems that required manual construction prior to usage). Also as part of pregnancy scanning, castrating and vaccinating lambs and turn-over crates for foot care of ewes and tups. As part of routine cattle husbandry practices such as weighing, administering treatments, hoof and udder care and vaccinations. From previous experience I am confident working livestock through a handling system efficiently and calmly, ensuring livestock are at ease during any event.

ATV, Quadbike, Off-Road Driving and Trailer Usage: During previous work I have become competent in off-road driving, using a range of vehicles and practical experience of towing a trailer both on and off-road. I have yet to sit a trailer test.

Telehandler and Skid Steer: In previous work I have had extensive experience of operating forklifts and skid steers in all weather types and the use of numerous attachments such as pallet forks, hydraulic bale grabbers, bale spikes, buckets and man-baskets. Also unloading and loading of lorries and trailers and filling feed mixers.

Tractor, PTO and Hydraulic Implements: Experience of operating various machine sizes from 30hp to 280hp and tractor-trailer combined weights of up to 18 tonnes. Have experience in tractor duties relevant to livestock and haulage; transporting bales/grain/livestock, use of front loader, post-chapper, PTO driven yard brush, PTO driven feeding and bedding machine, mower. No arable experience other than carting from cereal, potato and forage harvesters.

Lambing commercial and hill flocks: 600 cheviot hill ewes, 1400 cheviot mules, greyface mules and texel-cross ewes over six weeks. 600 mule and Suffolk cross ewes over four weeks. 180 mule hoggs over 18 days.

Commercial Sheep: 9 months working in a team as a junior shepherd on an exposed upland sheep farm assisting in the management of 1400 commercial ewes and 600 hill ewes, as well as care of 40+ tups and up to 4000 lambs in a single season. Emphasis was on high carcass weight yield and high breeding standards. While working in this role I took an interest in shearing and now work seasonally as a self employed shearer, focusing on small sheep flocks outside of my current work commitments.

Dairy Goats: Milking, Feeding, Bedding, Hoof Trimming and Handling on a small scale.

Store Lambs: 4 months assisting in managing over 5000 store lambs. Work included foot trimming, dosing, injecting, dipping, grazing management and selecting stock prime for slaughter. Use of mobile handling system and fixed dipping system.

Beef Cattle: 9 months in a stock team of 3 managing an 800 suckler cow system of multiple cross breeds put to Charolais and Simmental bulls. Working from spring calving through to autumn calving, managing bulling, pregnancy of cows, fattening stock, summer grazing and winter housing. Involvement in research utilising beef cattle where cattle were individually and group housed, where the highest health and welfare standards had to be achieved at all times.

Dairy Cattle: Carrying out milking in an 8 x 8 style parlour, managing udder health, hoof care and general animal welfare to produce consistent data to be analysed for product development. Carrying out bedding, feeding, feed mixing and maintaining feed stores for a herd of 60 cows in a New Zealand style low input production system.

Poultry: 18 months part-time work on a poultry breeding unit of 40,000 Ross hens and 2000 Ross cockerels. High emphasis was placed on flock health and standard of the eggs produced. Regular experience of rearing day old broiler chicks up to and beyond commercial 28 day weight as part of research studies mimicking commercial settings for meat production. Regular experience of managing flocks of shaver brown and hi-line hens in both research and commercial setting producing eggs for consumption and breeding.

Pigs: Two cycles working with a herd of 50 Landrace x Large White sows from AI to parturition in a freedom-farrower system and then the drying off period. This also involved managing the subsequent progeny of 1200 piglets up to 21 day weaning as well as the teaser boars.