Milking Role, South Norfolk

We are an award-winning dairy farm shop and restaurant 20 minutes south of Norwich. We are milking 55 cows through a 6 abreast parlour once a day. All the milk is processed on site into bottled milk (both raw and pasteurised), cream, butter, ice cream, yoghurt and ghee and this is sold through the farm shop locally and across the UK via our online shop.

The Dairy is pasture fed, and calves are kept at foot for around 10 months. The dairy is part of a larger herd of cattle totalling 300 head, with any youngstock that arent additions to the dairy herd heading to the 70 head suckler herd. Beef animals are finished on pasture off site at another local farm, but all sold through our own shop.

The dairy herd is predominantly made up of Jersey cows with A2/A2 genetics, and we rear our own replacements/additions. As most of the milk is sold raw, we have very high cleanliness standards with weekly testing - aiming for below 5 Coliforms and under 5000 TVC. SCC averages around 100,000 with incidence of mastitis occurrence at or below 5%.

Cows calve approximately every 18 months, and we are moving towards having both a spring and an autumn calving period.

Cow manager ear tags are used as an aid for health and heat detection.

The cows are grazed on an AMP grazing system across pastures that are mainly GS4 Herbal Leys. We produce a significant quantity of our own forage with the assistance of a local contractor, and we feed lucerne pellets in the parlour.

We also have a herd of soya free pigs, soya free chickens for egg production, and pasture fed sheep.

Some additional help doing general farm tasks will be required as part of being in the overall farm team, but the successful applicant will be expected to focus largely on the dairy, reporting back to the farm manager and farm owners.

Tasks will include:

• Milking to a high standard as part of a team and ensuring the parlour is kept clean and tidy


• Identifying & Treating illnesses in association with the Farm Manager


• Working closely with the Farm Manager to achieve agreed KPIs and herd targets.


• Liaising with Vets and consultants for the farm as required


• Keeping basic records and compliance up to date.


• Ensuring the overall farm is kept tidy and safe to operate.


• Management and care of cows and their calves


• Planning breeding and production cycle and facilitating AI/bull movements (AI experience would be advantageous)


• Stock management - Feed and medicines

Requirements:

• Full UK Driving License


• Be a confident and organised individual with high attention to detail


• Have the capabilities to be decisive and adapt quickly to different situations


• Share our passion and care for our cows and the production of nutrient dense food


• We welcome the public to our site every day, and people are encouraged to watch milking. Due to the key role of the dairy within the business there is a relatively high level of public engagement, and you will be expected to be able to communicate well with those who visit us to learn more about farming.

This is a full time, permanent position and the ideal candidate will be able to start in August. Part time and flexible roles also available.

Salary commensurate with experience.

Unfortunately, there is no accommodation available on site.