Stonefort Dairies Ltd is in need of Dairy Farm Assistant for this season. Applicants must have a 4-year university degree, 5-years working experience in any field, working with multi-culture, team environment, full driver's license, must willing to go pre-employment drug test. A shared accommodation with Filipino is provided therefore no pets are allowed.
The farm is in Mayfield, 900 spring calving herd, 80 bail rotary with acr and protrack.
Duties and Responsibilities includes:
- Assists with daily operational tasks as directed, including feeding, milking, animal health, effluent. Is aware of on-farm compliance, e.g. health, safety, and wellbeing; environment, animal welfare etc.
- Carries out milk harvesting tasks as directed and is developing correct skills to milk efficiently and safely.
- Helps set up dairy prior to milking and on time.
- Milks cows efficiently and safely, as directed.
- Uses backing gate well.
- Teat sprays well.
- Marks cows well.
- Understands factors that affect milk quality, and the reasons for regulations around milk quality safety.
- Assists with cleaning and maintain the milking plant and farm dairy equipment and reports any faults to senior staff.
- Understands the cost and implications of grading milk and high somatic cell counts.
- Helps manage ‘dirty cows’. Implements dairy hygiene requirements.
- Understands how the milking system works, so as to identify and report when things are not working correctly, such as the milk pump.
- Can use specialist equipment e.g. drafting system.
- Cleans yard, plant, and other dairy equipment well, according to procedures.
- Carry out dairy maintenance including changing rubber ware under supervision.
- Assists with moving and handling animals safely and observes and reports on wellbeing of all stock.
- With minimal stress, safely and confidently handles/moves animals.
- Prepares livestock for transport.
- Responsibly dispose of dead stock.
- Watching stock for any ill health and reports issues to best person on farm.
- Learning to identify and assist with treatment of mastitis, lame cows, bloat, milk fever, ketosis, grass staggers, facial eczema, and other unwell animals.
- Drenches and manages dry stock.
- Keeps records of all animal treatments.
- Assists with drying cows off including administering dry cow therapy and teat sealing.
- Drafts out sick or lame cows in a timely manner.
- Assists with moving handling and rearing calves safely. Is building awareness of good health, hygiene and welfare for newly calved cows and young calves.
- Feeding calves including tube feeding.
- Has an awareness of good health, hygiene, and welfare of calves.
- Understand the importance of feeding calves a consistent amount at regular intervals and the importance of introducing fibre into their diet.
- Is building skills in observing, recording, and reporting on cows preparing to calve, and assists with calving cows.
- Can identify the stages of calving, when a cow is calving, when a calf is in a normal position and assists calving cows in difficulty.
- Matches newly-calved cows and calves.
- Assists with mating management as directed. Is building observation skills in heat detection and mating health issues. Is building in understanding of breeding for herd improvement and working safely with bulls.
- Learning the concept of mating including artificial breeding, natural breeding, and interventions if they are used on your farm.
- Learning to identify cycling cows and records them.
- Learning to identify mating health issues.
- Assists the artificial breeding technician when they are on farm.
- Works safely with bulls.
- Assists with weed control and is learning about animal health issues associated with crops.
- Understands the need for, and carries out and records weed control.
- Assists with feeding stock on-farm and growing young stock and is aware of changing feed needs during lactation.
- Is aware of the changing feed needs of young stock and lactating stock.
- Learning about animal health issues associated with crops.
- Assists with pasture and feed allocation, sets break fences, and feeds out as directed.
- Can work out the size of a break feed under supervision.
- Puts up break fences correctly and makes them live.
- Loads the feed out wagon and can feed out in the paddock or on the feed pad.
- Is learning, observing, and reporting on pasture quality, appropriate residuals, and pasture damage due to weather. Takes notice and reports any irregularities.
- Understands what good pasture looks like and can identify post and pre grazing residuals.
- Learning to measure pasture.
- Assists with the operation and maintenance of the dairy effluent management system and follows the effluent plan in line with farm policy.
- Understands how the effluent system operates and shifts irrigator correctly.
- Keeps effluent records.
- Is aware of regional council requirements and their responsibilities to comply with these.
- Is learning about the role nutrients play in farm systems, and the importance of good nutrient management. At a level that is reflective of time on farm.
- Is learning about the farm environment plan.
- Is learning about the role nutrients play in farm systems.
- Understands regulations around land management and ensures their practice complies with these.
- Understands industry regulations around waterways.
- Assists with maintaining the water system, is aware of regional council requirements around water use, and reports any issues to senior staff.
- Checks stock water at every new break.
- Can change ballcock in water trough.
- Can repair water leaks and identify pump problems.
- Can set up portable water trough.
- Is aware of regional council requirements around water systems.
- Reports any issues to senior staff.
- Safely assists with erecting and maintaining both permanent and non-permanent electric and non-electric fences, as directed.
- Understands fence power, identifies faults, and can do straight forward repairs.
- Is learning about the farm irrigation system, and assists with identifying irrigation problems and making repairs, as directed.
- Beginning to understand the irrigation system operation and can carry out basic maintenance.
- Is confident using computers, smartphones, and apps. Is learning the value of collecting good quality data and how it can be used to make decisions.
- Knows what the data collected is used for and how it influences decisions.
- Knows how to safely operate farm vehicles and machinery as needed/ relevant for position on farm and assists with basic maintenance.
- Carries out basic maintenance on tractors, motorbikes.
- Good driving practices and can cope with slopes and other hazards.
- Can safely use the power take-off, hydraulics, loader, and towing implements.
- Wears safety helmet and adheres to farm speed limits at all times.
- Is learning skills to maintain good personal health on-farm and follows health and safety guidelines in the workplace.
- Identifies hazards, understands safety procedures, and demonstrates safe on-farm work practices. Reports near misses and accidents in the relevant registers provided at induction.
- Is aware of the farm's responsibility around health, safety, and well-being in relation to land, people, and animals.
