Calf rearing, my main role.....

I'm extremely sad to say that it's nearly over. This has been the BEST job I have EVER had. Seriously nothing can beat it.

When I first started to apply for work in New Zealand back at the beginning of April 2014, I didn't really care what work I would end up doing, I just wanted to get away and do anything.

An email came through at the start of May from my initial contact to say that I had a job and the conversations with my new employees, William and Janice started.

I knew my job would be within the New Zealand dairy industry as these were the jobs I was applying for, I just didn't know what work I would be expected to do. The conversations started to flow with Janice via emails and I was able to find out more about what I was going to be doing. Janice informed me that my main job would be the calf rearing along with learning other aspects of the Kiwi dairy industry so that I would be able to help out in other areas.

I was excited to hear that the calf rearing would be my main role. Growing up in the farming community back home in Wales, I had always enjoyed dealing with young stock. Every young individual enjoys caring for and playing with the newborn lambs or feeding calves from a bucket, and I was no different. I loved it but I had never done it on a large scale let alone as an actual job where by I would be paid for doing it. I was very excited but also nervous of the responsibilities.

Janice kept informing me that the work would be tough and people back home kept questioning me as to why I was so excited to be doing calf rearing, as many of them in the dairy industry back home hated the job. People kept asking me if i was a patient person, as the work can sometimes be frustrating, but I knew from the small amount of work I had done with young stock, that I was patient, so I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Deep down I knew I was going to enjoy this work.

So only a day after arriving at my new job role I was thrown in the deep end and taught the basics of what I would need to do with the calves. It was slightly different to what I had seen and done back home, but since being here and actually working in this way, I totally understand why this system works.

I'm not going to lie and say that the work was easy. Janice was right when she said it would be physically tough, and yes you do need patience, a lot of patience in fact, but I have loved every single second of working with these young animals. I have learnt so much from this short amount of time feeding and caring for them and I am very proud of what I have achieved.

To give you some basic information about how William and Janice's system works, they take the calves from the mothers within 24 hours of them being born and the heifers and bobbies (bull calves) are separated into different pens. The bobbies are fed and kept for no more than two days on the farm during the peak of the season as they are collected and moved on to other places whereby they are used for the veal industry.

The heifer calves however are fed and grouped in roughly the same age batches and kept on the farm until they are up to four weeks old. They then get moved to other farms where a calf rearer takes over feeding them and looking after them until they are themselves ready to become mums. The only heifers which don't move elsewhere are William and Janice's own calves that they personally own and rear for their share milking herd.

I am a strong believer that you need to concentrate on caring, handling and feeding your stock in the best way possible while they are young so that they grow and develope into good quality animals for whatever aspect of the agricultural livestock industry you want to work in. Especially working here in the dairy industry, caring and raising these young calves for the first few weeks has made me feel proud of the healthy animals they are developing in to. Get it right at the beginning and your bound to be pleased with whatever outcomes you choose for them at the end.

At the peak of the calving season I was dealing with, feeding and generally looking after just over 150 calves at one time. It was absolutely crazy as I'm sure you can imagine, and looking back I don't know how I kept functioning through the weeks. The most calves we had in one day was 29, so as you can imagine that's 29 new calves to collect from their mums and teach how to feed in just one day let alone all the other calves that had been previously born to feed also. My body was aching and I was extremely tired but I kept ploughing through because I absolutely loved the work. There were times when you would have a calf that would really try your patience and you'd just feel like giving up, but by remaining calm and having extreme determination the sensation you would get when the calf would finally suck from the feeder is hard to put into words. It's the best feeling ever knowing that you have finally succeeded.

I'm a seamstress by trade and have worked in the fashion industry for over 12 years, and even though I enjoy what I do there's something about the farming industry that makes me feel a lot happier. This calf rearing job has made me want to get out of bed in the morning, something which I hadn't wanted to do for a very long time while working back home in my previous jobs. I have never needed to get up so early in my life before I started this job, but I can't complain about it at all. Yes my working day starts early but there's a part of me that doesn't care about it because words can't describe how much I have loved doing this job. It's truely amazing and hasn't felt like a job at all.

I will admit that even though I have raised hundreds of calves this season, I have still had my favourites. They have all been individual characters but these select few were real little gems. 

Firstly was the tiniest calf I had ever seen. Unfortunately it was a bobby so I didn't get to spend that much time with him but he was literally handbag sized and the cutest little calf I had ever seen.

Then there was tag number 349. A fluffy curious little character that was always interested in what I was doing in the next calf pen. A gorgeous ball of fluff.

Tag number 379 was the most gorgeous colour red I had ever seen. She was one of the smallest calfs in her group but always determined to get food when it was their turn to be fed. 

Now tag numbers 359 and 322 were double trouble. They were in the same pen and would always be trying to distract me from what I was doing so that they would get all the fuss and scratches. While I would be trying to feed the calves in the next pen, they would have their heads over the partitions trying to sniff and luck my hair and basically get my attention. An amazing duo.

Tag number 412 was dumb. A very excitable calf that gave me the majority of the bruises I ended up getting covered in whilst working with the calves. And tag number 427 was dumber. Literally these two little monsters knew exactly what to do when it came to feeding, but for some reason it felt as though they would want me to hold their hands whilst they were feeding. Every time I would put them on the teet and step away, a few seconds later they would be off and asking me to put them back on again. They could drink perfectly fine, they just loved the fuss.

We still have a small amount of cows left to calve so my job hasn't quite finished yet, however I can't help but feel very sad because this job that I have thoroughly enjoyed and loved is nearly over. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying all the other work I am doing here on the farm, but to describe it in the simplest way possible, calf rearing has been the BEST job I have EVER had and I don't want it to end.

I do believe that working with these young animals has helped me start to overcome my depression. They have made me want to get out of bed in the morning and put an instant smile on my face as soon as I have arrived to feed them even though there were a few troublesome ones. Their friendliness and individual characters has given me memories I will never forget.

I really can't describe how sad I am for this job to end, it truely is the best.

H x