Sunday, April 14, 2013

Hickory Hill Dairy Calf Herd Manager

Hey all,

I know its been a little while since I posted last, but this past week has been stuffed and packed with multiple activities of a varying type.

Last week Friday, April 6th, I had an interview at the 'Newkirk Dairy.' They have been looking to fulfill the position that manages the calf operation. One of my friends had actually interviewed for the position, and they had offered her the job. A couple of weeks after that, she received another job offer and took that one instead. She had told me about this position, which I had recently knew nothing about. My dad feeds calves for the dairy as well, and he really didn't know about it either. Last week Thursday, I was outside helping dad fix a gate and walking through calves and treating sick ones. Steve Meissner (The Owners Son) happened to stop by Dad's while I was helping. Steve then talked to dad while I kept on working and fixing a few things. Steve asked dad if I would be interested in the position since they were looking for someone to fill it. Dad, of course, told him about my experiences of helping him on the farm when we had bucket calves, and Steve seamed to like that.

I interviewed with Steve n on Friday, and he offered me the position on the spot. I told him I had to think about it, and that I had to talk to Brad, of course. After a long talk with Brad and a weekend of pondering, I called Steve on Monday and accepted their offer.

I get paid fairy well. I get Health Insurance, 10 Days Paid Vacation, Retirement Plan with a match up to 3%. I also get to pretty much make my own schedule, and I get to help decide who is feeding calves, and on what days, when I'm not around. I also get a house. A huge, nice, house. 4 bedrooms (one that I'm making into my office). 3 Full Bathrooms. Access to the basement through the garage, which is nice when I'm covered in calf crap at the end of the day, I can go straight to my mud room, and not have to walk through the house. There is a 2 stall garage attached to the house, which goes right into my back entryway.

I had friends over last night to celebrate my Birthday/Getting a Job/Moving into a new House. They all really liked the house, which I am glad. A few of them even said they were jealous. Lol. It is a really nice house. It's a modular home that was moved on here about 13 years ago. The house itself is only 21 years old, and it was up-kept very well. I am pretty much all settled in, but the house is still very naked as I don't have enough furniture for 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, and the huge family room downstairs. We are working on getting a pool table from some friends of ours to help fill in the huge 'gap' downstairs, and we are also waiting on a couple of couches for the upstairs 'visiting room.' It will be very nice once we get all of our furniture in.

The one thing about the job that I'm still adjusting to are the long hours (4:30 AM to 4:00 PM currently), and the days will get busier and busier. Right now I only have 43 heifer calves that I am overseeing. Starting in May we will be calving about 200/ month. Half of these will be bull calves, which are picked up 2x a week (which is nice cuz they are DUMB). At the moment all of our heifers are in individual pens. In the near future we are packing a plot of dirt and putting calf huts up. The calves will be moved into the huts once they are a week to a week and a half old, so we can open up more of the pens in the barn.

In the near future, I will be getting very busy. I look forward to learning more and more about calves though. I have had a blast so far, and look forward to many more experiences. I really enjoy my boss, and I enjoy the Mexican's that work around the farm as well. There is never a dull moment with the Mexicans that I work with. I have figured out one thing though, and that is that I will need to update some of my Spanish! I am a little rusty, even after 3 years in HS... which was 5 years ago!

Keep in touch, and be ready for my next post: "Birthday Shenanigans"

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