Day in the life as a herd manager on a dairy - Stock Journal - May 15, 2024 - video Dailymotion

Day in the life on a dairy farm as a herd manager with BJ Watson.

Transcript

00:00Have you ever wondered what it would be like to milk a cow?

00:04Well, starting at three again is now the reality on this Mount Compass dairy farm since installing

00:10a rotary dairy.

00:12This month's day in the life is focused on the role of a dairy herd manager who has worked

00:17his way up from milking all but nine shifts a fortnight and takes pride in his role.

00:23Mdina Dairy Farm at Mount Compass have 950 purebred Jersey cattle of which herd manager

00:31BJ Watson knows individually and can detect health issues from visually looking over the

00:37cows.

00:38He said they have their own tilt crush on the farm so that he could attend to hooves

00:42and health treatments.

00:44After the milking round is complete, every cow exits the dairy over scales where the

00:49data is collected to assist with any future health needs.

00:52Hello, I'm BJ, I'm herd manager here at Roslyn and Mdina Jerseys.

00:57The best thing about my job would be the job satisfaction.

01:03Dealing with cows on a day to day basis is amazing, very friendly animals that we have

01:07here and I just purely and simply the satisfaction.

01:12Milking cows are up to 480 now, we have around about, I believe we're up to the 900 mark

01:17in total.

01:18My day to day roles are anything to do with the cows, so I deal with cow health, any sort

01:27of lameness, feeding issues.

01:30Milking is my primary role, so milk harvest is a huge thing for me, trying to get the

01:36most out of the cows with the least amount of cell count, so the healthy cows is a huge

01:41part of my job role and other than that it would be lameness and those sorts of things.

01:47If you're considering a job in dairy, I find it's a very rewarding job, it certainly gives

01:53you a lot of freedom, so if you, like in my case I have a young family and I'm able to

01:58get out and about and do the things with family during the week that I wouldn't otherwise

02:03be able to do in a 9-5 job, so that is a huge advantage for me in this job role.

02:09Mr Watson said anyone with a keen attitude to work in the industry would have a job and

02:15no prior experience was needed before starting a job at their farm.

02:19He said he enjoys the work life balance of his job as a herd manager and even his daughter

02:25Isla can get up close and personal with some of the cows.