Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Second interview with Premier Nutrition

I've just been to a second interview with the Nutrition Director and the Sales Manager of Premier Nutrition for the Transition Cow System Developer job.
I think the interview went really well, I answered all the questions and got on with them both really well so it just depends on how the other person interviews.

Last week Andrew emailed me a link to the apps they use with three demo farms set up on it and asked me to prepare some comments based on the score generated and implications they may have for the farm.
I went through each demo farm with my notes from last year, did some reading online and then made a list of comments with examples.
Then went through the comments and suggested what could happen if the issues weren't resolved.

At the interview they went through how the company car scheme works, the geographical areas we could be covering and working hours. They also asked when I'm available to start which is pretty much straight away!

I'm down to the final 2 candidates for the job so I guess now its just a waiting game!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Transition Cow System Developer Interview

I applied for a job with AB Agri last week and have just heard that I have an interview!

The job title is Transitional Cow System Developer and from what I've gathered it means driving round various dairy farms to look at nutrition, body scoring and other data collection to pass on to the nutritionists. Transitional cows are defined as the period of 3 weeks before she calves through to the three weeks after calving.

It sounds very similar to the research work we did on the uni farm, only with Dairy cows and it would be working on UK wide farms!
The job is well paid, includes a company vehicle as I could be in Devon one day and Durham the next so would be really exciting.

Premier Nutrition are a massive company so even though its only a 12 month contract there could be an extension or scope for other work after that.
Anyway, I've just been to have my hair cut and the suit is ready for tomorrow morning!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Poultry Dispatch Course in Wales

I spent the afternoon at writers from Country Smallholding magazine, Helpless Homestead near Machynlleth, showing them how to Dispatch & Dress Aylesbury ducks and then they'll do their Ross Cobb meat birds.
They have a great set up in the little strip of land they have - a flock of laying hens, a pen of growing meat birds, a couple of tamworth pigs for meat and a big polytunnel for growing all their fruit and veg!
Cleverly, as they're in a valley, they have diverted a stream that runs through their land to run into a pond for the ducks and I think the plan is to do the same for drinking water for the other animals!

First we dispatched and plucked then dispatched and skinned the next duck, which was a lot quicker + easier with the ducks two layers of waterproof feathers!

Adam skinning an Aylesbury Drake:




They have a batch of 5 week old Ross Cobbs which will be ready for the table in a few weeks time - they grow so fast and were struggling with the heat! I suggested they try Ixworths next time, the ideal Smallholder dual purpose bird; cockerels are great meat birds, growing fast and putting on a lot of muscle and the hens can be reared as laying birds.

Was a bit too hot in 30 degree sunshine but was great weather and scenery for it!

Next on to the gutting, we gutted the ducks ready for a roast but with the skinned bird it can be just as easy to joint it so you have the meat from legs, breasts which is a lot quicker and less mess if you're doing a large batch of birds!
You can use the rest of the carcass for stock or give it to the dog!

Gutting one of the plucked ducks:




Cutting the wings and legs off a plucked and drawn meat bird




One Aylesbury duck, ready for roasting!



Looking forward to going back to Wales in August for my next Dispatch & Dress course near Aberystwyth - www.DrChickenCourses.co.uk

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Graduation

Today, I graduated from Aberystwyth University with a BSc Hons 2(II) in Animal Science! :D

Had the most amazing week ever.
Spent it with my best friends in 30 degree sunshine, on the beach and in the sea!




































Sunday, July 7, 2013

BBC Gardeners' World Live at the NEC

I've been working on the PoultryTalk stand at BBC Gardeners' World Live and Good Food Show at the NEC this week - has been really good!
Pure breed eggs on display from The Rainbow Egg Company:

We spent HOURS setting the stand up only to come in the next morning to find the roof had leaked all over it so had to move it all in half an hour, but other than that we've had a great week.

I did 4 Chicken Keeping for Beginners talks on the stand everyday which were really well attended, as well as a few talks in the VIP area.

I took Mabel and Doris the Pekins with me and we had a table full of chicks for people to touch and see; I think we were the most photographed stand at the exhibition!

We also revealed #ChickenWall at the show - a 4 x 2 metre long display with 60 photos of pure breed poultry in the UK!
It was great to be able to show people the variation in size, breeds and the different uses for poultry!

We had a PetzPodz animal house on display to show people different types of housing available
...as well as a more traditional wooden ark (with Mabel + Doris on top) and an Omlet Eglu in the background!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

BBC Gardeners' World Live 2013

I've been at BBC Gardeners' World Live and Good Food Show at the NEC this week with PoultryTalk and had a great time!

Pure breed eggs on display from The Rainbow Egg Company
We set up the day before the show, planted all our new raised beds and came in on the first day to find a leak but the staff were great, sorted us all out and managed to move our stand to a new site in less than half an hour, other than that we've had a great week.

I did four Chicken Keeping for Beginners talks on the stand everyday which were really well attended, as well as a few talks in the VIP area.

I took Mabel and Doris the Pekins the Pekin Bantams with me and we had a table full of chicks for people to touch and see; I think we were the most photographed stand at the whole of the show!

We also revealed #ChickenWall at the show - a 4 x 2 metre long display with 60 photos of pure breed poultry in the UK!
It was great to be able to show people the variation in size, breeds and the different uses for poultry!

We had a PetzPodz animal house on display to show people different types of housing available
...as well as a more traditional wooden ark (with Mabel + Doris on top) and an Omlet Eglu in the background!
We've loved chatting chickens to people all week and think we've definitely encouraged people to think about keeping chickens in their backgarden.