Dairy Assistant

Full Time Dairy Assistant 

Here at Squice Dairy we are a fun, hard working and young team looking for the fifth super star to join us on our mission to tidy up the farm and keep happy healthy cows. We have a strong mind set on work life balance. Our teams hobbies include Dancing, Going to the Gym, Surfing, Fishing, Hiking, and Motorcross to name a few. One of our team members is President of the Te Puke Young farmers club and has participated across multiple years in the Bay Of Plenty Dairy Industry Award. Our Manager and Contract Milker, won Dairy Trainee of the year 2021 and came runner up for Manager of the year in 2023. 

We are always looking for ways to improve systems on our farm. We work with Halter for Day to day break fencing, pasture management and cow movements. Also it aids us with poor health detection. Our mating is 12 weeks all AB with Halter selecting the cows on heat. We have a 60 bail rotary with Protrac, automatic cup removers and automatic teat sprayers. Also a one hectare herd home which we feed supplement to the cows in year round and calve majority of the cows inside in Spring.

PROPERTY DESCRIPTION - The farm is 286 hectares of peat soil, dead flat countour. One of our major projects is tidying up the fencing on the farm over the next two years.

JOB DESCRIPTION - We are looking for a confident, strong willed, diligent person with great work ethic, an ability to take instruction, learn from others and work as a team mate to join our team. A sense of humour will get you a long way on this farm too.

Duties

You would report to the Farm Manager and duties will include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Milking - Carrying out milkings of 970 cows at set times and monitoring animal health in the shed and milk quality. Using in shed software like Halter and Protrac.
• Animals - Safe handling of Animals, Reporting any health issues and welfare issues as per farm policy. Detecting basic animal health concerns such as lameness, mastitis and weight loss.
• Feed - Control weeds, Set breaks using halter on your smartphone and feeding out supplement as directed.
• Environment - Assists with nutrient, effluent and water management as directed by farm policy
• People - works well with others, contributes to strong team dynamic.
• Machine, Vehicles and Tech - Safely use and maintain vehicles/milking equipment on farm as directed by on farm policy.
• Health, safety and wellbeing - Being involved in building a health, safety and wellbeing culture. Following all Health and Safety protocol on farm.
• Time Management - Efficiency and Ability to plan out daily activities and duties, fill in time sheets accurately.

We want to help you achieve your goals while you help us to achieve ours, we perform 3 monthly reviews that include goal setting to help set pathways to achieve your farming and personal goals.

No qualifications are required but you must: 

• Be able to undertake farming tasks at an entry level with at least 6 months to 2 years experience on a Dairy Farm, on farm training will be provided as well.
• Be physically fit ( the job involves physically taxing and repetitive tasks, like lifting and bending),
• Be punctual, reliable and honest,
• Be flexible with hours worked (i.e., there will be early starts and the hours worked will be higher in peak season), 
• Have good communication skills and work well with others

Work conditions

• Minimum: 30 hours per week guaranteed
• Maximum hours: 60 Hours per week (in peak season)
• Work will be a mix of Indoor (in milking shed and barns) and outside (in all weather conditions), and early starts will be required. Start times and finish times will vary over the season.

A drivers Licence will be required - minimum being a restricted licence as motorbikes and tractor driving are a part of everyday jobs.

Applicants for this position will need to provide minimum 2 references from their last roles, and migrant applicants applying from onshore should hold valid work or residence visa.

Migrant applicants may need to meet some further requirements (e.g., English language or a higher skill requirement) - these will be discussed as part of the recruitment process.

ROSTER - We run twice/day milking schedule from calving through to the end of mating and then move to a 10 in 7 day milking schedule. With a 12 on 2 off roster during Calving and moving to a 11 days on 3 days of as soon as possible. With 4 weeks paid holiday/year. 

ACCOMMODATION - 3 bedroom house fully insulated with Heat pump in Lounge and Bedroom. Double garage, deck, lawns and space for veggie gardens. The farm is in Pongakawa 5 minutes from a fantastic local primary school and playcentre. 15 minutes from Te Puke town, 20 minutes from Papamoa and 10 minutes to the local beaches.

TYPE OF PERSON - 

Good Attitude, 

Strong Work ethic, 

References required. 

Ability to work with all nationality and genders, 

Healthy hobbies

CONTACT DETAILS - Email [email protected]

Cheers 

Dayna Rowe & Sam Taylor

Squice Dairy Limited