Ben O’Carroll

I have owned and operated a sheep pregnancy scanning business for 10 years and carry out pregnancy scans for several clients throughout the South Island. This work is seasonal, taking me through May to late August. During this time I am thoroughly organised with a busy schedule and timing has to be paramount. The service provided to each client helps them with their feeding and budget management going forward towards lambing. This business is often busy and requires work to be carried out 7 days a week during the busy period. It requires a strong work ethic and great client relationship skills.

At Clean Cructh Contracting I worked as a crutcher on a portable crutching trailer. During this time I would travel to different sheep and beef farms in the North Canterbury area and carry out crutching for clients. This company also owned a contract tailing run which also travelled to different farms in the area with a team of 7 to 8 workers carrying out clients tailing for them. Since this role was very seasonal it worked in well with my scanning business and I did the crutching during the summer/autumn months, and the tailing during the spring time. In the 2023 season I took on the management of the tailing run, organising all of the jobs with clients as well as employing several staff members. This job requires a hard work ethic often working 7 days a week as well as great people management skills which I pride myself on.

During this time at Foxdown I carried out day to day duties required on this 1400 ha sheep and beef property. The roles I had included animal husbandary of the sheep and cattle, daily stock shifts, all animal health requirements in both sheep and cattle as well as any maintainence needed around the property, ie fencing, ag work, weed and pest control. At Foxdown I had a number of responsibilities including taking care of certain flocks and herds, as well as managing a staff member. I used a skilled set of sheep dogs to help with my jobs required there. I reported to the manager every day and the farm had a very good team environment. I also used this job as a seasonal role to fit in well with my scanning business. This role required attention to detail when it came to livestock and precision in making sure all animals are healthy and performing at their best given the climatic and feed situations.