George Pearce

I worked here over the previous summer and have continued to work here over the year on the odd days when needed and will now be helping with calving when I get back down South. Over the summer I was milking 660 cows through an internal rotary shed with in shed feeding. Over the course of the summer, I was also trusted to run the farm by myself for periods as long as 5 days. This include doing both milking, shifting irrigation and effluent multiple times a day, treating lame and mastitis cows, shifting breaks and putting up new ones and keeping the farm and shed clean and to a high standard. I also did some work on the lease blocks working alongside the lease block manager drenching, vaccinating and weighing calves.

My job for Rotopai was to work alongside manager Scott doing jobs around the farm, from fencing to installing new water lines and pulling out old ones. I was also entrusted with doing some tractor work, driving Massey Ferguson tractors. This included mowing paddocks, spreading fertilizer using a tow-behind bin, and doing an afternoon work boom spraying. I also got some experience using a Massey Ferguson telehandler, mainly to fill the fertilizer trailer. Alongside these jobs, I also spent a lot of time in the cowshed milking cows, drafting on heat cows, and doing regular maintenance and cleaning of the shed.

Over the 2022-23 summer, I worked for Pilet Contracting in the Rangitikei which is located in the Lower North Island. My job for them was to be a tractor-trailer driver where I was following alongside the chopper as he filled me up with grass. Towards the end of the season, I also did a couple of days of tedering hay and balage. During this season I was driving John Deere tractors ranging from 150 - 195 horsepower. In addition to the tractor driving and trailer backing I learned several skills including how to stay focused and how to work hard. With the long days driving I had to be able to stay focused so that I didn't make mistakes that could lead to damage to machinery or to the farm that we were working on. I also learned how to maintain equipment as well by washing my tractor multiple times a week and blowing out the radiator each day to make sure that it didn't overheat, I would also have to grease my trailer each morning to make sure that it would run smoothly throughout the day.