ASSISTANT HERD MANAGER (AHR)- YELLOW SPRINGS FARM --JOB DESCRIPTION:
AHR is the key position on the Farm for maintaining herd health and superior milk quality and production levels. In addition, AHR manages the part-time and volunteer helpers who assist with these tasks.
Good communication and recordkeeping skills are important. AHR must work both alone and with a team with similar ease of mind and productivity. Managing work time and keeping expenses low are both important in day-to day practices, as YSF has finite resources.
AHR needs to see and think about the Farm as a whole unit, and make plans and decisions that will benefit quality of experience for Farm guest, cheese customers, nursery customers, and overall Farm business profitability y and sustainability.
Weekly meetings about near-term and longer-term goals, schedules, and plans are desired, but not always possible Meetings will happen no less than monthly.
Daily care for YSF goats—qty 25-30. Feed, water, 2x per day; muck daily with evening touch-ups; bed with straw and use lime for odor control. Scrub water buckets as needed. Keep area near gates dry. Do no dump water in traffic areas or on grass.
Daily cleanup of manure around hay racks, near driveway gate, and around trailer.
Daily manure pickup in driveway crossing and milk yard—inbox and outbox- except for major holiday or heavy rain days.
Changes fly traps in season. Cobweb barns regularly. Maintain fans or heat lamps , according to the season.
Daily care for dry goats at Hollow Rd. Feed, water , muck, clean around hay racks. Cobweb and scrub buckets, as needed. Monitor fences and gates—repair as needed. Medicate as needed for worms; trim feet as needed.
Occasional visits to other sites where YSF goats are boarded—TBD to monitor health and status.
Milk 2x/day March- Nov, and 1x/day mid- Nov-Dec. AHR does at least 6 milk shifts per week, and assigns other milk shifts to part-time help. AHR supervises this performance, attendance and milk quality of the milk helpers via direct training and supervision, and communication via phone, email , notes, etc. Perform doe-by-doe milk test for lab samples and measure volume three times/yr—late April/June/Sept.
AHR manages vaccinations and deworming for the herd and keeps accurate, timely written records of all such treatment. Where milkers are concerned, extra management of milk withdrawal periods is required when medication of any kind is given.
AHR performs CMT test on any doe with high Somatic cell count, or other questionable udder health.
AHR manages and provides herd supplements such as electrolytes, glucosamine, liquid calcium, probiotics, free choice minerals, and kelp, as needed.
AHR trims feet of all goats every 4-5 weeks, or as needed. Some goats require more frequent trimming. This is the time to check eye color for parasite management, and also trim udder hair on milkers.
Order grain, hay, straw, lime, etc., as needed, and/or visit Ludwigs Hardware, Tractor Supply etc; and group items for online ordering via text or email A YSF business Mastercard is provided to AHR for this purpose.
Pickup hay and/or straw at local farms, as needed, with horse trailer. Monitor maintenance of trailer
Drive manure trailer to Charlestown Farm to dump every 7-10 days; plan ahead for wet/ bad weather; monitor maintenance of dump trailer.
Maintain buckets, gates, rails, lights, etc. Make minor repairs , as needed. Replace small items, as needed. Report larger maintenance issues.
Maintain supplies in feed room and hay room in clean, orderly way. Label all storage bins and unmarked containers. Note any items that are missing or broken. Bring trash up to garage daily, or as needed.
Overall Cleaning in milk room – such as walls, shelves, etc at least once per week. Also, dissemble inflations buckets, vacuum lines, and all small parts for special cleaning at least once per week.
Assist with Farm sales events such as occasional Farmers Market off-site, PR event such as Earth day, and Open Farm Days at YSF in May , Sept, and December.
Assist with kidding—we will have about 30 goats kid between about March 1 and April 1. Kid care includes bottle feeding, weaning, feet trimming, etc.
Assist with breeding Oct 1 thru Dec 22 or so each Fall. Keep careful records of matings, dates, and monitor buck health carefully.
Coordinate visits with veterinarian, as needed with Catherine and Al/ Contact Vet directly.
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HOURS and SCHEDULE: AHR works 5-1/2 days per week during most of the year. During kidding season 6-7 day weeks are often required, and some overnight stays at YSF are necessary. One or two 5-day weeks per month are scheduled July-December to balance Spring workload.
Normal work day is 10-12 hr day from 7:15 am to 5:30 pm, or if PM milk shift , then 8:30 am to 7 pm with 30 minute lunch break.
Stay overnight at YSF while the Renzis are away overnight during milking season—avg. 1-2 nights/ month May- Nov—not each month.
One week 50% paid vacation during June-Aug, with dates pre-arranged well in advance to allow for coverage. Reduced hours with full pay last week of December or another arranged week during holiday season.
SICK DAYS: No sick days are provided—due to the nature of animal care, it is difficult to miss work days. When absolute need arises, AHR shares responsibility to arrange sub help if sick days cannot be avoided.
HOLIDAYS: One day off each for New Year, Thanksgiving, Christmas—either on holiday , or day before or day after—TBD.
Bank holidays such as Memorial Day, Labor Day, Presidents Day, etc. are not Farm holidays—these are normal Farm workdays
COMPENSATION : Salary is paid monthly as flat rate per month. AHR is covered by YSF Workers Comp policy. Health insurance coverage TBD, if desired. Salary is $2000 per month. Housing can be included in place of partial cash salary, in some instances-- TBD
This position begins in Febraury 2014. We require a minimum one-year commitment.
