Dairy Job

[Stacykins]

I honestly have barely been around cattle. But, I have to ask, what is the learning curve for working at a dairy? A dairy only a couple miles away has posted an ad for a part time job for experienced help (clearly I have no experience :/ ), and it has ran for a few weeks. I am a bit afraid to call and ask, but it would be a better job. Hard work in the cold I'm sure, but I've done grunt labor jobs before what involve a lot of heavy lifting and long hours. Definitely would be enthusiastic to learn! Nothing like working in a horse barn like I have before, (grooming, feeding, watering, turning out, mucking, etc.) I'm sure, except for the manure and it being removed constantly

I guess the only sure answer I can get is to ask on whether they'd take on a newbie if they can't find experienced help.

 

[elevan]

I can't really answer your question as I've never worked in a dairy. But...if the ads been running for a while then I wouldn't think it would hurt to call and talk to them. Just be honest about your lack of experience and your eagerness to learn.

Having been in a position to hire someone before without experience but who was eager to learn, I felt it was a very good choice and the person never made me regret my decision to hire them despite their lack of experience.

 

[ksalvagno]

All you can do is call and ask. You could always find out what the actual job entails. Never any harm in inquiring. The worst that can happen is that they say no.

 

[goodhors]

Call and ask! I had a job with evening milking at a dairy when I was in High School. Included
washing the tanks and milker parts after milking, cleaning the parlor floor. There was some
calf feeding involved at times, moved some hay. Every day was a bit different, depended on
what needed doing, as they gained confidence in what I could do for them.

Milking the cows themselves wasn't bad, had to wash udders and dry them, wipe with a treatment
for cleaning them, before putting on the milking unit. Everything was piped to the big tank, so
no emptying cans or any of that. We would do one side of the parlor, 6 cows, let the other side in
and clean them. I had to pull the levers to dump feed for each cow to eat during milking. Some
times you had to step outside to push more cows into the side, one would block the others out.
Mostly they were eager to eat and get milked, just open the door and let them in!

It was a busy job, doing stuff every minute until done. Time went fast. And the money was very
good, lots more than you made babysitting which was about the only other job around my town.

I know locally, the big Dairy has Hispanic help. They couldn't get dependable help from the locals.
People wouldn't show up, did poor work, even paying them quite well. The Hispanics are all legal,
have a good wage, can live on-farm or rent elsewhere. They are VERY dependable and hardworking,
and of course do much more than just milking. They milk about 500 cows twice a day.

I bet the Dairy will be glad to have you, if you can prove to be reliable and follow directions well.
Cows are not horses, but you will develop favorites anyway!

 

[Chickie2378]

call and ask "what is the job?"

if you are a milker help then you have weird hours. cows are milked VERY early am and later that evening mostly. So will it fit your schedule.

if you are general barn help, heck anyone can do that. Can you drive a tractor, bobcat and more?

you must know the duties required of the job to move forward and if it is for you.

 

[currycomb]

never be afraid to ask. the worst they can do is say no. having had experience with horses, they might think that good enough. you never know unless you ask. let us know how it turns out.

 

[Cricket]

Doesn't hurt to ask! I milk part time on a family dairy--think we were milking 175 on our last test, it's around 3.5 hours to milk, another hour doing chores. I'm 50 and don't find it all that hard physically, but don't think I could do it for 8 hours. I love it 98% of the time and then there's those days. . . ! After a lot of years working retail, I am in heaven.

You gotta get used to a whole lot of poop, but you generally push it into the gutter instead of loading it into a wheelbarrow. Most of my 'wrecks' have been from either running in the barn chasing a cow I should have just let go, or thinking I can stop a cow by grabbing her neck chain and holding on. Not a good water skier, either!
good luck!
Cricket

 

[SheepGirl]

if you are a milker help then you have weird hours. cows are milked VERY early am and later that evening mostly. So will it fit your schedule.

X2. My friend has a 400-cow dairy and she starts milking at 2 am and again at 1 pm.

Another kid at our school has a 3,000-cow dairy (it's actually 2-3 miles away from my house) and they milk around the clock.

 

[Stacykins]

if you are a milker help then you have weird hours. cows are milked VERY early am and later that evening mostly. So will it fit your schedule.

X2. My friend has a 400-cow dairy and she starts milking at 2 am and again at 1 pm.

Another kid at our school has a 3,000-cow dairy (it's actually 2-3 miles away from my house) and they milk around the clock.

Oh I definitely know about the early morning hours for milking! One thing I learned from my cousin, heh.

Thanks all, I will be calling. Like you guys said, the worst they can say is no!

 

[PotterWatch]

They do keep odd hours. Our farm is surrounded by dairy land and we hear people out moving cows around at all hours of the night. I often wonder if the cows mind being disturbed like that all night long...