Piggery herd manager

Will eventually head off to market after being tended by Craig Parsons at the McIntyre Piggery. Picture / Amos Chapple

Name: Craig Parsons

Age: 33

Role: Piggery herd manager, McIntyre Piggery, near Morrinsville

Working hours: 8-5 Monday to Friday. Weekends about 1-2 hours in the morning and up to an hour in the afternoon, with one three-day weekend off a month.

Average pay: $38,000 - $55,000 (inclusive of a production bonus)

Qualifications: National certificate in pork production (herd manager)

Describe how you got this job?

I grew up on the family farm, a piggery, in Zimbabwe. I emailed the pork industry board from Zimbabwe, which gave me contacts to several producers. I emailed my curriculum vitae to each of these contacts and was offered a job with my present employer. My wife and I came to New Zealand from Zimbabwe in June 2000.

Describe what you do?

I look after the day-to-day care and well-being of 320 breeding sows and their offspring. There is no peak or off-season, as the herd is managed on a weekly routine.

Each week our target is to breed 15 sows, which results in about 13 sows farrowing each week, meaning I have to wean piglets off 13 sows each week. This leads to about 120 pigs sent to market each week.

A large part of the breeding is artificial insemination as well as natural. I help the sows during the farrowing, administer various treatments to the sows and piglets, do daily oestrus detection to see if any sows have not fallen pregnant, as well as pregnancy testing through ultrasound.

I move the weaners out of the farrowing rooms into growing sheds and shift sows to sheds according to their stages of production.

Records are kept using a palm pilot and the feed computer is monitored to ensure the sows are being fed as much as possible during lactation, and are not too fat going into the farrowing rooms.

What have you done to succeed?

Establishing systems for ease of management and paying attention to detail to get maximum benefit out of the system.

What sort of training or experience do you need?

Hands-on training, in association with the Agriculture Industry Training Organisation stockpersons and herd-management course, delivered by the monogastric research centre at Massey University in Palmerston North.

What skills and qualities do you need?

Stockmanship skills and an affinity with animals. And patience, as the term "pig headed" is very true. Pigs have a mind of their own, very much individuals.

Best part of the job?

The work hours for family life. We have three children aged 5, 3 and 10 months. I also like the routine. I know what has to be done each day and can be relatively flexible around it. Within a relatively short time I see the results of my efforts. Sows have their piglets and within five months they are on their way to market and the sow is having her next litter.

Most challenging part?

Routine can be mundane if I don't challenge myself to achieve targets and goals.

How do you define success in this job?

If the animals are healthy and comfortable, the production targets are easier to attain. The goal is to get maximum weaners per sow per year, with the least amount of non-production days.

What are your career hopes?

I have opportunities with my employer to look at share farming, where I own the breeding herd and we do a 50/50 split, similar to the dairy industry. And, ultimately, to own land for lifestyle purposes and continue in the pork business.

If I wanted a job like yours how would I go about it, and what qualifications would I need?

Contact the pork industry board (ph: (04) 385 4229). Any qualifications in animal husbandry are useful, or get the experience on a farm and do the Agriculture Industry Training Organisation training programmes while working. I have completed the national certificate in pork production herd manager course. I guess people new or interested in the industry would start with the stockperson's course.

What advice would you have for someone contemplating a career like yours?

Try it. It doesn't take long to learn and get into as it is on a weekly routine, not a yearly one. So you don't have to spend years to get familiar with it then find out it's not for you.

www.pork.co.nz