Benjamin Donald Nield
Howick
Summary
Passionate about agriculture, farming, and conservation. Determined to gain valuable experience in the agricultural sector. Ultimate goal is to establish and manage own farm, with a focus on working with animals, particularly cattle. Embracing the farmer's lifestyle as a personal passion and business endeavor. Eager to immerse in the job market and acquire the knowledge necessary to achieve dreams.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
Work History
Partner
Misty Ridge Farm Family farm
09.2020 - Current
- Managing staff - Permanent and Contract
- Health and safety of Livestock and Small Vegetable production of spinach and cabbage
- Basic Maintenance - All Farm equipment
- Care and Wellbeing of a small flock of goats and chickens and planning on expanding current enterprises
- Irrigation - operation and maintenance of pumps, water sources and dams
- Fire breaks
- Records Kept - Livestock, staff, and equipment
- Daily tasks Monitoring growth of new seeds planted and harvesting of mature crops, transplanting seedlings from one system to another if necessary
- Monitoring plants daily for nutrient deprivation
- Since September last year we have Burnt firebreaks ploughed land for vegetable production, set up a hydroponic system and set up a small green house to grow seedlings with irrigation as we would like to expand the vegetable garden and we plan to do 2000 seedlings at a time, eventually we are looking at expanding the farm from 22ha of grass land to larger to incorporate planted pastures and maize and wheat production
- I have been supervising the building of My grandmother's house and my mother's house as we moving the family onto farm
Livestock manager
MG Jacobsz farming
08.2023 - 06.2024
- Managing staff - livestock staff mostly on horseback, security and feedlot-Health and safety of Livestock
- Basic Maintenance - Farm equipment (tractors and trailers)
- Fencing maintenance
- Record Keeping: - Livestock
- Assisting with the cropping logistics side when we were short staffed
- Care and Wellbeing of +-3500 head of cattle with a stud of Brahman and commercial mixed breeds combined, bull selecting, tagging claves in the veld, injecting vaccines mainly Pasteurella for calves and dosing with super boost, branding of cattle (hot iron), assisting with calving issues such as pulling calves
- Assisting vet with preg testing and bull testing
- Feed lotting supervision, checking water and feed troughs are always full and animals are healthy and mixing of feed for feedlot, organizing and weekly planning of what is to be done with the cattle, trekking cattle to and from, Bergville farm to the Freastate Farm
- During Summer I was based in the Freastate for 6 months looking after the cattle on my own
- Counting cattle daily to make sure nothing was short and to prevent stock theft, checking for any sick animal and applying required medication in veld or kraal (I used maxxitet LA or some form of LA, pyroflam, dizene, bco-bolic, duplocillan, inflacam, kortico, cyflor and Kyro b liver)
- Reference: - JD Van Zyle -0727840620 (Senior livestock manager)
- Reference: -Robin Jacobsz 0784600880 (Director MG Jacobsz Farming)
Estate manager
Mount Verde estate
11.2021 - 07.2023
- Managing staff
- Basic Maintenance - All Estate equipment
- Fire break preparation, burning and maintenance
- Fencing maintenance as the estate had +-20km of electric fencing with majority being on solar inverters
- Assisting in the game reserve road maintenance, fence maintenance, reporting if any of the game animals were sick, basic anti-poaching (checking for any fence breaches, snares, dead animals, and reporting to my director of any such incidents)
- Reference:- Nadine De Villiers -0748032723 or 0797741399
Partner
DATAQUA Hydroponics
03.2018 - 12.2020
- Setting up the distribution of the Hydroponic systems for Kwazulu-Natal based in Howick, assisting clients and guiding them to use my nutrient and how to apply nutrient and grow plants and vegetables from seeds, instructing on how to assemble systems, building stands to suite the systems required
- Managing staff- Permanent
- Daily tasks Monitoring growth of new seeds planted and harvesting of mature crops, transplanting seedlings from one system to another if necessary
- Monitoring plants daily for nutrient deprivation and attending to the problem immediately by applying more nutrient to the nutrient solution in the sump
Assistant/part time
Artefacts Gallery
03.2018 - 09.2020
- I assisted in daily running of the shop, I repaired and restored old furniture and would working items designed plant boxes and tables and assisted in delivery of furniture and items that were not able to be transported by the clients
Part time Student going
Cedara College of agriculture
08.2018 - 11.2019
Assistant Manager - directly under Owner/ Clinton Frey
Defacto Investments Dovton Farm and Prairie Farm
08.2017 - 02.2018
- Company Overview: Winterton (approximately 400ha) - Part of a total of 5 Farms (3 other managers)
- Managing staff - Permanent and Contract
- Health and safety of Livestock and small heard of Game
- Basic Maintenance - All Company equipment
- Care and Wellbeing of +-500 head of cattle + 50 sheep and small game herd (involved in some game capture)
- 11 pivots (Large to medium fields) - 5 pivots wheat, 2 pivots oats, wheat reaped with combine harvesters (excellent return waiting on final figures and all put into silos)
- Just completed planting +-350ha to maize on all lands (Pivots and dry land)
- Irrigation - operation and maintenance of pivots and pumps, water source dams and rivers
- Fire breaks
- Weighbridge operation and control for 5 farms in the Company and their produce
- Records Kept - Livestock, staff, equipment, spares depot for all farms and other clients
- Daily tasks - Managing all staff for all sections of the farm, permanent and contract/temporary
- Start work at sometimes 4am till approx
- 11- 12 pm, normal hours 6:30am till 5pm
- Day start with opening workshop, taking roll call for staff, then to the main herd to count and take out of kraal to put onto veld grazing as it's an extensive operation with the cattle and cattle are brought in at night and counted again
- If pivots are running or have stopped during the night to check and see if pivot is stuck, clean foot valves in the rivers and in one of the dams, restart if necessary, pivot maintenance due to punctures, broken or faulty centre drives and or gearboxes and fix or replace, if pivots are running at night normal checks and switching off if times are completed
- Off loading of fertilizer trucks when they arrive with the forklift (1.5T) and stack in shed as well as any other products for the farm deliver
- Check on the orphanage (which looks after all farms livestock) on the cattle or calves and sheep for any sick or injured and treat ailments accordingly
- Count feed for night make sure there is enough to mix and feed out to orphanage and main herd and hospital kraal
- Transport rubbish from main house and office to a fire pit, remove any deceased livestock to fire pit, maintain fences especially in and around planted lands, transporting chemicals, seed, spares and fertilizer to other farms and tractors for spraying and planting and equipment and taking staff home if finished late
- Collection of feed and spares from TWK and mascor (John Deer) as well as any other spares needed in Winterton/Bergville area
- Assist cattle and sheep with birthing and bring them into nursery if any medications or extra care is needed
- Winterton (approximately 400ha) - Part of a total of 5 Farms (3 other managers)
- Reference:- Mark Chisholm - 0829565248 (Senior manager Defacto Investments)
Assistant Manager Piggery (+-6000 head of pigs)
Colbourne Farming CC
11.2016 - 05.2017
- Managing staff
- Health and safety of Live stock (pigs)
- Basic Maintenance
- Daily tasks - Managing staff, walking the bore, heat spotting of the gilts and sows, vaccinations for the piglets, sows and gilts
- Piglets were injected twice, their 1st injection was m+pac at 2 weeks then again at 4 weeks with m+pac and circoflex also monitored the staff on injection of piglets correctly and that they were using the correct amount of needles and the right type as well as making sure the needles were not blunt and or dirty
- Coordinating the movement of piglets from the farrowing houses to the wiener houses and then onto the grower houses
- Other duties and weekend duties included writing up the weaner and gilt forms, transport form for baconers each week using Freysland transporters and we sent 212 pigs a week to Darnall abattoir
- I helped with the mixing of feed as it was all computerised, selecting a variety of recipes as the mill was also used for the main farm which is Dairy so there were different recipes for the pigs compared to the dairy herd
- I was also involved in the basic maintenances of the buildings and feeders and fencing and coordinating the movement of piglets from the farrowing houses to the wiener houses and then onto the grower houses
- I was taught how to insert the catheter into a sow and a gilt for artificial insemination
- I was in charge of the health of the pigs as well as the sickbay where I had to inject the sick pigs with a variety of medications depending what is wrong, I did post mortems on pigs that had died to assess what was wrong and I came across a few namely( glassiers, red gut, heart attack and mycoplasma)
- I was also called to help with calving on the main farm if there was an issue
- Reference:- PG Morphew - 0824523611 (Written Reference Attached)
Education
Diploma - Animal Production 1, Animal Production 2, Agribusiness, Agri-entrepreneurship, Land Preparation, Agricultural Production, Environmental Impact, Farm Construction, Farm Infrastructure, Introduction to Agriculture, Natural Resources, Socio Economics, Agribusiness Management, Assessing Natural Resources, Hydraulics and irrigation, Beef Production, Small stock Production
Cedara College of Agriculture
Howick Matric - Mathematics core, Physical Science, English, Information Technology, Engineering and Graphics Design, Geography, Life Orientation
Kearsney College
01.2013
Skills
- Animal welfare compliance
- Staff training and supervision
- Effective communication
- Farm equipment operation
- Sustainable farming practices
- Herd health monitoring
- Vaccination program management
- Grazing management techniques
- Teamwork
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Problem-solving abilities
- Reliability
- Excellent communication
- Team collaboration
- Active listening
- Adaptability and flexibility
- Decision-making
- Livestock care
- Livestock management
- Adaptability
Accomplishments
- 2015, Won the Student Cup, Best Animal on show and came overall 2nd Grand Champion with a Bonsmara Type Steer.
Reason For Employment
To gain as much experience and learn as much as possible in the job market of the agricultural sector to eventually one day run and operate my own farm, specifically working with animals mainly cattle as that is my passion and to live the life of a farmer being a lifestyle and a business.
Other References
- Melinda Nebbe, 0721565769
- Jonathan Tyler, 0795074286
- Gale Upton, 07949394514
Future Career Objectives
- Agriculture Farming (Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Wildlife)
- Conservation
Sa Id Number
9501046289086
Hobbies and Interests
- Rugby-PMB collegians 1XV
- Water polo
- Swimming
- Soccer (social)
- Firearms
- Cars
- Knife Collecting
- Keeping fit
- Action Frisbee
- Off roading in 4WD vehicles
Personal Information
- Available: Immediately
- Age: 29
- Passport Number: A01955122
- Health Status: Very Good
- Criminal Record: None
- Date of Birth: 01/04/95
- Gender: Male
- Nationality: South African
- Driving License: Code 8/B, Code 1/C
- Marital Status: Single
Timeline
Livestock manager
MG Jacobsz farming
08.2023 - 06.2024
Estate manager
Mount Verde estate
11.2021 - 07.2023
Partner
Misty Ridge Farm Family farm
09.2020 - Current
Part time Student going
Cedara College of agriculture
08.2018 - 11.2019
Partner
DATAQUA Hydroponics
03.2018 - 12.2020
Assistant/part time
Artefacts Gallery
03.2018 - 09.2020
Assistant Manager - directly under Owner/ Clinton Frey
Defacto Investments Dovton Farm and Prairie Farm
08.2017 - 02.2018
Assistant Manager Piggery (+-6000 head of pigs)
Colbourne Farming CC
11.2016 - 05.2017
Matric - Mathematics core, Physical Science, English, Information Technology, Engineering and Graphics Design, Geography, Life Orientation
Kearsney College
Diploma - Animal Production 1, Animal Production 2, Agribusiness, Agri-entrepreneurship, Land Preparation, Agricultural Production, Environmental Impact, Farm Construction, Farm Infrastructure, Introduction to Agriculture, Natural Resources, Socio Economics, Agribusiness Management, Assessing Natural Resources, Hydraulics and irrigation, Beef Production, Small stock Production
Cedara College of Agriculture
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