Charlie Plant

I have worked on our family farm during my school and university holidays for many years. It is a mixed farm with 290 acres of grassland & 77 acres of arable. Since the dairy herd sold 4 years ago we are now a beef rearing unit. My duties are, during winter months, to refresh the open yard straw bedding with a teagle straw chopper and feed a mixed ration using our shelbourne reynolds feeder wagon. Other duties are, helping with TB testing, de-horning, worm and fly control, fencing, pressure washing yard/machinery.

I worked full time for six months as a trainee fence erector for our family business erecting steel fencing around sports pitches. I worked on site for four days each week and in the office on Fridays.

Site work included:

• Early starts to arrive at nationwide sites across the UK for 7.30, staying away from home from Monday to Thursday
• Using telehandlers to unload fencing materials from articulated lorries in challenging and busy site conditions
• Learning how to set out fence post locations
• Excavating post foundations using mini skid steers and electric breakers
• Distributing fence materials around sites using telehandlers
• Dealt with challenging weather conditions whilst maintaining quality standards during installations.

Office work included:

• Collaborating with team members to complete large scale projects within stipulated deadlines, assisting with drawing projects and compiling material quantities ready for purchasing
• Helped uphold quality standards throughout the project, achieving high client approval ratings

Qualifications

• I have a CPCS Telehandler certificate as well as a CSCS site operative card