Selina cracks egg-cellent Poultry career with Cobb Vantress
Team work makes the dream work for Selina, a problem solving Senior Poultry Technician at Cobb Vantress, a global livestock business producing an impressive 10% of the world’s chicken protein, right on our back doorstep.
Cobb Vantress NZ is nestled in beautiful farmland in the North Waikato, Cobb is always on the lookout for people keen to start as Farmhands and, for those who have what it takes, work their way up to become Technicians, Team Leads or Managers.
The FutureForce® team sat down with Selina for more insight on her role within the business…
Selina Barlow
Senior Poultry Technician
Top Career Tip
“Be open minded and just be yourself!”
A chat with Selina about her role
Senior Poultry Technician
What do you do?
Once we get to the sheds there are bio-security rules we must follow to make sure the birds stay safe and healthy. So we shower through for five minutes to make sure we are not introducing anything into their enivonment that could harm them. Then I run through with my team what we will be doing that day and what the plans are… then we go straight into work!
What does a day at work look like for you?
At certain times of the day we do belt runs to collect eggs. Once we have finished with the belt run, we would put and send those eggs into a chiller. Every shed on the farm has a chiller to keep our eggs nice and cool. If the eggs are left out in the warmth, they start growing so it’s better to keep them in a cool environment. Our shift is from at the moment we start at 7:15am and we finish at 4:00pm, with a morning break and a lunch break in between.
Tell us about yourself
What got you interested in this role?
It was great because I had a leader here that I looked up to and the more I learned from her the more I saw of what she was really doing for the company and for the birds. I especially admired the way she cared for the birds and it made me realise I was very passionate about this job, and I wanted to be like that.
What are some highlights of your job?
Tips & Advice
What qualifications do you have?
Selina has also completed PowerTrain© – a coaching programme for improved performance in business and personal goals.
What is your advice for someone starting out at Cobb?
What are some challenges you’ve faced?
I’ve learnt a lot about myself at this job, about qualities I didn’t even know I had! Like patience and staying on top of things, you need to have attention to detail. All the little things matter when you’re working in a busy environment, and you need to be on top of stuff. You need to see what the birds need – like if they’re hungry or they’re cold – and you need to be able to just act on it straight awat. You need to think forward and solve problems before they happen – I think that’s why I really enjoy it here.
ABOUT COBB…
Approximately 120,000 birds are raised and live at this fully biosecure site with important disease controlled access requiring shower in/shower out facilities for staff, in each shed. More than 2 millions chicks are distributed to the international market each year.
cobb-vantress.com