I'm unsure of the best ways of getting into being a Heardsman, Would it just be a case of applying and hoping someone will give me a chance even though i dont have any formal experience/qualifications? i feel my CV would be just chucked away as it dose not show anything that would be related to the position. The only thing i have to help me succeed in getting such a position is myself, I'm a strong hard grafter who will work around the clock. But how do you show this in a CV? it comes only from seeing me and seeing the passion i have a would bring. Any advise is much appreciated

 If you want to become a herdsman, that is fantastic, because a lot of farms are crying out for stock workers, but if you have no experience in the position I would suggest going for a more general livestock worker type role and moving up.  A herdsman is a highly skilled job requiring a huge range of skills, and importantly experience at lower levels of livestock husbandry.  Try something like releif milking / helping rear calves on a dairy farm, and general stock work, you will gain the skills and experience with more specialised jobs such as foot trimming / A.I etc.  Then look to move up.

In Somerset there are dairy farms looking for people like you - too many entrants want to drive tractors, not enough want to work with animals.  Try your local dairy farms, ask if they want some help milking a few days a week, you may be suprised at the response.

Thank you for your response and advise, Working with the animals is the area i really want to get into as i love working and being around livestock If it means relocating to get what i need then i am more than willing to do so i am a very adaptable strong person, The downfall i also have is that i dont drive so realize this will limit me alot also? Within my Area of Cannock (Staffordshire) the majority of farms i seek to see seem to be produce farms, where would be best to seek Dairy Farms and farms that would also if i had to relocate beable to find a property i could rent? Thank you in advance for the advise i will be putting it to some very good use to succeed in finding what im looking to do in life

I got to agree with Dan,i'm a herdsman who's been at the job for about 15 years now and was brought up on a large dairy farm {400 cows} so i did the shitty work as they call it when i was young but i am still learning things everyday.My opinion is that to be a good stock/herdsman you need to have it in you you can't learn it its more like natural instinct.But yes go and do some calf rearing,milking and see how you progress but don't expect to just walk into a herdsman's position because it will take a long time to learn the trade.

 If you're interested in the subject of getting into farming (herdsperson or otherwise) this blog post is really worth a read. It's from a guy called Gareth Barlow, who doesn't have any background in farming, but is setting up a sheep enterprise:

http://www.garethbarlow.blogspot.com/

 Hi,

 I see It's not so easy to begin career in farming in UK.. I'm from Poland and worked in Scotland, during potato grading, It was very, very boring and I started wearing glasses after that job (due to poor light in shed) but boss was very good man and people from farm where I lived with my wife were very friendly.

 

It was pleasure to work in Scotland and we wanted to find something else in farming but our hopes failed and we had to return to Poland. There we have begun education in community college in agriculture. We had 3 months of practice on 250 ha danish dairy eco-farm established in Poland where I had a first chance to drive a tractor (John Deere and Deutz Fahr) and do some jobs with this machinery. It was great :-)

Also we've been volunteering in Norway on eco-farm and we plan to visit Slovenia and Spain in summertime and do some volunteer job in farming too

then we plan to go to UK again and find something in agriculture. Maybe one month ago I've met one scottish chap working in Poland and he said it should be easy for me to find a job in agriculture cause nobody wants to work there... but It turns out It's not so simple though.

 

 Best Regards,

Arek