1. Michael Laing
03 March 1989
I am a 25 year old male who has a strong passion for agriculture. I have lived on
farms my whole life and have always had a flock of dorper ewes with rams being
bought for commercial breeding. I have always enjoyed farming and have a good
knowledge of current and past methods of processes with regards to arable and
breeding programs. I am hard working as I believe agriculture does not wait for some
one. I have a good understanding of mechanics and implements and try to get the
optimum out of both whilst also trying to save money. In my spare time I ride
motocross and enduro. I am a non smoker and exercise daily. Other hobbies include
fishing, hunting and reading.
Arbor Acres South Africa Jan 2014 till June 2014.
This is a Grandparent operation in Dealseville where we had a Hatchery and farm at
our disposal. I have just finished my training in Hatchery Management. During my
hatchery management training I learnt all about egg storage, incubation, hatching and
processing as well as the importance and mixing and applying vaccines. I also
managed 9 staff members and attended weekly meetings to give feed back on
concerns and changes. I also helped to implement chances to smooth operations. I
also was given the opportunity to learn about setter, Hatcher and general hatchery
maintenance. Calibrations were done by me under supervision of the maintenance
manager.
Supreme Poultry March 2012 till March 2013
This is where I did my parent stock breeder management from rearing my own flock
all the way through to depletion at 65 weeks. I had a 16 week CV of 9% and at 22
weeks my transfer uniformity was 92%. Peak production was 89% throughout all 3
houses of 6900 females with a starting mating ratio of 11.5%. Fertility was never
below 89% and had very few complaints from the hatchery and customers about
abnormal 7 day mortalities. I did everything with regards to flock well being
including turning litter, feeding birds, working out weekly feed increments with
regard to body weight and current cv, weekly graphs and vaccinations. With my own
flock I also cared for 3 laying flocks which were post, pre and peak with regards to
production. During weekends I was spending time with the maintenance manger to
learn basic management on and in poultry houses. All of the houses we closed
environment and had automatic feeding systems, besides the rearing houses which we
had to feed by hand.

2. Drie Hoek Farm October 2011 till current
This is our family that consists of 80 ha where our annual rainfall is between 400 and
800ml. We currently have 100 breeding ewes that lamb down all winter from April
till October. Currently they are on an extensive grazing system but with financial
backing we will be doing the breeding and feedlot more intensively. Arable crops
include and array of vegetables and seasonal maize. All of the arable work is done by
me with machinery that is over 50 years old. All the machinery is maintained by me
on an annual basis and crops are irrigated with drag lines. I am also responsible for
any and all staff on the farm as well as the financial wellbeing of the operation.
Although I have had other jobs I have been financing the farm where I can with my
own salary. Also machines that were unusable when we bought the farm are now
working due to my attention and patience.
Paul Ambler and Sons, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, April 2011 till October
2011
This was the second harvest I had done. I started in April to help clean out all the
grain barns and get all the equipment ready for the harvest. He used a p.t.o driven
drier but also had pillars in the grain stores to help dry grain. Before the harvest I had
to service the combine harvester, all the tractors and 2 forklifts. During harvesting
time I was operating a 200 hp new Holland with a 15 tonne grain trailer. I was also
using one of the forklifts to load grain onto trucks and into the drier. Daily clean down
and services were done on all the machines by me before work started. Some nights
saw us harvesting until 2am. Wheat, Barley and Canola (oilseed rape) we grown on
the 700 ha farm with pastures for hay. The barley straw was baled and stored in a shed
which I too stacked with no problem. After this harvest I returned home.
Writtle College Horse Yard October 2010 till April 2011
This was my job during the winter times whilst I was in England. Duties included
mucking out stables, feeding horses, doing any tractor or forklift duties and long
reigning horses. There were around 80 horses on the yard with 5 of us being
permanent staff. Weekend shifts were attended and general care for the horses were
our responsibilities. I also attended to friend’s horses on the private yard during
holidays such as Christmas and New years.
R.D. Duke and Sons, Saffron Walden, Essex May 2010 till October 2010
This was my first harvest where I was taught what was needed to be done during the
harvesting season. Cleaning all the equipment and machinery before harvest was our
first duty and during the harvest my morning duties were to service and fill the
combine harvester before a days work. Most of the time was spent harvesting which
included working some nights till 3am or whenever the dew started to settle on crops.
The 2500 ha farm had summer and winter wheat, barley and Canola (oilseed rape).
After the harvest I stayed on to help with cultivations such as ploughing, power
harrowing and rolling unfortunately I didn’t get any combine hours or planting hours.

3. Allan hill Strawberry Farm, St. Andrews, Scotland May 2009 till September
2010
Duties included picking strawberries for 2 months and then I was moved to the pack
house as a night shift worker. Night shift was 12 hours on 12 hours off. This particular
company supplied most of the major chain supermarkets with Scotland.
Qualifications
2013 Sapa Certificate in Hatchery Management
2013 Sapa Certificate in Breeder Management
2010 I got my UK drivers licence which I still have that has no points on it.
2010 Off Road Forklift licence (expires in 2017)
2011 PA1 spraying licence (expires in 2015)
2007 Matriculated (English C, Afrikaans D, Business Economics C, Geography C,
Biology C, History B)
References
Arno van der Nat
arno@arboracres.co.za
0833672989 (+27 for South Africa)
David James
david.james@supreme.co.za
0825687731 (+27 for South Africa)