Calf Rearer

UEto 28778 per annum (based on a 35 hour work week) Plus 15% Variable Hours Premium

CMVM / The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies

Full-Time: 35 hours per week Plus 6 hours weekly contractual overtime (Regular overtime offered in addition to the 6 contractual hours)

Open-Ended (permanent)

The Opportunity:

The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies are looking for a keen Calf Rearer to work within a small team on the University of Edinburghs teaching and commercial dairy farm located 15 miles from Edinburgh city centre.

Key responsibilities will be to take responsibility for the husbandry health and welfare of all calves up to the age of 4 months of age. Be involved with all day-to-day routines associated with the running of a large 240 cow high yielding 11000 litre dairy herd and associated young-stock including milking and feeding of the cows.

The farm has a range of purpose-built dairy sheds as well as other youngstock accommodation. We are installing a new 28:28 parlour with feeders ACRs meters auto ID and auto shedding autumn 2025.

The successful candidate must have previous experience in a similar role be able to think for themselves and work with the existing team.

In return we offer a competitive salary 3-bedroom family accommodation which is on-farm centrally heated double glazed and is free from rent. Good local schools and the opportunity to be a key part in a successful and progressive business.

Your skills and attributes for success:

• Responsible for the husbandry health and welfare of the calves up to 4 months age. This includes hand feeding all calves for 96 hours post birth to ensure adequate colostrum is fed. Cleaning and maintaining automatic calf feeding machines. This includes an awareness of their health an ability to spot ill health and undertake appropriate action accordingly. Mucking out sheds and bedding up.
• Supporting the Herdsperson with the responsible for the health and welfare of the dairy herd. Being part of the Milking Rota calving breeding and healthcare of the dairy herd. This includes an awareness of their health an ability to spot ill health and undertake appropriate action accordingly.
• Feeding the cows with Keenan Feeder Wagon alternate weekends and covering for annual leave. An ability to follow different feed and nutrition regimes for different sections of the herd is necessary; this requires attention to detail (accurate weighing and mixing) and record keeping.
• Other duties such as basic tractor/telehandler driving feeding bedding fencing and maintenance will provide variety to the role.
• Ability to work regularly over weekends and holidays as part of a rota and from time to time work extra hours in evenings as required by the farm manager.

Click to view a copy of the full job description(opens new browser tab)

Application Information

Please ensure you include the following documents in your application:

• CV
• Cover letter

As a valued member of our team you can expect:

• A competitive salary
• An exciting positive creative challenging and rewarding place to work.
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits such as a generous holiday entitlement competitive pension schemes staff discounts and family-friendly initiatives. Check out the full list on ourstaff benefits page(opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefits
• Staff discount for on-site gym ad exercise classes https: equality diversity and inclusion

  The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions actively promoting LGBT equality.

  Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on ourright to work webpages(opens new browser tab)

  The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. International applicants will therefore be unable to apply for and secure a Skilled Worker visa. They will only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

  Key dates to note

  The closing date for applications is 2nd September 2025.
  
  

  Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.