Animal Care Assistant
Diamond V Mills Inc
Cedar Rapids, IA
Full-time
Veterinary
Posted on October 30, 2018
Cargill provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world. Together with farmers, customers, governments and communities, we help people thrive by applying our insights and over 150 years of experience. We have 155,000 employees in 70 countries who are committed to feeding the world in a responsible way, reducing environmental impact and improving the communities where we live and work.
Description:
This part time position is located in Cedar Rapids, IA, however please expect receiving calls from a 952 number in case you are considered. Relocation assistance is not provided.
Diamond V a Cargill inc. brand is a global, research-focused, technology-driven organization with-in Cargill Animal Nutrition Enterprise that develops and manufactures natural products to improve nutrition, health, and performance in food animal and companion animal species.
Our location operates the 7 days of the week, with schedules that start at 06:00 am and ends by 06:30 pm; during the week we have shifts of 3-4 hours in the morning and then another shift of 3-4 hours during the afternoon. On Saturday and Sundays we have 6-8 hour shifts.
Position Purpose:
The Animal Care Assistant is part of a team responsible for new product development, mode of action research, and technical support at Diamond V’s Research and Innovation Center (RIC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.This position is responsible for performing daily feeding, care, cleaning and record keeping to maintain the health and environment of the agricultural animals on site and to support R&D efforts.
Essential duties:
Include but are not limited to the following. Other duties may be assigned as needed.
- 85% of time spent performing morning, evening, weekend and holiday chores on a rotating schedule with other Animal Care Assistants.
- Duties include feeding livestock, handling livestock, cleaning pens, maintaining and organizing barn and feed inventory areas, record keeping, computer data entry and observing animals for any needed care.
- Trains to proficiency and performs all duties following training, written SOPs and schedules.
- Completes established safety training program, scheduled updates and maintains a safe work environment.
- 5% of time spent assisting with animal research studies including sampling and handling biological materials (blood, tissue, fecal, rumen) assisting with processing, shipping and documentation.
- 10% of time spent assisting with other studies, lab assays, lab or office organization, janitorial, data entry, research archiving and maintenance of safety data sheets.
- <5% of time is required for travel.
Measures of Performance:
- Attainment of individual goals.
- Soundness of operational decisions in planning, execution, and completion of projects.
- Effectiveness of working relationships with others in the company. Includes communication, cooperation and team effort.
- Adherence to corporate core values.
- Reliability and regularity of attendance.
- Maintenance of safe, clean and effective animal facility.
- Ability to maintain the integrity of confidential business information and security of the Research and Innovation Center.
- Reports directly to the Animal Research Supervisor.
- Coordinates work closely with other Animal Care assistants.
- Works directly with other staff scientists at the Research and Innovation Center.
Qualifications
Required:
- Right to work in the U.S. that is not based solely on possession of a student visa or a visa sponsored by a third-party employer.
- Cargill requires that employees be a minimum of 18 years old to work in a production facility.
- Must be able to perform physical job duties including bending/stooping and shoveling.
- Ability to lift a minimum of 50 pounds.
- Must be able to work under special work conditions, such as extreme heat or cold.
- Must be able to operate machinery.
- Must be able to read/write English.
- High School diploma or Equivalent.
- Basic computer skills.
- Ability to work holidays, nights, weekends or different shifts.
- At least 6 months of experience in production related work.
- H.S. or college student working towards an Associate’s, or Bachelor’s degree in animal science or with large animal experience or actively working on a livestock farm are preferred. Training or certifications as a Veterinary Technician, Registered Animal Scientist (RAS) is considered a plus.
- Must be prompt and consistent with attendance, follow detailed procedures, multi-task, set priorities, work independently and make sound decisions alone and in a team environment.
- Requires passing grade on orientation training material related to farm safety and livestock handling.
- Requires familiarity with AAFCO requirements outlined in the Guide for Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Agricultural Research and Teaching.
- Must be able to accurately perform basic arithmetic feed calculations.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Requires a considerable amount of physical activity including standing, walking, climbing, reaching, squatting, kneeling, bending, sitting, carrying, pushing, pulling, gripping and twisting to transport feed clean barn areas, move livestock and operate farm equipment. Some periods of extensive sedentary or repetitive motion will be necessary.
- Good vision is required in order to take measurements accurately and read detailed, printed materials.
- Requires above average intellectual ability and good judgment to deal effectively with a wide range of problem solving and troubleshooting activities.
- Adequate hearing and speaking abilities are needed to communicate above high noise levels.
- Must be able to effectively interact with manager and coworkers by speaking, reading writing and comprehending daily communications and safety training.