This position is a part of the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA).
This position has an end date of 10/17/2024 and offers a comprehensive benefits package which can be viewed on our Benefits Overview page.
Location - Roy Berg Kinsella Research Ranch in Kinsella, Alberta. This role is in person.
Working for the University of Alberta
The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on Treaty 6 territory, and respects the histories, languages and cultures of First Nations, Métis, Inuit and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community.
The University of Alberta is teeming with change makers, community builders, and world shapers who lead with purpose each and every day. We are home to more than 40,000 students in 200+ undergraduate and 500+ graduate programs, over 13,000 faculty and staff, 260,000 alumni worldwide and have been recognized as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for over a decade.
Your work will have a meaningful influence on a fascinating cross section of people—from our students and stakeholders, to our renowned researchers and innovators who are quite literally curing diseases, making discoveries and generating solutions that make the world healthier, safer, stronger, and more just.
Working for the Department/Faculty
The Faculty of ALES is made up of 500+ faculty and staff, 1500+ undergraduates and 600+ graduate students. ALES is focused on teaching, research & community service in its departments and schools: Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science; Renewable Resources; Human Ecology; Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology. We have strong academic undergraduate and graduate programs, a large research infrastructure which includes 25,000 acres of farm & ranch land in key ecologies across Alberta, and high-impact research in collaboration with our partners.
Position
Based at the Roy Berg Kinsella Research Ranch in Kinsella, Alberta, this position takes a primary role in animal husbandry activity (calving, weaning, vaccination, treatments, sorting, moving cattle, winter feeding and feedlot/Growsafe feeding), and take an active role in research-specific procedures (e.g. blood sampling). The incumbent will have a supporting role in equipment operation in support of ranch activity (feeding, forage production, field work when applicable, fencing, pen cleaning and manure management), and will act as caretaker/light duty custodian for student housing spaces on the ranch.
Duties
- Assist with all cattle handling and husbandry activity, including but not limited to sorting, moving, calving, treatments, vaccinations, weaning, euthanasia.
- Assist with feeding chores, winter feeding of cow herds, feedlot cattle, research animals in the GrowSafe system. Must ensure that all feed mixing and ration requirements are observed.
- Assist with research-related sampling procedures such as, but not limited to, blood sampling, rumen fluid sampling, weights, ultrasound backfat and loin depth measurement. Application of research or beef management items such as implants, breeding synchronization hormones, rumen magnets, GPS collars or implants, pedometers.
- Operate tractors, swathers, wheel loaders, skid steer loaders, trucks, ATVs with various attachments/implements (including but not limited to feed wagons, post-pounders, manure spreaders, tillage equipment, haying equipment such as rakes, balers, bale wagons).
- Regular custodial duties and oversight, researcher housing at Kinsella and Cathton. Includes regular checks, resets, and rebaiting of mouse control measures in place.
- Groundskeeping (mowing, trimming, weed control).
Minimum Qualifications
- Minimum high school diploma with 1 year or more experience in one or more of the primary focus responsibities.
Preferred Qualifications
- 2-year diploma in a related field (beef production, forage and crops, range ecology).
- Basic computing skills (Microsoft Office, Google Suite).
