By Tom Woolman, poultry industry consultant
I’d like to write something about the humble catcher.
We barely see them mentioned in the poultry press, yet they are a force of nature, whirling around the countryside from farm to farm as they carry out their duties.
My first job in poultry was as a catcher. The money was decent and we used to catch free range broilers, one or two thousand at a time. We’d have a laugh, work up a sweat and then spend a significant proportion of our wages in the 24-hour garage on the way home.
We had an old Proton for getting round from farm to farm. Someone had spilled some diesel on the backseat and I smelled quite pungent by the time I got home.
We weren’t a big team and we were regularly on the look out for new workers. Many of my friends tried to give it a go but they were often far too slow, or they just thought the work was too smelly and too hard.
It was smelly and hard, but that’s what I liked about it. Come to think of it, much like my life is now with four small children.
One night I was offered a bit of work with one of the farmers, and my first step on the career ladder began.
How many producers have had to deal with a toilet blocked up with blue roll, the calling card of the catching gang?
Or discarded energy drinks cans round their site, like alien objects from an extra-terrestrial visit?
But much as this motley bunch of lads will trash a canteen or start a fight with each other in the middle of a shed, they also faithfully carry out their duties which keeps everyone else ultimately in a job.
What is more, they work in some tough situations where frankly they deserve a medal.
So, whether you work in feed, animal health or equipment, next time you see that hard earned money come into your bank account, think of the catcher who made the whole thing possible. And perhaps hazard a guess what they would spend it on in the 24-hour garage.