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Nearly 18 whole years ago I started at Cotteswold Dairy and I think it’s safe to say I knew from day one it was my job for life, there is nothing more I enjoy than not only being in my lorry driving across the country but also seeing the friendly farmers when I get to their farms!
Throughout the years I’ve made companions for life from different farms and it’s been lovely to see the next generations share the interest with their families and get involved.
I am so lucky to be able to be local and get to travel across the country collecting milk from our wonderful farms that are all so different and although you would think just collecting milk from farms would always be the same, every day is different and there’s always a challenge!
On a day-to-day basis for me, I get to work at about 5 am, do my lorry checks and then head out trucking. We collect milk from various farms each day, depending on which run we’re on depends on how many farms we collect daily as it can either be local or across the country. I return to the dairy at around 3 pm to which the laboratory then test the milk to make sure all is ok; if the lab passes the milk I then unload it from the tanker into the silo’s which store the milk and keep it cool. (The lorry can hold up to 28,000 litres of milk!) The milk then gets pasteurised which means it gets heated to a specific temperature to kill any unwanted bacteria. The milk can then be bottled and kept in the chilled warehouse before it’s sent to the shops and doorstep deliveries!
At the end of each day, I give the lorry a good wash and have it sparkling ready to go trucking bright and early the next day!
Throughout the years I’ve had my fair share of weather conditions to drive in, but haven’t yet been defeated in collecting milk! On some snowy nights, we stayed in our lorries overnight so we could tackle the snow the next morning! One day in March 2018 it was a joint effort by two of our farms owned by John Young and Price Farms when the snow came heavily and was there to stay so they cleared the track for me to get to them so after collecting the milk I had to stay at Johns farm for the night as it was quite the storm!
Not only have I gained friendships with our farmers over the 18 years, but I have also gained great friendships with our tanker driver team, who I think are quite the team if I do say so myself! Not forgetting our Transport Manager Ruairi who I think we will all agree is just an incredible leader.
Being a tanker driver has its challenges but I enjoy every second and feel lucky to work with such a great team over the years, I have loved watching Cotteswold Dairy grow as a business.
If you are interested in becoming part of the transportation team at Cotteswold Dairy, head over to our career page to see our current opportunities.