Other Livestock Farmers
This unit group covers Livestock Farmers not elsewhere classified. It includes Apiarists, Goat Farmers, Horse Breeders, Pig Farmers and Poultry Farmers.
A night move to the orchard
You are an apiarist with several hundred hives, loading a truck at night to deliver bees to a flowering orchard at dawn. It is 9pm and cold. The truck is half loaded, your offsider is new and the orchard manager wants the hives in place before sunrise. A few small surprises are waiting.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I am not sure about this hive. It feels lighter than the rest and there is not much sound coming from inside. Should I load it with the others or leave it behind? I did not want to hold us up.
Load it anyway, because you are behind and the orchard needs the numbers
It turns out to be weak, and it does little pollination work. You have also paid to move a hive that was never going to be much help. Counting hives is not the same as counting strong hives.
Thank her, set it aside and show her how to judge a hive
She learns more in five minutes than in a week of watching. The hive is moved to a sheltered spot to recover. Good judgement starts with someone who is allowed to say something does not feel right.
Tell her to leave the question and finish loading, and look at it later
The loading carries on, but the question is never answered and she becomes less willing to raise concerns. Small doubts are the best information a new worker has.
I have heard it dropped to near freezing last night. Are the bees going to fly at this temperature? I have a lot riding on this flowering and I would like to hear the truth, not just that it will be fine.
Tell him they will be fine, because you want to keep the contract
On a cold morning the bees stay home and the flowers go unpollinated. Ivan feels misled, and he is right to. Bees obey the weather, not the contract.
Explain that cold slows them down, say what you will do about it and how you will keep him updated
Ivan appreciates the honesty. You agree to leave extra hives in the orchard and check on warm days. He is calmer and so are you.
Say you cannot predict the weather and he will need to wait and see
It is true, but it leaves him with nothing to plan around. He starts asking about other beekeepers. An honest answer can still come with a plan.
Your trucks have been in the lane all night, and one of my kids has a bee sting allergy. I need to know when you are finished here. Can you tell me what you are doing and how long you will be?
Apologise, promise to be gone within the hour and plan better timing
Bec is relieved. Next season you agree to move hives earlier and keep them away from the lane near her house. Considering neighbours is part of a business that keeps stinging insects.
Explain what you are doing, how long you will be, and give her your number
Bec is reassured, but she asks you to move the hives further from the house, which you cannot do tonight. The conversation helps, though the problem needs a longer-term fix.
Tell her you have a right to be there and you will be done when you are done
You may be within your rights, but she complains to the council, and your next move has to be planned around an official request. Goodwill with neighbours is part of the job.
How it went
The truck pulls out at sunrise with the hives in place. Keeping bees commercially means working with weather, seasons and thousands of animals that you will never name, as well as with the growers who depend on them. Would that mixture of patience and practical work suit you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The pollination contract and the cold snap
A fictional case set in a fictional commercial beekeeping business moving hives between orchards and bushland at night.
The situation
Kofi Mensah ran a beekeeping business with four hundred hives. He had promised an almond orchard a set number of strong hives for the start of flowering. A week before delivery, a cold snap hit the bushland where his hives were resting. Some hives were weaker than he had expected. The orchard manager was relying on him, and he knew other beekeepers were willing to take the contract if he fell short.
What they did
Kofi inspected the hives one by one, with his offsider Amara, and sorted them into strong, middling and weak. Rather than hide the shortfall he rang the orchard manager and said how many strong hives he could deliver and when the rest would be ready. He asked a trusted beekeeper friend to supply a small number to cover the gap. He then moved the weak hives to a sheltered spot with extra feed.
How it turned out
The orchard accepted the plan and flowering was well covered. Kofi lost a little income paying his friend for the extra hives, but kept the contract for the next year. Amara learned to judge a hive's strength by how it sounded and how it moved.
What would you do?
- Why did Kofi tell the orchard manager about the shortfall instead of staying quiet?
- How would you feel working at night with live bees?
- What does it mean to look after animals that live in thousands?