My placement year with Aviagen – Time spent in the United States of America

The scholarship included a one-year placement with three months with Aviagen abroad in a country of my choosing. I chose the USA.

My year began in Edinburgh, Scotland where I worked alongside managers and farm staff for a period of six months. From here I spent three months working in Stratford Upon Avon, England, in the company’s hatchery. Not long after this came along the 13th May 2019, the day I flew to the USA for three months.   

My role within the company has been ever changing thus has given me a great insight into the business and all the various roles and responsibilities that come with working within the poultry industry. Working alongside people from such diverse backgrounds has shown me very different approaches to management and how people adjust their methods of communication to suit the different audiences. This has allowed me to learn new skills about building relationships in business terms.

During my time in the USA, it has shown me how this side of the operation is run and operated from the hatcheries to the farms and various export orders. It has not only shown me different methods of management but also how other approaches can be taken to solve problems and issues that occur on a daily occurrence. Some of the teams in the USA within Aviagen are of Guatemalan descent; this gave me an opportunity to interact with them and to test some of the Spanish that I had remembered from Grammar school. Whilst in the states I have found various cultural differences such as the weather mainly and the high levels of humidity, the large range of fast food restaurants to choose from. I adjusted to these two and enjoyed both whilst there, however I did struggle on getting into the driver’s side of the car on the left hand side. On a few occasions I found myself in the middle of a shopping mall car park sitting in the passenger side. That was of course after I found the car in the large car park.

Having been brought up in the countryside I fitted in well in the area I was based in Elkmont, Alabama. This was a rural countryside village and was home away from home for three months during my year-long placement. I visited various dairy and beef farms during my time here to further my knowledge. I was fortunate enough to help combine some of the wheat harvest on a John Deere s780 with a header width of 40ft.

Whilst in America I visited Nashville, Tennessee. This was amazing, and I will be back for sure. I also attended music festivals in Memphis, Tennessee and in Rome, Georgia. Another highlight of my trip was that of attending various rodeos which I felt were thoroughly entertaining.

 The cost of living I feel is quite similar with regards clothing and food. One main difference I did notice however was that everyone drives trucks and that the majority of these are actually in fact gas (petrol) fuelled. I feel that this is because the price of unleaded is so cheap, one litre of petrol in the U.S.A was 65.5 US cents which is equal to 48p. It wasn’t possible to buy one litre of fuel as it was in gallons so one litre is equal to 0.264 US gallons.

Whilst there for the summer the other students kept me busy with activities such as floating in the creek in a canoe which was fun, American line dancing, I was also given an opportunity to tour the local jail in Limestone County. This was very interesting and was certainly an experience I won’t forget. After this I was honoured to be sworn in as a Deputy Sheriff by Sheriff Mike Blakely. He presented me with a permit enabling me to carry a pistol during my time in Alabama. During my time in America I was also given the opportunity to ride on alongside the Sherriff and his team on horseback one Sunday afternoon. This was a great privilege and I was honoured to be invited on such a great outing.

Whilst I was in the USA I met up with a colleague of mine from the UK. Over this weekend we went North to Philadelphia and attended a Major League Baseball game which was a good experience with regards the stadium, the style of play and the atmosphere. We visited the famous ‘Rocky Steps’ from the second of the set of films, perhaps a mere coincidence that on the day we visited the setting from a well-known boxing film that, Northern Irish boxer Carl Frampton also ran up these same famous steps earlier that morning which made the visit somewhat more special.

We also visited various Amish farms and families in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as well as stopping in Gettysburg and Baltimore which are historic towns. We then travelled back to Washington where we saw the White house, The Lincoln Memorial and the Capital Buildings.

The site which I enjoyed most was the site of ‘The Unknown Soldier’ which can be found in Arlington National Cemetery. It is a memorial dedicated to deceased service members whose remains have not been identified. This tomb is guarded 24 hours per day, 365 days per year by the best of the elite 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard).

During my placement year I have learned and experienced a lot that I feel will benefit me greatly in the future. I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement year and it was a great experience to live and work in the United States of America.

I would like to personally thank firstly Harper Adams University for this opportunity of such a placement programme and particular thanks to both the British Poultry Council and Aviagen for this great opportunity that I have been given.