From study to work on farm

Dooen farmer Scott Johns has been busy preparing for the approaching season and like many farming enterprises across the region employs help to get the job done.

Longerenong College graduate Ryan Chessum from Cobram is among people in the Wimmera’s agricultural workforce, having been employed on Mr Johns’ farm for the past two years.

Mr Johns said he had met Mr Chessum, a scholarship winner, at a Victorian Farmers Federation grains conference in Horsham.

“He was doing his certificate course at Longy at the time and after the conference dinner he was cruising the tables and sat down next to me,” he said.

“Second-year students usually do work placement and I asked if he would like to come and help me put the crop in.

“He did the eight-week placement and later that year, in response to the expectation that I might get busier, I asked if he would like to come on full time.

“So Ryan’s been working with me now for two years and is nicely attached in the community.”

Mr Johns said Mr Chessum’s dog Leia was a lucky escapee in a tangle with a tractor, which had sadly cost another dog its life.

“We thought Leia was right and didn’t get injured but she went lame and after a couple of visits to the vet the diagnosis was that the limb wasn’t recoverable,” he said.

“But she’s recovered and she remains a good little dog.”