Englisch BHS, Maturatraining mit Audio-CD

70 Tapescript Chicken farmer (CD 03) Announcer: You are going to listen to an interview with a farm manager about his job. First you will have 45 seconds to study the task below, then you will hear the recording twice. While listening, choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D) for questions 1–7. Put a cross in the correct box. „e…rst one (0) has been done for you. A‡er the second listening, you will have 45 seconds to check your answers. (45 sec pause, acoustic signal) Presenter: Hello and welcome to “Business Worlds”! As you can see I have ventured outside the studio today to talk to Joe Bootle, who is the manager of the Willowbrook chicken farm. Joe, your training is in business studies, so how come you’re working with chickens and not sitting behind a desk? Joe: I…nished studying business and IT at college…ve years ago, but it was during the recession and there was a shortage of jobs in those areas. I saw a job here as a farm hand. I took it just as a stopgap and was surprised to…nd it really suited me. I suppose I’d always been an outdoorsy sort of person. Right from the start I found looking a‡er the hens really interesting, as well as the business side of things as a whole. „e farm manager was my mentor and guide and he’s taught me everything I know about looking a‡er poultry. „en three years ago he went on to become a consultant to the egg production industry and I was o˜ered his old job. Presenter: So how big is the operation you’re in charge of? Joe: We’ve got a 50-hectare site, with a ¥ock of 15,000 free-range hens. It’s a 24/7 operation, each hen lays an egg every 26–27 hours. „at means we gather over 14 thousand eggs a day. We can’t just leave them. „e hens don’t take the weekend o˜ and neither do we! I’ve got four full-time sta˜ and two part-timers. Presenter: Animal welfare groups are very critical of egg production methods. Does that a˜ect the way you work? Joe: Not really. In fact we collaborate with a team of researchers at Cardi˜ University to ensure that our hens are kept in the best conditions – not least because a contented hen is a productive one! Here they’ve got plenty of space to roam and scratch and take dust baths outside. If it’s wet, there are perches and plenty of other things to occupy them in the barn. It’s a world away from the life of a caged hen. Presenter: Free-range eggs cost up to twice as much as normal ones. Are consumers prepared to pay the extra? Joe: Well, more and more producers are switching to free-range. Over 50 per cent of the eggs sold to the retail trade last year were free-range, and a proportion of those were organic as well. „at’s another area that’s expanding. People are taking more of an interest in the way their food is produced and high welfare standards are de…nitely attractive to the consumer. Presenter: What is the timescale from Willowbrook to the supermarket shelf? Joe: We’re very strict about quality and freshness. „e national code of practice states that eggs have a total life of 27 days from the day they are laid. We pack the eggs no later than 6 days from lay, but in most cases it’s no more than 3 days. „e best before date on our eggs is typically 21 days a‡er the day that they’re packed, so we’re well within the requirements. Presenter: Do you ever get bored with your job? Joe: „ere’s an awful lot more to it than just collecting eggs and keeping the hen houses clean. I have to be vigilant for any health issues: disease is my main concern in ¥ock of this size. We can be inspected at any time. „ough we’re up to date with the government health and safety regulations that we have to comply with. As well as all the practical stu˜ involved in keeping the farm up to the mark, there’s lots of paperwork to be done. I’m responsible for the forward planning, sta˜ rostering and all the other things involved in running a business. I’d say that o¯ce work takes up the equivalent of about two days a week. „e rest of the time I’m outside getting my hands dirty – that’s the bit I like best! Hens are such sensitive creatures and they’ve each got their own personality, I never get tired of them. (15 sec pause, acoustic signal, track replays, 45 sec pause) Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv