Fairchild Dairy lead farm worker Tim Cahill '21 joined the team at the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station in 2022—a little over a year after graduating from UNH with a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science. No stranger to working with large animals, Tim worked at the Connolly Brothers Dairy Farm in Temple, N.H., as an undergraduate at UNH. From 2020 to 2021, he participated in the CREAM program. During CREAM—and up until he began working for COLSA—Tim worked for Rollinsford, N.H., sheep farm New England Ovis, where he helped care for more than 400 sheep.
Position: Lead Farm Worker, Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center
Years with NHAES: Since 2022
Previous experience: Graduated from the UNH CREAM program in 2021.
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Tim Cahill: I help Rachel [Fairchild farm assistant manager] and Jon [Fairchild farm manager] with different jobs around the farm. I shadow Rachel on her herd health work. I kinda do a little of everything: I’ll milk the cows, feed the cows, clean their stalls, and any of the sick cows I’ll help Rachel in caring for them.
Tim: Being in CREAM, I had a good idea of what I was getting into. I really enjoyed the CREAM program, so I was excited to come back to UNH and work again at the dairy farm.
"I really enjoyed the CREAM program, so I was excited to come back to UNH and work again at the dairy farm."
Tim: The first time I ever went to a farm was when I was 5. I was with my dad and my cousin. We were looking at the cows paddocked out front and the farmer invited us into the barn to see the new calves. And ever since then, I've just loved animals. I enjoy being around them, learning how to care for them and learning their different personalities.
Tim: When I was applying to colleges, I wasn’t real sure what I wanted to major in. I knew I wanted to do something animal related, possibly agricultural related. I began looking at UNH and learned about all the options for animal science classes and I knew that that was what I wanted to do.
I didn’t know about CREAM at first. In my junior year, I discovered the program and was like, “Yes, I definitely want to do this!” The program was really fun too. One of my favorite aspects of CREAM was the camaraderie within the class. We all had really different backgrounds—from no experience at all working with farm animals to growing up on a family farm. It was great to all work together for the same goal.
Tim: I like working with Jon and Rachel a lot—they're a great team to work with. I enjoy working with the students too. I really like learning from and teaching them. I'm constantly learning from the students here and also helping to train them around the farm.
