Oleksandr, a farmer from Donetsk region, tells about his employment at ranch (open farm) and his life in Canada.

"I advise you to come to Canada. Everybody should choose for himself, but Canada is a good country to live, work and bring up children. At first we will go through adaptation period but our children will feel comfortable and well here", says Oleksandr.

Life in Ukraine And Decision to Move Abroad

I lived in Horlovka town, Donetsk region, Ukraine. I held the position of the workshop chief at the livestock breeding enterprise. It was quite promising position. After my daughter was born I started to think over immigration to more stable and developed country. Everything is for the safety of our children. Canada appeared to be one of few countries which I could single out as a stable one.

I had known about ILC before I decided to move abroad. Once I had even filled in the application form. One day I received a message from ILC that they were recruiting farmers who would be entitled for further immigration. It made me very interested. In such way I got to know about that programme and decided to participate in it. As I had been working abroad before I did not want to go just for earnings, I was particularly interested in immigration.

Job Offer And First Days in Canada

After I had passed the interviews and got my job offer, I moved to Canada in September 2012. At first, I had arrived to Canada on my own. My family joined me in 3.5 months. I was very grateful to my employer who had paid for my tickets and lent me money for buying tickets for my wife and child. It was hard to manage all those expenses for me on my own in such short time. Thanks to him my family was able to come to me earlier.

My farmer had prepared housing for me in forest area in advance. The house was well-equipped: there were dishes, furniture, towels; the fridge was full of foodstuff that was enough to live for three weeks. There were plenty of Ukrainian grocery. Probably he had bought some in Ukrainian store located in Saskatoon. The house had indigenous nature surrounding as deer, moose and other wild animals might wonder nearby. It was so beautiful there. I did not pay any bills or housing rent, my employer covered all that expenses, although most employers do not do that.

But I should admit that housing is cheap, although the employees pay for rent and bills on their own. I was also trusted to drive the employer's car which I was allowed to use for my individual purposes. Lately I have purchased a new car for myself but mostly my wife drives it, so it has become more hers than mine.

A Few Words About Employment at Ranch (Open Farm)

I can point out that employment in agriculture in Canada is all about seasonal works as it is in the whole world. For example, during summer or fall season it is the time to preserve crops, perform fieldworks, harvesting, while in winter you can have more holidays. Sometimes I can work less than 8 hours per week, but my employer pays for 8-hour day (it is common for my farm in particular).  But I like that my job is varied as you do not have to sit and fulfill the same duties all the time. When you have different tasks to do time flies quicker.

At the time I came to Canada my farmer wasfocused more on livestock breeding. Our farm is an open ranch, cattle are not living in cages, it is all the time on pastures. As real cowboys in movies we ride horses (or drive quad-bikes) and lasso cattle. Once you lasso one calf or cow, label or treat it, you are to lasso the next one. Fall season is a proper time to separate calves from cows, they should be overlanded, sorted out. Everything should be marked in the record book. In spring you should label young calves. Earlier we used to have 4500 cattle, but currently my farmer has focused more on growing crops. Therefore we have less cattle and my work is more about sowing and harvesting. I operate cultivator and tractors. Nowadays I have A1 driving license and I am allowed to drive trucks so it often happens that I bring crops and hay bales from our farm place.  In winter we transfer hay to the fields and check heated drinking-bowls. We spend the majority of time in heated cars so you do not have time to freeze.

By and large, my job is varied and that is what I enjoy the most.

English Proficiency and a Piece of Advice

If you have a good command of English, then your adaptation period will be easy. Nobody will deliver you hard tasks, you will be explained, shown and repeated what to do at your request/if you need. But the main thing is to know English. It may be too hard without English. We communicate a lot using radiosets, so English is harder to understand rather than you talk face to face.

I advise you to come to Canada. Everybody should choose for himself but Canada is a good country to live, work and bring up children. At first, the immigrants will go through some adaptation period, but our children will feel comfortable and well here.