As Jinda Holland sorts through hundreds of eggs on a farm south of Adelaide, AC/DC can be heard blasting from his large oversized black headphones.
Bon Scott, Michael Jackson and “anything that’s fast” is often also heard echoing out of the chicken caravans on site.
“You know what the chickens love it, the chickens love singing along … I sing along,” he says.
It is one of only a handful of jobs the 39-year-old has ever had, and it is his favourite by far.
“It’s given me … something to look forward to everyday to come to work,” he says.
“Every day is a different challenge, but [a] fun challenge.”
Mr Holland has Waardenburg syndrome and is partially deaf.
He says he has struggled to find his place at previous hospitality and factory jobs.
“They didn’t understand my disability, my hearing, my eyesight, yeah that was a challenge,” he says.
Jinda Holland was not too fond of chickens when he started working on the egg farm. (ABC News: Bill Ormonde)
Before coming to the farm, Mr Holland had never worked outdoors before, nor with chickens.
But after several months, he has warmed to his clucky colleagues.
“I wasn’t comfortable around the chickens, as the shifts progressed … I’m beginning to like the chickens,” he says with a wry smile.
Armed with his calculator and a small notebook, he heads from mobile chicken caravan to caravan where the birds are housed for egg collection.
He is one of several employees working at Rise and Shine Eggs in Finniss, all of whom live with a disability.
The employees perform a range of jobs including fencing and landscaping, as well as collecting, cleaning, sorting and delivering eggs to nearby towns.
The business is the brainchild of brother-sister duo Alistair and Heather Pearce.
Heather and Alistair Pearce established the chicken farm in Finniss, an hour south of Adelaide. (ABC News: Bill Ormonde)
Mr Pearce’s decades of agricultural experience and his sister’s work as an occupational therapist prepared them for the venture, the pair says.
“The most common thing I would see on someone’s NDIS plan was that they wanted a job and they wanted to make friends,” Ms Pearce says.
Mr Pearce admits it has been “a very steep learning curve”.
“Especially the day the first lot of chooks turned up,” he says.
“We kind of knew we weren’t ready, but we didn’t realise just how not ready we were.”
But the pair have made it work — growing the business from employing one worker to four within a year.
Heather Pearce worked as an occupational therapist before making the move into chicken farming in Finniss. (ABC News: Bill Ormonde)
‘Suites me to a tee’
Until working at Rise and Shine, Gabi Kinsley never really felt part of the workforce.
As a single mother of three, finding a job has been challenging.
It is a difficulty that has also been exacerbated by her acquired brain injury, arising from surgery as a child.
“I have tried to apply for jobs and because of my disabilities I haven’t got a good background,” she says.
“When you apply for a job all you can say is that your background is being a stay-at-home mum or that you can only work certain hours.”
Gabi Kinsley (front) is one of four people working on the egg farm, which is her first job. (ABC News: Bill Ormonde)
In the past, she felt she had to lie about her disability, but not on the chicken farm.
“It’s definitely been way, way better than I could’ve imagined,” she says.
“It just … suites me to a tee.”
Tracey Davis, a support worker for employees like Mr Holland and Ms Kinsley, says it is wonderful to see the staff thriving.
“Once somebody is labelled to have a disability … society has a thought process where they’re like, ‘Oh, they’re disabled, they can’t do anything or they can’t contribute,'” she says.
“But that’s actually not true … everyone has a lot to offer … you just have to tap into it.”
In her short time at the egg farm, Ms Davis says she has loved watching the employees’ personal and professional growth.
“As you heard from Jinda, he didn’t like chickens, didn’t like the outdoors … but he’s great,” she says.
“He’s an absolute laugh to work with … we have a great time.”
The chicken farm offers a variety of work. (ABC News: Bill Ormonde)
Plans for the future
The brother-sister duo hope to eventually expand the Rise and Shine farm to a second location.
Ms Pearce says she would also like to use the business as a training ground to upskill more people and boost their confidence before they move on to other jobs in agriculture.
“We would love then for those participants to be able to train other people who want to come into the program and run it like a 12-week program,” Ms Pearce says.
Ms Pearce would eventually like to use the farm as a training ground for people living with disabilities. (ABC News: Bill Ormonde)
For Ms Kinsley, the extra couple of hundred dollars a week means she can take her kids on holidays for the first time in years.
Meanwhile, the job is a source of pride for Mr Holland, and his son and partner.
“The income really helps … like heaps,” he says.
“I want my son to get a good education where he is now and obviously, he enjoys daddy working at the farm, I always talk to him about the farm and my son loves hearing what I do each day.
“Coming here, [they] treat me differently because I am different and they accept me for who I am and I thank them for that.”
