About wages and conditions

rotary parlour is due to start in November.

The existing herringbone parlour, even with 40 units and two milking at any time, was beginning to creak, with the milking of 520 cows taking up on three hours.

The logic for the new rotary is pretty clear-cut. A net cost of about €250,000 will knock over an hour off milking time, with one man less in the parlour. By this measure alone it will pay for itself in less than 10 years.

With a capacity to milk 350 cows per hour, it also opens up the possibility of expanding the herd further without compromising the amount of time that cows would have to stand around in the collecting yard.

That’s the thing about getting highly qualified labour.

First of all you need a set-up that’s big enough to carry the cost of employing the best. But the best will also have their pick of places to work, so conditions and lifestyle become crucial.

So that’s the choice — either get comfortable employing people who may have very limited English and, sometimes, limited skills, or invest in building facilities that are attractive to the cream of the crop.

Unfortunately for most farmers, they are stuck somewhere in between these — still adamant that a ‘foreigner’ won’t do, but unwilling or unable to invest to the level that makes the farm work attractive to Irish candidates who currently have a world of opportunity.

Farmers are also hampered by the fact that many have never worked full-time for somebody else. So it’s hard for them to get into the mindset of the employee. Unless you’ve been there, it’s very difficult to appreciate just how unappealing it is to continually put in ‘a few extra hours’, give up weekends, and work in dirty conditions, all for somebody else’s gain.

Teagasc is making a big push to promote the job opportunities in Irish farming. But it will ultimately be down to farmers to make the running on this issue.

That’s where the realism comes in. No amount of glossy ads or catchy tweets are going to encourage Irish people to take up jobs on farms if they think that there are better paid jobs with better conditions just down the road.