February 13th 1999

Training - a labour solution

By Francis Quigley

Most contractors are only looking for staff for a short period of the year. Generally, there is very little work for a tractor driver during the winter months. As the work is so seasonal and the hours are so long, very few people feel it is the ideal job. If you have an interest in being a tractor driver, there are ways that you can improve you position with education.

If as a young driver you became better educated in skills suitable for the contracting business you would find that there is far more work for you around the contractors yard and office. And you may get a break from the tractor seat.

On wet days, the contractor will still have work to be done in the garage servicing machinery, or repairing and preparing equipment for the next season. Another option which has been overlooked by a lot of the contractors, is that a trained tractor driver can go into the office on a wet day or during the winter months to carry out management tasks.

With some business training, this flexible driver could work on calculating bills, working out wages or even machinery management. There are a number of colleges around the country, which offer suitable courses for students leaving school who may be interested in this line of work.

Salesian Agricultural College Pallaskenry, Co. Limerick, has a two-year diploma course in the operation, maintenance and repair of farm machinery. This is a hands-on course, with about two-thirds of the course time allocated to practical work and the remainder in the classroom.

During the term, each of the students will have to complete a practical project. This may be overhauling a tractor engine or transmission or more of a fabrication project, the choice is up to the student.

All of the students have to complete a term of work experience. The 12-month period from April in the first year to March in the second year is spent with an agricultural contractor, or machinery dealer or importer, who are registered with the college.

Another alternative, which some of the students have taken up, is to work abroad. There are six students currently working in the USA with agricultural contractors.

In the last term, there is a three-week course in machinery management. As most of the students get computer experience during the course, they are quite comfortable with this type of work.

Heywood Community College in Co. Laois offers a one-year course in machinery operation. The course is again aimed at the students who want to gain some education in the practical side of machinery maintenance and basic engineering work, such as welding and fabrication.

The Heywood Community College course puts a lot of emphasis on computer training and personal development. According to the course directors, the students gain a lot of training in dealing with people and should be well equipped to handle customer relations in functions such as money collection.