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The discussion panel organised by Ulster Bank included Young Farmer of the Year PJ O’Keeffe, Pat Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Nurseries and Niall Flynn, a new entrant to dairy from Waterford.
PJ O’Keeffe stressed the importance of looking at farm wages and how hard it is going to be to attract skilled labour.
We need to radically look at how we pay people, but where will that money come from is the challenge
“I look at my profit monitor and I look at what I spend on labour, and if I bring it up another €20-30/cow it’s still not massive,” he said.
“I actually think the Government needs to help us. We need to open the gate and let people in from different countries. Currently I have a girl from New Zealand helping rear calves, but she has to be gone in eight months. Training is a huge drain on resources and we have very little time to do it. If we are exporting labour after a few months it’s not feasible."
“When we do see someone is actually good, give them the opportunity to make the mistakes I made.”
In contrast to the dairy industry, Pat Fitzgerald, who runs a plant breeding business based in Kilkenny, outlined his experience with sourcing labour.
Attraction is the word
“We do attract labour reasonably successfully and in the last two or three years staff have realised it doesn’t matter where they come from, they don’t need to stay on minimum wage.
“For amateurs, we grew our staff management quite well, but we are still learning."
When faced with the idea of expanding, Niall Flynn is reluctant to increase herd size unless suitable labour becomes available.
“It all depends if I can get someone to help me. I would rather manage what I have and do it well, rather than go to 150 cows and be on my own," the young farmer said.
“Currently any of the younger lads just want the tractor work.”
Tillage farmers on dairy farms?
Pat Deering TD, chair of the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee, suggested that tillage farmers may have a role to play in assisting dairy farmers.
"The tillage sector is obviously more seasonal and they may have time available to help,” he said. “People will go for the nine to five job, but having labour available to improve your lifestyle is essential going forward.”
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