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Around 40% of online calf registrations with the Department of Agriculture take place between 8pm and 8am.
Teagasc’s Abigail Ryan revealed the figure at an IFA farm employment seminar held on 12 December in Portlaoise.
She said registering calves late at night increased the chances of mistakes being made.
In an effort to limit the number of late-night registrations, she recommended farmers set up an office that they enjoyed using.
Attracting staff
She also said that facilities, such as an office as well as toilets and a lunch area, can help to attract and retain staff.
The event focused heavily on how to manage staff and what the characteristics of a good employer are.
Abigail said simple things made the biggest difference, with communication high on the list.
“People are annoyed if things aren’t organised.
"Increasingly, dairy farming is moving towards a business approach.
"You need things like an induction and weekly meetings.”
She added that in cases where money became an issue, it was generally not the level of pay, but rather employees not being paid on time.
Labour source
John Brosnan and Padraig Madden of Farm Relief Services (FRS) admitted that as Ireland neared full employment and eastern Europe became more prosperous, it was becoming harder to find labour.
They said, for most farms, employing someone for 40 hours a week for 52 weeks was not attractive and 50 hours a week in March and 10 hours per week in September was not attractive either for the employee.
Padraig said: “We are looking at people outside of agriculture and the traditional sources of labour to meet the demand for part-time staff.
"We’ve looked for drystock farmers, for women in ag and for people on jobseekers allowance.”
Training
A recent initiative between FRS and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection piloted in Kilkenny and Waterford has seen over 40 people trained as dairy operators.
Padraig said there has also been success in attracting more women to work on dairy farms, due to the flexible nature of the work.
He admitted there was often a lack of willingness for drystock farmers to work on dairy farms.
He re-emphasised Abigail’s point that facilities such as toilets and canteens were important, as they showed staff that employers had respect for them.
The provision of on-farm accommodation was also noted as a factor growing in importance when it came to attracting staff.
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