At Dairy Day 2025, the Irish Farmers Journal will be holding an informative session on managing people in the farm business.

With plenty of competition in the jobs market, attracting good people to work on a farm can be difficult, particularly in the modern era where work-life balance and set hours are a key demand for the majority of potential employees.

The goal of this panel discussion will be to identify how farmers can best attract people to work in the business, with a focus on how to go about developing an appropriate roster.

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The ideal roster essentially boils down to one that all the employees on the farm are happy with, is sustainable and fulfils all legislative requirements.

That typically is the result of giving suitable time off and fair working hours, with a set number of holidays.

The panel at Dairy Day will delve deeper into the five and two roster, to see how it can be implemented effectively in all farm sizes

The industry target to achieve such demands for full-time employees would be best suited with a five and two roster, meaning five days on with two days off each week and a minimum of 20 days’ holidays per year.

The panel at Dairy Day will delve deeper into the five and two roster, to see how it can be implemented effectively in all farm sizes. The panellists on the day will include Conor Hogan, Tom O’Connell and Simon Lynskey.

Conor Hogan is currently working as the people specialist for Teagasc Moorepark.

Conor has done extensive research in the area and he joins the panel with a vast knowledge and experience on the topic.

Conor is working closely every day with farmers to develop good systems of work for people in the business and he will offer an excellent insight for all farm setups and sizes.

Joining Conor on the panel is Cork dairy farmer Tom O’Connell. Tom is farming on the outskirts of Cork city and has over 30 years’ experience in managing his own farming business.

Tom is well-known as a top-class dairy farmer, with an excellent ability to accommodate the people working on the farm and meeting different employee demands.

Our third panellist on the day is New Zealand dairy farmer Simon Lynskey.

Simon is farming in New Zealand’s North Island where he and his wife Lisa are milking 1,600 cows across two farms.

The farm is operating with six full-time equivalent labour units so Simon is well placed to discuss the whole area of people management.

As an employer, dairy farms are not often viewed as a great place to work by prospective employees.

This should not be the case as well-run dairy farms can offer an excellent lifestyle and balance provided the right structures are in place.