off farm job

whelan1

if you have an off farm job what is it ? - just being nosey

Tora Bora

whelan1 wrote: »

if you have an off farm job what is it ? - just being nosey

I'll show you mine, if you show me yours first :D

whelan1

i am a full time farmer - dairying and sucklers and 3 kids

reilig

Don't laugh but I work for one of the most criticised government agencies - FAS.
I have a permanent job which is subject to funding and could be axed any time that they decide to cut spending. So because of this I have not got a pension and the pay is poor enough. The only up side is that its only 35 hours a week which leaves time for working on the farm, and its flexible hours. No Kids, but 1 on the way in October.

Sam Kade

whelan1 wrote: »

i am a full time farmer - dairying and sucklers and 3 kids

I never knew you kept goats whelan

Username John

reilig wrote: »

Don't laugh but I work for one of the most criticised government agencies - FAS.

Really - I had you down as a teacher for some reason Reilig.

reilig

Username John wrote: »

Really - I had you down as a teacher for some reason Reilig.

I wish. If only for the holidays. I only get 20 days, teachers get 100

Username John

reilig wrote: »

I wish. If only for the holidays. I only get 20 days, teachers get 100

Yep - cant beat those holidays.

I am surprised, as you mentioned having a good few cattle, and doing contracting (wrapping bales& spraying) all while working, and only 20 days hols...

Feck it Reilig you're making me feel bad now, the amount you do, vs what I try to do myself...

Tora Bora

Factory worker .............. my job is to unravel knotty problems and tie up loose ends:cool:

reilig

Username John wrote: »

Yep - cant beat those holidays.

I am surprised, as you mentioned having a good few cattle, and doing contracting (wrapping bales& spraying) all while working, and only 20 days hols...

Feck it Reilig you're making me feel bad now, the amount you do, vs what I try to do myself...

I'm very lucky, the ould fella is retired but fairly nimble - takes the pressure off me looking at cattle in the mornings. The mrs is a teacher and likes her farming too so in the summer she does some work. But definitely if the old man wasn't at home to keep an eye on things I wouldn't be able to work full time. He can't drive the 4wd or is afraid to, but its so much easier when you don't have to look at cattle in the mornings or when you come home early from work for baleing and find that he has the meadow rowed up - even if he doesn't do it properly and goes around and around and around instead of cutting in on the outside two rows

We keed 60 suckler cows and sell 1/3 of our weinlings in september/October and the other 2/3 in february. Calve 1/3 of cows in October/November and 2/3 in February/March/April so as you can imagine those 5 months of the year are the busiest.

I only wrap about 1500 bales a year for other people - for 3 or 4 other neighbours who have their own balers but no wrapper.

Tora Bora

reilig wrote: »

I'm very lucky, the ould fella is retired but fairly nimble - takes the pressure off me looking at cattle in the mornings. The mrs is a teacher and likes her farming too so in the summer she does some work. But definitely if the old man wasn't at home to keep an eye on things I wouldn't be able to work full time. He can't drive the 4wd or is afraid to, but its so much easier when you don't have to look at cattle in the mornings or when you come home early from work for baleing and find that he has the meadow rowed up - even if he doesn't do it properly and goes around and around and around instead of cutting in on the outside two rows

We keed 60 suckler cows and sell 1/3 of our weinlings in september/October and the other 2/3 in february. Calve 1/3 of cows in October/November and 2/3 in February/March/April so as you can imagine those 5 months of the year are the busiest.

I only wrap about 1500 bales a year for other people - for 3 or 4 other neighbours who have their own balers but no wrapper.

Them top brass buckos in FAS, would want to take a good look at your capacity to "get stuff done", and learn a few things;)

reilig

Tora Bora wrote: »

Them top brass buckos in FAS, would want to take a good look at your capacity to "get stuff done", and learn a few things;)

Mine is sort of a specific role with them, working with specific people and to specific targets. FAS are a shambles to be honest. Their training is a joke - they are spending millions on training for people who used to work in construction, but this training has no focus and people are just doing the training to occupy themselves and hold on to the non means tested dole money. I know loads of blocklayers, plasterers and carpenters who are doing a 6 month course in career development. WTF?? The money could be far better spent by paying them the cost of their training on top of their dole money to go out and work on community projects. Anyway, my tales of woe from fas are for another day

Dozer1

Working as an Engineer in a factory, absolutely no interest would love to chuck it in and go full time farming but like reilig and most part timers here the maths don't add up, that and currently living 30 miles from the farm....house up for sale for nearly a year now:( at least it was a self build.
Also a thing I would see is there are a good few of our parents who are doing alot of work that we just can't get to if they weren't there then I'd say there would be far less sucklers in the country.

How many suckler cows would you want to have to go full time farming? Something I've been thinking about for awhile....

dryan

Im at the auld software meself. Work for a multi national in the midlands.
Like others here im one of the lucky lads that has the auld fella at home to do the herding and keep an eye on things. Only for him, i dont know what i'd do!
My farming is limited to a few evenings a week and weekends.

whelan1

Sam Kade wrote: »

I never knew you kept goats whelan

WOULD BE CHEAPER ON THE POCKET TO HAVE GOATS INSTEAD OF KIDS AND THEY WOULDNT ANSWER YOU BACK:rolleyes:

reps4

Engineeer in Medial Device company. Like others above, i would be lost if father wasn't at home to keep an eye on and do some of the smaller things.

snowman707

full time farmers

in the past have done a bit of livestock haulage and deliveries for my sister's wholesale business,

married a city girl who didn't know the difference between a massey ferguson and a hereford


started with 8 cows on 70 acres now keep 80 c/w some followers and 300 ewes and some forestry (220 acres)

worked to pay off the bank for 20 years but always had grub on the table and a warm bed.

pakalasa

Engineer in multinational.
Only saving grace is, I live only 10 miles from work, so checking on cows calving during the day is possible. Lived in Dublin before this, moved back when Dad passed away a few years back.
Before that I lived abroad, forced to emigrate in the last recession, early 90's. Never though I'd see a second one.:(

blue5000

I'm lucky I think, flexible hours working in a lab at research. OH works with relig!! Farming 60 suckler cows this year. My guess is you'd have to have more than 100 cows to farm fulltime.

reilig

blue5000 wrote: »

I'm lucky I think, flexible hours working in a lab at research. OH works with relig!! Farming 60 suckler cows this year. My guess is you'd have to have more than 100 cows to farm fulltime.

Its amazing isn't it, my mother and father raised 3 kids and put them through college on the income from milking 25 cows and selling the lambs from 50 ewes. They had no outside income and it wasn't that long ago. When I think about it, we had the best of everything, I remember that I was the first Kid in school to have a video machine (around 1984). Feckin profit from 25 dairy cows and 50 ewes for a year would just about buy you a video machine now :eek:

vanderbadger

interesting reading some of the coments, some fellas with the auld lad still going at home and some who have taken over since the auld fella passed away, im in the latter category. i can tell you it makes some difference if you only have someone at home who can lookin over the wall everyso often..I work for IT services company by the way, i shudder to think if I had to live off farm as it is currently, have spent alot of money i the last few years buy gear and trying to fix up sheds etc,it money i couldnt have spent if i wasnt working..i keep telling myself i will get to a point where things are in a reasonable state and the big cash drain wont be necessary but im not sure that will ever happen..i want to get to a state where i have a nice herd of cows, maybe 30 ish and move on the weanlings every year but the old fella used to keep calves on so I still have a big mix of cattle at the mo..vet once told me i was mad to try it (cows and calves), should just buy in a few cattle every year kinda thing..wouldnt make any money but sure im not making any now either.. I dont know what it isthough but there is something about producing a nice calf that very satisfying or at least i think it would be if I ever managed it so will stay at it for now anyway

Username John

pakalasa wrote: »

Engineer in multinational.
Only saving grace is, I live only 10 miles from work, so checking on cows calving during the day is possible. Lived in Dublin before this, moved back when Dad passed away a few years back.
Before that I lived abroad, forced to emigrate in the last recession, early 90's. Never though I'd see a second one.:(

Engineer as well.

Living fairly close to work as well, so handy enough. Was away from home before this, only moved back a few years ago.
Always had it in me head that I would do a bit of farming, just a small bit, purely as a hobby. But tis funny how when I started, I couldnt get enough... had kinda forgotten when I was away how much I enjoyed it...

Tora Bora

vanderbadger wrote: »

interesting reading some of the coments, some fellas with the auld lad still going at home and some who have taken over since the auld fella passed away, im in the latter category. i can tell you it makes some difference if you only have someone at home who can lookin over the wall everyso often..I work for IT services company by the way, i shudder to think if I had to live off farm as it is currently, have spent alot of money i the last few years buy gear and trying to fix up sheds etc,it money i couldnt have spent if i wasnt working..i keep telling myself i will get to a point where things are in a reasonable state and the big cash drain wont be necessary but im not sure that will ever happen..i want to get to a state where i have a nice herd of cows, maybe 30 ish and move on the weanlings every year but the old fella used to keep calves on so I still have a big mix of cattle at the mo..vet once told me i was mad to try it (cows and calves), should just buy in a few cattle every year kinda thing..wouldnt make any money but sure im not making any now either.. I dont know what it isthough but there is something about producing a nice calf that very satisfying or at least i think it would be if I ever managed it so will stay at it for now anyway

I was in the buying in game, and bringing them to forward stores for a few years. I was plagued with TB:mad:. Plagued at the ring trying to buy a few weanlings, when the gang around the ring would push the price way up:mad: As soon as I would move away ........ pushing stopped:mad:
Changed to suckler cows. More work, but never had TB reactor since. It's fukkin amazing, how you can go to a mart and bring home an animal who was TB tested a month before tha day you bought him. A month after you bought him, you have the annual test. Guess what, the animal you bought goes down and wait for it .......... kills out with lesions:eek: So that particular animal went from healthy to lesions in two months:pac::pac:
I gave up at that point, and closed the gate to all buying in:)

Username John

vanderbadger wrote: »

i keep telling myself i will get to a point where things are in a reasonable state and the big cash drain wont be necessary but im not sure that will ever happen..

Dont we all

gerico

engineering (self employed) so the hours are discretionary). with income generated so low from sucker/weanling that the farm is at best a distraction or hobby depending on the workload and time of year.

bbam

Maintenance Engineering Manager... Funny there is a fair tune of Eng folks in the part time farming.. Have been running the farm along with the mother for past few years since Dad passed away.. We're making a few €€ but just can't see a way to make 40acres a full time business. When we milked 20/22 cows back in the 70's there was a nice living to be made.

My Dad always had an off farm job or ran his own haulage business so we've always been part-time farmers..

tismesoitis

metal fabricator on flexiable hours(brothers buisness) also set up my own gate automation buisness. lucky to have an active auld fella wit good eyes and ears! have approx 60 - 70 sucklers aiming to produce weanlings for export. married to a lady with absolutly no interest in farming due first child in september. plan to expand cows to a minimum of 120 and give up d job should get by ok with them numbers and d bit of gate auto

sea12

Work in sales for a multinational in Dublin. Travel up to Dublin from Midlands everyday. Would be lost without parents especially at Lambing time. Dont know what I will do in years to come to be honest.
Agree with a post above your always striving to get farm into a nice position bit its a moving target. Doesnt really make economic sense but Farming is so enjoyable.

roosterman71

Software Engineer too. I live an hour away from the farm so the old lad does the general looking after of things and then I do the heavy work at the weekends. I must book a few days off now actually to do the silage!!

dryan

Jaysus, there are alot of engineers out there.

Im 13 years now farming/working and every now and then, it pops into my head, why the hell didnt i do teaching?

Wouldnt it be so handy with the farming?
Good salary, summer off, mid term breaks, 3 weeks at xmas?

If only i could do it all again.....

pakalasa

Got talking to a vet that called into our place a few years back. He qualified as a Vet and then went teaching, didnt take that long to qualify with the primary degree in veterinary.
Anyway, he was working during the summer then as a vet with a large practice. He must have been coining it.

vanderbadger

would he not have made more as a vet the full year round?

pakalasa

I think it was more the workload that got to him.
Veterinary is a tough job.
At the risk of being sexist, I see a lot of young women at veterinary now. You can tell they are more animal lovers, than people that understand farming. Thats not to say they dont make great vets, (If anything their attitude is better that their male colleauges) but you wonder will they stick it out for the long road.

vanderbadger

pakalasa wrote: »

I think it was more the workload that got to him.
Veterinary is a tough job.
At the risk of being sexist, I see a lot of young women at veterinary now. You can tell they are more animal lovers, than people that understand farming. Thats not to say they dont make great vets, but you wonder will they stick it out for the long road.

there is a course in vet med in budapest now that i think alot of people are going for, easier to get into than here and its in english! ya tough old job though, that said i would say the guys who have or local monopoly i mean practice are millionaires

whelan1

pakalasa wrote: »

I think it was more the workload that got to him.
Veterinary is a tough job.
At the risk of being sexist, I see a lot of young women at veterinary now. You can tell they are more animal lovers, than people that understand farming. Thats not to say they dont make great vets, (If anything their attitude is better that their male colleauges) but you wonder will they stick it out for the long road.

the vets we use there is 1 woman vet in it - now to point out i am a woman and am in no way sexist - she is crap , every animal she goes near gets worse :mad: i am at the stage when i put in a call i ask for her not to come out , i think in all fairness vets should spend a year after college on placement watching hows it done and then go in to the big world , text book is different to practical

bbam

Two female vets in our local practice and they're great..

whelan1

ye the female vet that was there before this one was better than the lads but this one is crap :rolleyes:

whelan1

so if any of your jobs where to go tomorrow would you be able to live off the farm?

blue5000

ya but we'd have to economise!!

bbam

whelan1 wrote: »

so if any of your jobs where to go tomorrow would you be able to live off the farm?

Afraid not.. herself earnes well, actually enough that we could just get bye and she only works half time. (note to self... buy more flowers!)

Chevy RV

vanderbadger wrote: »

VETS :- ya tough old job though, that said i would say the guys who have or local monopoly i mean practice are millionaires

On paper yes, but as an accountant to a fairly big veterninary practice, it's amazing to see how under pressure their business actually is. Many farmers are slow paying ,promising that SFP to all and sundry well before it arrives.;)

LostCovey

Chevy RV wrote: »

On paper yes, but as an accountant to a fairly big veterninary practice, it's amazing to see how under pressure their business actually is. Many farmers are slow paying ,promising that SFP to all and sundry well before it arrives.;)

Well if they give credit to a sector that is losing money (apart from the SFP), that is probably inevitable.

LC

whelan1

Chevy RV wrote: »

On paper yes, but as an accountant to a fairly big veterninary practice, it's amazing to see how under pressure their business actually is. Many farmers are slow paying ,promising that SFP to all and sundry well before it arrives.;)

i :eek:was shocked when my vet told me one particular farmer owed him nearly 20k , made me feel alot better about the 2k i owe him...

pakalasa

After our herd test last year, my Vet asked if I could pay, there and then as he left the yard. The first time ever, I was asked. Now, we always settle the a/c within the month.
It made me realise how strapped they were for cash.