Farm hand

braveheart1

Hi. I took over the family dairy farm in difficult circumstances last year. I have given up a permanent teaching job to allow me to do so. An outside farm was acquired by my family farm recent years. At that stage my father and younger brother were farming.Both are now deceased. I am coping fairly well with limited experience. Where i struggle is when something breaks down or needs repairing. I don't have the mechanical knowhow and lack skills such as welding, plumbing, electrical work etc. I get in paid labor to give me hand. I also lack second pair of hands around the farm. Some jobs would be much easier if someone could assist. For exampe i had to get a cousin in this morning to assist me with bringing in cows and heifers for scanning. I am open to suggestions as to where i could find someone give me a hand. Is it possible to get a person with farming experience from abroad who would like to reside in Ireland for a period of time? Is Jobsbridge a possibility? Are there other options? I have a 2 bedroom cottage lying idle on the farm. It could either be used to house any body willing to work on the farm or it could be rented long term and the rent would enable me to hire in help maybe one day a week. Is it difficult to find someone to help out once a week. Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

epfff

braveheart1 wrote: »

Hi. I took over the family dairy farm in difficult circumstances last year. I have given up a permanent teaching job to allow me to do so. An outside farm was acquired by my family farm recent years. At that stage my father and younger brother were farming.Both are now deceased. I am coping fairly well with limited experience. Where i struggle is when something breaks down or needs repairing. I don't have the mechanical knowhow and lack skills such as welding, plumbing, electrical work etc. I get in paid labor to give me hand. I also lack second pair of hands around the farm. Some jobs would be much easier if someone could assist. For exampe i had to get a cousin in this morning to assist me with bringing in cows and heifers for scanning. I am open to suggestions as to where i could find someone give me a hand. Is it possible to get a person with farming experience from abroad who would like to reside in Ireland for a period of time? Is Jobsbridge a possibility? Are there other options? I have a 2 bedroom cottage lying idle on the farm. It could either be used to house any body willing to work on the farm or it could be rented long term and the rent would enable me to hire in help maybe one day a week. Is it difficult to find someone to help out once a week. Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Ideal world take on a guy/gal 39 hrs a week minimum wage
But maybe that's hard to financially justify
Get labourers between two farms
Good neighbours is what I rely On wher. We would do jobs ttogether hour here and there
Also very handy in emergency for loan of tractor extra tractor etc
So long stRoy short get to know neighbours or friends in the area

whitebriar

Have you tried the FRS?

popa smurf

practical skills will come in time if your heart is in it I think dairy farming is full on and a massive change from teaching I think what you need is a farm manager more than just a farm hand and a good farm manager will need to be well paid maybe a good working partner would suit better what part of country you in.

bob charles

braveheart1 wrote: »

Hi. I took over the family dairy farm in difficult circumstances last year. I have given up a permanent teaching job to allow me to do so. An outside farm was acquired by my family farm recent years. At that stage my father and younger brother were farming.Both are now deceased. I am coping fairly well with limited experience. Where i struggle is when something breaks down or needs repairing. I don't have the mechanical knowhow and lack skills such as welding, plumbing, electrical work etc. I get in paid labor to give me hand. I also lack second pair of hands around the farm. Some jobs would be much easier if someone could assist. For exampe i had to get a cousin in this morning to assist me with bringing in cows and heifers for scanning. I am open to suggestions as to where i could find someone give me a hand. Is it possible to get a person with farming experience from abroad who would like to reside in Ireland for a period of time? Is Jobsbridge a possibility? Are there other options? I have a 2 bedroom cottage lying idle on the farm. It could either be used to house any body willing to work on the farm or it could be rented long term and the rent would enable me to hire in help maybe one day a week. Is it difficult to find someone to help out once a week. Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

there are plenty of enthusiastic young workers to be had, to find them is the hard part. I have a couple that I can call on that work during the summer mosts with machinery but during the winter months are looking for work. but these guys are good and are always busy and not available everyday.

FarmersSon

Gumtree.ie - farming section under jobs.

whelan1

either put an ad in your local shop or have a look on donedeal, i assume you dont want some one full time just a few hours a week, make sure if you are taking someone on that you get a reference from them of some one to ring about them. There is a scheme - cant remember the name- that you get assistamce if you take some one on that has been on the social welfare system for over a year

Cran

Would highly recommend FRS, it offers a flexibility around hours etc rather than a full time person and also removes the paper work aspect until your more comfortable with it. Also if the person doesn't work out makes it easier to change.....

lakill Farm

get a young student? maybe 3rd level agri student? off all summer, off weeks during the year where they could help, especially at easter. Rolling, slurry. Most wount mind working saturday and sunday during term and be free all summer.

rs8

frs are hit and miss i do find, i think the student way is the way to go or you could be luckly on the likes of gumtree

vinne

If I were you i'd try and get someone that lives in a 4 mile radius. Get them for three hours a day, five days a week. This way they have a steady few euro coming in ,and it won't be too bad on your pocket , and if something come up out of the blue their not too far away. You can put that person on the pay roll putting up a stamp for them and putting it all against your tax.

lakill Farm

get someone on jobbridge for free for 9months

bob charles

lakill Farm wrote: »

get someone on jobbridge for free for 9months

think thats the scheme im on for the last 10 yrs

vinne

bob charles wrote: »

think thats the scheme im on for the last 10 yrs

do you pay these people anything yourself

rs8

€50 and they still get there stole, on percentage the people who will work for this are duds, ya could be very luckly also but when your dealing with animals you need to get someone you can trust

J DEERE

Jobsbridge is a ridiculous scheme. Nobody should be expected to work a full week for 250 in this day and age especially not on a farm which wouldn't really count as skilled work.

As far as I'm aware, the scheme was set up for graduates in an effort to combat the "need experience to get a job but can't get a job without experience" dilemma which faces a lot of college graduates trying to get a job. The objective was to give these people an opportunity to gain experience in their area of knowledge and work forth from that. But of course, like most things in Ireland, it went unregulated and has now been exploited by employers looking for free labour and offering little in return.

If you do decide to take someone through Jobsbridge full time and they turn out decent then you should supplement their 250 with cash in hand or a benefit in kind of some sort. 40hr week @10hr is 400. This would cost you 150 for a full weeks work. If you can't afford to pay that then you shouldn't employ someone

Viewtodiefor

J DEERE wrote: »

Jobsbridge is a ridiculous scheme. Nobody should be expected to work a full week for 250 in this day and age especially not on a farm which wouldn't really count as skilled work.

As far as I'm aware, the scheme was set up for graduates in an effort to combat the "need experience to get a job but can't get a job without experience" dilemma which faces a lot of college graduates trying to get a job. The objective was to give these people an opportunity to gain experience in their area of knowledge and work forth from that. But of course, like most things in Ireland, it went unregulated and has now been exploited by employers looking for free labour and offering little in return.

If you do decide to take someone through Jobsbridge full time and they turn out decent then you should supplement their 250 with cash in hand or a benefit in kind of some sort. 40hr week @10hr is 400. This would cost you 150 for a full weeks work. If you can't afford to pay that then you shouldn't employ someone

Couldn't agree more with you!

braveheart1

I am not looking to take advantage of anyone. As I mentioned in my original post i can offer them a 2 bedroom cottage and if i got someone in i would also give them a wage.

braveheart1

At no stage did i say that i wasn't in a position to pay someone, i am just looking for the best way of getting someone in on a regular basis.

Zr105

It would never be any harm to go and talk to some of the neighbours, some of them may have a man full time but dont quite have enough for them to do so you could perhaps come to an agreement, they may even have a son or daughter that works the farm and knows what their at but would like a few extra quid! Plus its good to have a friendly neighbour that you can ring for a hand when something goes wrong or even just to talk through something if your unsure to i ahead with it or not!

Viewtodiefor

braveheart1 wrote: »

I am not looking to take advantage of anyone. As I mentioned in my original post i can offer them a 2 bedroom cottage and if i got someone in i would also give them a wage.

Wasn't aimed at you at all . Was at jobbridge really

jimmy G M

vinne wrote: »

If I were you i'd try and get someone that lives in a 4 mile radius. Get them for three hours a day, five days a week. This way they have a steady few euro coming in ,and it won't be too bad on your pocket , and if something come up out of the blue their not too far away. You can put that person on the pay roll putting up a stamp for them and putting it all against your tax.

Something along the lines of what's outlined above makes good sense. You might get someone with a farm locally who might be looking to supplement their own farm income. The added benefit here is that they might have good level of experience and an opportunity to share machinery possibly as part payment. I used to work with an Agri Contractor p/t years ago, didn't get paid much but got slurry spread for free.

grassroot1

Why not look into forming a farm partnership? and/or Join a discussion dairy group someone there will be able to recommend good help plus the educational benefits

jimmyw

J DEERE wrote: »

Jobsbridge is a ridiculous scheme. Nobody should be expected to work a full week for 250 in this day and age especially not on a farm which wouldn't really count as skilled work.

As far as I'm aware, the scheme was set up for graduates in an effort to combat the "need experience to get a job but can't get a job without experience" dilemma which faces a lot of college graduates trying to get a job. The objective was to give these people an opportunity to gain experience in their area of knowledge and work forth from that. But of course, like most things in Ireland, it went unregulated and has now been exploited by employers looking for free labour and offering little in return.

If you do decide to take someone through Jobsbridge full time and they turn out decent then you should supplement their 250 with cash in hand or a benefit in kind of some sort. 40hr week @10hr is 400. This would cost you 150 for a full weeks work. If you can't afford to pay that then you shouldn't employ someone

I know JB is off topic and I do agree with you about it to a degree, but what you said there is I think against the rules.You cant do it.But you could take them on after the 9 months and pay what you like providing it complies with the law;).Ive seen them positions on the site, so they do exist.

tony007

braveheart1 wrote: »

I am not looking to take advantage of anyone. As I mentioned in my original post i can offer them a 2 bedroom cottage and if i got someone in i would also give them a wage.

Where about in the country are you located?

caseman

epfff wrote: »

Ideal world take on a guy/gal 39 hrs a week minimum wage
But maybe that's hard to financially justify
Get labourers between two farms
Good neighbours is what I rely On wher. We would do jobs ttogether hour here and there
Also very handy in emergency for loan of tractor extra tractor etc
So long stRoy short get to know neighbours or friends in the area

Do you know any local beef farmers that seem to be good at their job.
Some of these might be looking for part time work, hope this helps.

tommy5678

are you in cork

RoscommonTom

God help you, you will learn these things as the time goes by. Some of the farming courses send fellas out on work experience so you could try some Thu g like one of them, a neighbour had a polish fella working for him for a while too, mighty worker and dirt cheap bit was found of the vodka, best of luck

Zr105

RoscommonTom wrote: »

God help you, you will learn these things as the time goes by. Some of the farming courses send fellas out on work experience so you could try some Thu g like one of them, a neighbour had a polish fella working for him for a while too, mighty worker and dirt cheap bit was found of the vodka, best of luck

I dont think the course student idea would work as most of the colleges like to send students out to a place were they will be shown the ropes rather than being expected to be able to half run the place.... Also it would only be a few weeks at a specific time of year unless you got a local lad and managed to keep him on after

milkprofit

J deer
Quote Jobsbridge is a ridiculous scheme. Nobody should be expected to work a full week for 250 in this day and age especially not on a farm which wouldn't really count as skilled work.
Is milking feeding calves dosing tractor building bales etc not skilled work
Why demean what we do

nicneamtu

Braveheart1 I've sent you pm

sadhbhc15

Try www.helpx.net
Huge amount of people on there willing to give a hand for 4-5 hours a day in exchange for food and accommodation