Ideas to gain Agricultural experience

NiallM8

Im 18 and will be doing the leaving cert this June and I hope to go on and study Dairy Business next year in Dublin. I live on a nice sized dairy farm and I am very interested and hope to take over the running of it someday. However im looking for ideas on how I could make a bit of money myself over the summer either short term or longer term but I want to do it agriculturally. what would ye think are the best options for me to look into ? E.g Drawing silage, buying a bit of land, rearing calves? I have €5000 I could invest into this. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

djmc

Go out with your dad at calving and get some experience on calving checking pins dropping on cows and calving with jack straitening calves in cows calving backwards etc.
I assume you can already milk cows.
Some time on a big dairy farm in Ireland or abroad would stand to you too if that's what you want to get into in the future.
Anyone can drive a tractor its skills like grassland and animal management that will get you a job anywhere.
I'd use your money for travel rather than renting land or buying calves while you are young and make any mistakes with someone else's stock or money.
If you do buy your own stock maybe buy yearlings in spring and sell at end of year
That might not make you much but less to go wrong and you won't have wintering costs.

Timmaay

I got a friend with a dairyfarm, and was thinking seriously about the dairybusiness degree in UCD during his LC, however his teagasc adviser straight up told him it wasn't really the degree for an upcoming dairyfarmer, that it was alot more geared towards the dairy industry itself, and instead he convinced him to do a normal ag science degree in UCD which he could choice plenty of modules on dairying etc. How true all this is I don't have a clue ha, however I can put ya in touch with my friend to explain more if your interested, drop me a PM.

And yeh agreed with the above, go get paid experience, forget about trying to use the 5k and tie yourself down into any one enterprise/business for the second. If you really want to you could ask your dad straight out does he want an investment of 5grand on the farm, and negotiate a cash interest rate with him, you would get at best 1% in the banks, money will cost him 4 or 5% so something fair would be he pays you 3% per year haha!

Timmaay

I got a friend with a dairyfarm, and was thinking seriously about the dairybusiness degree in UCD during his LC, however his teagasc adviser straight up told him it wasn't really the degree for an upcoming dairyfarmer, that it was alot more geared towards the dairy industry itself, and instead he convinced him to do a normal ag science degree in UCD which he could choice plenty of modules on dairying etc. How true all this is I don't have a clue ha, however I can put ya in touch with my friend to explain more if your interested, drop me a PM.

And yeh agreed with the above, go get paid experience, forget about trying to use the 5k and tie yourself down into any one enterprise/business for the second. If you really want to you could ask your dad straight out does he want an investment of 5grand on the farm, and negotiate a cash interest rate with him, you would get at best 1% in the banks, money will cost him 4 or 5% so something fair would be he pays you 3% per year haha!

einn32

Animal science or Animal Crop Production might suit you better if you want to farm in the future but I guess do what interests you. Keep your money for the nights out or whatever your interests are outside work! Paid work experience I reckon is a good idea. That's where you really learn.

carrollsno1

Maybe im wrong when i say this but if your going home to farm why would you go to ucd would an ag college not be a better option fair enough you have a degree to fall back on if the farm goes under but other than that i cant see much more advantages

cattle man

Timmaay wrote: »

I got a friend with a dairyfarm, and was thinking seriously about the dairybusiness degree in UCD during his LC, however his teagasc adviser straight up told him it wasn't really the degree for an upcoming dairyfarmer, that it was alot more geared towards the dairy industry itself, and instead he convinced him to do a normal ag science degree in UCD which he could choice plenty of modules on dairying etc. How true all this is I don't have a clue ha, however I can put ya in touch with my friend to explain more if your interested, drop me a PM.

And yeh agreed with the above, go get paid experience, forget about trying to use the 5k and tie yourself down into any one enterprise/business for the second. If you really want to you could ask your dad straight out does he want an investment of 5grand on the farm, and negotiate a cash interest rate with him, you would get at best 1% in the banks, money will cost him 4 or 5% so something fair would be he pays you 3% per year haha!

Have to totally disagree with you having completed the dairy business degree in UCD if dairy farming is what you want to do this is the level 8 course for you. Acp and animal science don't focus on the grass or dairy side of things enough. The work experience in nz, the 6 months in moorepark are invaluable in terms of education and also for networking with some really progress farmers in Ireland.

keep going

NiallM8 wrote: »

Im 18 and will be doing the leaving cert this June and I hope to go on and study Dairy Business next year in Dublin. I live on a nice sized dairy farm and I am very interested and hope to take over the running of it someday. However im looking for ideas on how I could make a bit of money myself over the summer either short term or longer term but I want to do it agriculturally. what would ye think are the best options for me to look into ? E.g Drawing silage, buying a bit of land, rearing calves? I have €5000 I could invest into this. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

If I was in your shoes id head to England for .the summer and try and get work on a farm that has a different system to your own.

carrollsno1

Re england 4xtrahands is a good place to start when looking for jobs

Greengrass1

carrollsno1 wrote: »

Maybe im wrong when i say this but if your going home to farm why would you go to ucd would an ag college not be a better option fair enough you have a degree to fall back on if the farm goes under but other than that i cant see much more advantages

Ye need to experience college life..
Ag college is only a 4 mth stint away from mammy and daddy. That's not enough.
Get all the veering out a your system while your young

cattle man

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Ye need to experience college life..
Ag college is only a 4 mth stint away from mammy and daddy. That's not enough.
Get all the veering out a your system while your young

best days of your life

Timmaay

cattle man wrote: »

Have to totally disagree with you having completed the dairy business degree in UCD if dairy farming is what you want to do this is the level 8 course for you. Acp and animal science don't focus on the grass or dairy side of things enough. The work experience in nz, the 6 months in moorepark are invaluable in terms of education and also for networking with some really progress farmers in Ireland.

That sounds very reasonable, as I was just going on what my friend had told me, but by the sound of it his adviser was wrong so!

carrollsno1

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Ye need to experience college life..
Ag college is only a 4 mth stint away from mammy and daddy. That's not enough.
Get all the veering out a your system while your young

If you were anyway good at all in college you should get the 2nd year so thats 2 20 week drinking sessions with 2 placements in between it college life is like everything else in life youll only get out of it what you put into it 😊

Greengrass1

carrollsno1 wrote: »

If you were anyway good at all in college you should get the 2nd year so thats 2 20 week drinking sessions with 2 placements in between it college life is like everything else in life youll only get out of it what you put into it 😊

Still not the same.
A college is nothing like a regular college.
I went to kildalton and was in Waterford 3 nights a wk. Still wasn't as good as being in WIT

carrollsno1

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Still not the same.
A college is nothing like a regular college.
I went to kildalton and was in Waterford 3 nights a wk. Still wasn't as good as being in WIT

Fair point went there myself too didnt get a house in waterford but we all still had a great time there theres a lot to be said for goi g to a place where nearly everyone is from a farmi g background though

Greengrass1

Go milk for lads.
40e a milking. I had 4 farmers when I did it.
Could do 6 or 7 milkings a wk between them all.


Learned a lot too

freedominacup

carrollsno1 wrote: »

Fair point went there myself too didnt get a house in waterford but we all still had a great time there theres a lot to be said for goi g to a place where nearly everyone is from a farmi g background though

There's nothing to be said for going to a place where everyone is from a farming background. College should open your mind to new ideas and experiences. A couple of terms living in some teagasc facility out in the boonies is not a college experience. Imo the ag colleges as they stand should all be closed and the courses moved to the IT's.

The last thing agriculture in this country needs is another generation whose only extended period away from their home was in a place where everybody was from the same background with the same basic views on life where the whole thing becomes one big circle jerk with everyone convincing each other of the huge importance of the continuation of the status quo. Young farmers need to spend time in an environment where every idea they hold dear about their industry and way of life is challenged regularly.

carrollsno1

freedominacup wrote: »

There's nothing to be said for going to a place where everyone is from a farming background. College should open your mind to new ideas and experiences. A couple of terms living in some teagasc facility out in the boonies is not a college experience. Imo the ag colleges as they stand should all be closed and the courses moved to the IT's.

The last thing agriculture in this country needs is another generation whose only extended period away from their home was in a place where everybody was from the same background with the same basic views on life where the whole thing becomes one big circle jerk with everyone convincing each other of the huge importance of the continuation of the status quo. Young farmers need to spend time in an environment where every idea they hold dear about their industry and way of life is challenged regularly.

ag colleges surely do offer new experiences i had hardly ever looked at a sheep before ag college and ended up doing my 2 placements on sheep and beef farms mainly dealing with the sheep enterprise on one farm they offer students the chance to travel for placement the discussion groups on the advanced courses are unreal most of my class hadnt a notion about fodder crops or purchasing groups and we all gained an insight into both of those among other topics students can also go on to an IT afterwards if they wanted to

whelan2

freedominacup wrote: »

There's nothing to be said for going to a place where everyone is from a farming background. College should open your mind to new ideas and experiences. A couple of terms living in some teagasc facility out in the boonies is not a college experience. Imo the ag colleges as they stand should all be closed and the courses moved to the IT's.

The last thing agriculture in this country needs is another generation whose only extended period away from their home was in a place where everybody was from the same background with the same basic views on life where the whole thing becomes one big circle jerk with everyone convincing each other of the huge importance of the continuation of the status quo. Young farmers need to spend time in an environment where every idea they hold dear about their industry and way of life is challenged regularly.

When I went to college in England it really opened my eyes big time. Ag college here was nothing compared to it

freedominacup

whelan2 wrote: »

When I went to college in England it really opened my eyes big time. Ag college here was nothing compared to it

The condom machine in the jacks beside the bar was some revelation for us the previous year. Like night and day the difference between the two experiences.

tractorporn

whelan2 wrote:

When I went to college in England it really opened my eyes big time. Ag college here was nothing compared to it

I went to Harper Adams couldn't recommend it highly enough to anyone. Great ag college and a great social life. The fees have risen substantially and I don't think it would be financially viable now as it cost 9k sterling per term.

Miname

carrollsno1 wrote: »

ag colleges surely do offer new experiences i had hardly ever looked at a sheep before ag college and ended up doing my 2 placements on sheep and beef farms mainly dealing with the sheep enterprise on one farm they offer students the chance to travel for placement the discussion groups on the advanced courses are unreal most of my class hadnt a notion about fodder crops or purchasing groups and we all gained an insight into both of those among other topics students can also go on to an IT afterwards if they wanted to

It's life experience not agri experience. Having to to first inflict someone else's point of view and then maybe accepting it.

Timmaay

Agreed fully about a proper college experience over the usual ag college. Personally my only regret about my time in UCD was that it took me 3years before I became properly involved in a university sports club, and it wasn't until my 2nd stint with the PhD that I became heavily involved with a volunteer overseas society, both of which helped hugely open my eyes and gave fantastic experiences I'll remember for life. Anyone I get talking to who is just going into college I always make the point of explaining to them why they utterly have to go join and become properly involved with some sort of club or society in college. 2bh I think it's almost a failing of the modern education system that your college course gets all the attention, and things like gaining invaluable life experience from being involved with societies etc are often accidental, like they were in my case!

Milked out

NiallM8 wrote: »

Im 18 and will be doing the leaving cert this June and I hope to go on and study Dairy Business next year in Dublin. I live on a nice sized dairy farm and I am very interested and hope to take over the running of it someday. However im looking for ideas on how I could make a bit of money myself over the summer either short term or longer term but I want to do it agriculturally. what would ye think are the best options for me to look into ? E.g Drawing silage, buying a bit of land, rearing calves? I have €5000 I could invest into this. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

Perhaps look for a placement somewhere in Europe, could work on a dairy farm over there a lot of which would be good for tillage and crop experience s and take the last 2 or 3 weeks off before college and go interrailing or travelling around. If you want to stay in Ireland perhaps try and go work for another dairy farmer to see how others do it. You have probably learned a good bit at home but it's picking new things up would be the big benefit. Also a lot to be said for a summer job away from the farm perhaps at a local processor if it's not too far away to see the other side of the industry or even just getting experience at the 9 to 5 and workplace interaction etc.