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Best job for part time farmer.

laoch na mona

seen as a lot of us are part time these days I'm curious what do you think are the best jobs for farmers.

Obviously what makes a job good is different for different people but considering basics like time commitment, cross over skills, commute, and income (the important one) and any other important criteria you can think of, what do you think makes a job suitable for a farmer.

My current job is office based and full time, The skills I've learned defiantly help with the business side of farming and set hours mean that I can plan my time relatively well.

Importantly for me I'm able to save/pay off my student debt. I could see my self needing a job which involves less hours in a few years though

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Icelandicseige

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Yes I suppose you are right a small truck or medium van and fill it to the gils and get the boat every Thursday morning to the UK or the Contenitant. Then sell at there wekend markets or door to door and home Sunday or Monday. You be looking forward to Thursday morning I am sure.nSorry I think I will keep the day job.

Sure why would ye go to the UK. Isn't there enough restaurants in your county and they few surrounding you to keep ye happy.

Obviously not a simple as said but not as tough as your making out either.

Look if one is happy in there day job that's all well and good. Some have the drive and aren't happy to work for someone else. Different strokes for different folks.

390kid

Worked shift work for a year loads a time off for the farm and ok money, but I hated it. Had to leave it, concreteing now so no set finishing time at that.

Bass Reeves

Icelandicseige wrote: »

Sure why would ye go to the UK. Isn't there enough restaurants in your county and they few surrounding you to keep ye happy.

Obviously not a simple as said but not as tough as your making out either.

Look if one is happy in there day job that's all well and good. Some have the drive and aren't happy to work for someone else. Different strokes for different folks.

No there isn't enough restaurants or markets or shops. We export 90% of the food we produce. Yes 90% think about that. Restaurants would take less than 0.1% of Irish agricultural produce. Over 50% of the beef we produce goes to the UK, France takes Over 80% of the lamb we produce. We export our dairy products all over the world. You are left with fruit and veg a miniscule market that is dominated by retailers dealing with 1-2' suppliers for each product.

I am afraid it is a very limited option for a very small number of people. It is not about drive it is about what is possible. Drive is not the issue either it is simple economics. The market is too limited.

laoch na mona

kowtow wrote: »

The perfect 'second" job for a farmer is surely as a travelling salesman / delivery service.

For his own produce.

would there be many doing that, other than small scale organic horticultural operations which sell at farmers markets and the like

cj maxx

I would have thought any factory / warehouse / general operative job close to home and where you're not a boss/foreman would be grand to help the farm

Grueller

cjmc wrote: »

I would have thought any factory / warehouse / general operative job close to home and where you're not a boss/foreman would be grand to help the farm

Imo that should be the other way around. The farm should be a few extra pound in the system with the job as the main income.

cj maxx

Grueller wrote: »

Imo that should be the other way around. The farm should be a few extra pound in the system with the job as the main income.

True , but from the POV of someone with no qualifications for a a well paid office job and too old to start at the bottom it's about all that's feasible in a lot of cases. It all depends on where your coming from really . Are you a employee supplementing your income with farming or a farmer supplementing your income ( ?) by getting employment. Are you near a major town ? A lot of variables in this

dryan

Physical/sports therapist.
Flexible hours.
Mostly cash transactions.

Along with farming, it would be a match made in heaven.

kowtow

Bass Reeves wrote: »

I am afraid it is a very limited option for a very small number of people. It is not about drive it is about what is possible. Drive is not the issue either it is simple economics. The market is too limited.

+100 certainly as we have things set up today.

It would be nice to think that we could re-balance a bit so that premium and local foods and the markets that go with them became a part of the business of more and more farmers rather than a hipster niche - indeed I'm sure we'd be a healthier farming economy for it - but saying it and making it happen are two different things altogether.

Siamsa Sessions

What about getting involved in research projects?

Most agri-research funding from Irish Government and EU has to involve farmers (despite the Universities/Academics best efforts!).

Much of it is done thru Teagasc so you'd have to be "engaged" with them, but there are other Rural Development Programmes that offer funding for different projects.

Not sure how to go about it myself, but I reckon there's plenty options around farm data - how to gather it, process it, etc. For a little extra work, the farmer gets paid from his/her new "research enterprise"

Bass Reeves

Too many here have too fertile imagination's. If you have children !Ake sure they get the best education possible. Ifyour farm is incapable of supporting a decent living or may not do so in the future, or it !May be incapable of two incomes. Then you have to look at realistic options. There are thousands of different jobs out there it depends on the person's ability. Not everyone can be a teacher or a Garda or a nurse. However with farming at present it looks like on the drystock side people will need to supplement that farming income. For some that means a full-time job for other part time work may be suitable. Some choice to supplement there income by agro contracting, cattle dealing and transport.

However more and more farmers children are looking up the career/work ladder. Alot no longer want there work dependent on other farmers. Just because you are an AI/scan technician dose not mean that you do not have to be at specific places at specific times. Most other work is the same. He who pays the piper calls the tune. That is not today that some jobs are more flexible than others. However things like GPS has taken away a lot of traditional flexibility. Having a second self employed income may have it advantages but in general it hard to beat collecting your pay every Thursday or Friday.

If as an older farmer you need to partially supplement you income there are more and more part time jobs around. Lots of transportation and bus companies require/want drivers for only 2-3 days a week. The amount of semi retired lads and farmers driving school busses is substantial. If it is full-time work you require then that is there as well. Biggest issue with older farmers is maybe limited skillet or the need to go and get those extra licences which cost money. But at the moment if you want work I is there. This was not the case 2-6 years ago. But the biggest thing to remember is you new job has to get priority as well as the farm

yosemitesam1

kowtow wrote: »

+100 certainly as we have things set up today.

It would be nice to think that we could re-balance a bit so that premium and local foods and the markets that go with them became a part of the business of more and more farmers rather than a hipster niche - indeed I'm sure we'd be a healthier farming economy for it - but saying it and making it happen are two different things altogether.

Did you ever read the farming ladder? Based on a mans experience setting up from scratch in the 30's, as relevant now as back then. I think its where joe salatin got most of his ideas from.

kowtow

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

Did you ever read the farming ladder? Based on a mans experience setting up from scratch in the 30's, as relevant now as back then. I think its where joe salatin got most of his ideas from.

I didn't but I'll go and look it up for the reading pile!

IIRC Salatin was raised (in Central America I think) by fairly organic-hippy-agricultural parents, so it would have been a book of their time if not his as well I suspect. I may be wrong but I think his parents lost their land as a result of political upheaval and thats how he ended up back in the states.

Panch18

There is a case for a fella with a bit of land to lease it and go working for a farmer - as opposed to getting another type of work

It's the best of all worlds, if you love farming you are still doing it full time, you will have your guaranteed weekly wage from the job, and the lease income will be tax free. Even if you didn't lease your own place but farmed it, what better employer than a farmer who will know what your going through if you want flexibility and things like that

Everybody and every situation is different though - what suits one migh not suit the other. Your location and land area are 2 things which have a major bearing on the choices you have.

What i will say is that any fella with a job and a bit of land as well is doing ok for himself

[Deleted User]

The Swiss watch and cuckoo clock industry came from farmers needing to have work they could do from home in the winters when they were snowed in in winter. They needed something that wouldn't go off and that wouldn't take up space.

What would a modern equivalent be?
IT contracting?

A random suggestion that has regular/flexible hours and plenty of work is being a carer.

Dickie10

Teacher, i get plenty of time off in summer for silage, shearing etc then mid term breaks, xmas and easter. im only 7 miles from school so very handy for me compared to others. also sometimes have only 3 or 4 classes in a day and might be home at lunch. twice a week im finished at 2:45pm. home at 3:00

planning on lambing half my ewes around easter from now on, no matter if its early or late. the only draw backs are pay is not great if your money hungry and you have to love teenagers or teenage girls in my case! i love it though great fun at times. although there is a lot of evening paper work getting classes ready but if your into your subjects thats kind of like messing around at your hobby anyway. i will prob become bitter and twisted after a few years but im happy now anyway. like farming its a lifestyle choice, though it can take between 5 and 6 years to qualify from scratch so i could have been a vet as quick. i dont think id manage that kind of stress though! now back to Ancient Rome for me...........

Dickie10

Plese no grammer nazis , im not an english teacher, it only boards relax!

badshot

premiership footballer

Noveight

badshot wrote: »

premiership footballer

Imagine the sucklers Aguero could run off of 220k a week? :eek::P

Hard to look past secondary teaching.

20silkcut

Only thing about teaching is it limits farm growth and makes it unlikely that the farm will ever become a full time operation. You will always hold off buying those few extra cattle or renting that extra land because you have to mind your main profession. It keeps it very much in the hobby category. It would be madness to pack in teaching to go farming.
If your in a more Mickey Mouse off farm job you are more likely to grow and expand your farming enterprise. More likely to view the farm as your number one priority. More likely to increase time spent on the farm and reduce time spent working off farm as your finances improve.

Who2

A soldier, you can retire on full pension just around the time you should be having the farm set up properly.

memorystick

20silkcut wrote: »

Only thing about teaching is it limits farm growth and makes it unlikely that the farm will ever become a full time operation. You will always hold off buying those few extra cattle or renting that extra land because you have to mind your main profession. It keeps it very much in the hobby category. It would be madness to pack in teaching to go farming.
If your in a more Mickey Mouse off farm job you are more likely to grow and expand your farming enterprise. More likely to view the farm as your number one priority. More likely to increase time spent on the farm and reduce time spent working off farm as your finances improve.

Not true.
What is the advantage of a full operation?
My bullocks can put the grass in their own mouths all summer long.

Username John

20silkcut wrote: »

Only thing about teaching is it limits farm growth and makes it unlikely that the farm will ever become a full time operation. You will always hold off buying those few extra cattle or renting that extra land because you have to mind your main profession. It keeps it very much in the hobby category. It would be madness to pack in teaching to go farming.
If your in a more Mickey Mouse off farm job you are more likely to grow and expand your farming enterprise. More likely to view the farm as your number one priority. More likely to increase time spent on the farm and reduce time spent working off farm as your finances improve.

But isn't the issue here that current returns from farming wouldn't allow full time operations for most people... So its a case of what works best to allow some part time farming to take place...

To say it keeps it in the hobby category - well, you need to decide what job is your primary job. For most, thats the one that pays money, which wouldnt be the farming one... If done right, part-time farming can be a nice top-up, but thats it...
After that, you can call it hobby, or secondary, or part-time or whatever...

I really think you're looking at it the wrong way - if you want to farm, but your home farm doesnt stack up financially for full time - then go working for a farmer as a full time job, and part time farm at home.

Keepgrowing

tractorporn wrote: »

As said before if you work at something you love you'll never work a day in your life, but people can't live on fresh air. I don't see too many other professions needing a second job to keep them afloat. Teachers, nurses, guards and luas drivers weren't shy about looking for pay rises why should the farmer be happy with his lot?

Become a teacher, nurse or Luas driver and it'll be grand so

20silkcut

memorystick wrote: »

Not true.
What is the advantage of a full operation?
My bullocks can put the grass in their own mouths all summer long.

Advantages of a fulltime operation you can run your farm better devote more time to it and not be squeezing 5 days work into a Saturday. Surely the best job for a farmer is to be a 100% farmer without distractions or dividing his time between different careers.
Having more than 100 cattle and an off farm job is serious work if your on your own with little help.

Bass Reeves

20silkcut wrote: »

Only thing about teaching is it limits farm growth and makes it unlikely that the farm will ever become a full time operation. You will always hold off buying those few extra cattle or renting that extra land because you have to mind your main profession. It keeps it very much in the hobby category. It would be madness to pack in teaching to go farming.
If your in a more Mickey Mouse off farm job you are more likely to grow and expand your farming enterprise. More likely to view the farm as your number one priority. More likely to increase time spent on the farm and reduce time spent working off farm as your finances improve.

In a drystock operation what amount of good land(not even middling or poor land) would you need for a full-time e operation. Little difference between contracting, dealing, cattle transport or agent and the hours a teacher puts in. It is very hard to make money off rented land even if you have payments for it. And if there is payments on the rented land the owner wants them on top of the rent The worst of it is somebody will give it to him. If you are paying 100-150/ acre for land unless you are squeezing some payments off it are you making another 100/ acre off it. Rented land swallows time as well a lot of it will be poorly fenced and internal fencing g will be non existent generally.

Of course you will mind the day job but it gives you a platform to expand if you wish. If you decide to buy land younwill not have to worry about getting a lot of money after tax to pay for it. Your biggest issue will be drawing you profit down efficiently but that is possible as well. I am in my mid fifties and the land I own I bought, if an opportunity comes to buy again I will take that opportunity. The only time I intend to farm full-time is when I retire around sixty

20silkcut

Username John wrote: »

But isn't the issue here that current returns from farming wouldn't allow full time operations for most people... So its a case of what works best to allow some part time farming to take place...

To say it keeps it in the hobby category - well, you need to decide what job is your primary job. For most, thats the one that pays money, which wouldnt be the farming one... If done right, part-time farming can be a nice top-up, but thats it...
After that, you can call it hobby, or secondary, or part-time or whatever...

I really think you're looking at it the wrong way - if you want to farm, but your home farm doesnt stack up financially for full time - then go working for a farmer as a full time job, and part time farm at home.

Honestly I think if your home farm doesn't stack up financially on its own two feet what is the point?
For the love of it ?
Fair enough I understand that.

20silkcut

Bass Reeves wrote: »

In a drystock operation what amount of good land(not even middling or poor land) would you need for a full-time e operation. Little difference between contracting, dealing, cattle transport or agent and the hours a teacher puts in. It is very hard to make money off rented land even if you have payments for it. And if there is payments on the rented land the owner wants them on top of the rent The worst of it is somebody will give it to him. If you are paying 100-150/ acre for land unless you are squeezing some payments off it are you making another 100/ acre off it. Rented land swallows time as well a lot of it will be poorly fenced and internal fencing g will be non existent generally.

Of course you will mind the day job but it gives you a platform to expand if you wish. If you decide to buy land younwill not have to worry about getting a lot of money after tax to pay for it. Your biggest issue will be drawing you profit down efficiently but that is possible as well. I am in my mid fifties and the land I own I bought, if an opportunity comes to buy again I will take that opportunity. The only time I intend to farm full-time is when I retire around sixty

Your waiting until your past your prime to go full time farming in fairness that kind of puts the farm in the ha' penny place.

Username John

20silkcut wrote: »

Honestly I think if your home farm doesn't stack up financially on its own two feet what is the point?
For the love of it ?
Fair enough I understand that.

I think I said 'stack up financially full time'

So are you saying what's the point in farming part time?

I think a lot has to do with love of it. Plus, its a handy second income, on its own its not much, but on top of an existing wage - its very nice...

20silkcut

Username John wrote: »

I think I said 'stack up financially full time'

So are you saying what's the point in farming part time?

I think a lot has to do with love of it....

This is a very worthy and genuine reason and it is what drives many farmers in this country myself included.

The thing is a farm or any business should grow and improve as time goes by. If a farm is being limited in its growth by an off farm job then questions need to be asked. Likewise if an off farm job is being limited by the farm.
Would a teacher not be better off doing grinds in their time off or spending more time on their career and try and become a principal. Or even just use their time off for leisure or holidays and be fresher going in to work and healthier.
If your not growing your farm it stagnates and it does not reach its full potential. This has a negative impact on the wider agricultural economy.
Likewise If your not furthering your career it stagnates and potential remains unfulfilled.
I don't see the point in having an unfulfilled farm and an unfulfilled career.