FRS Farm Relief Services are seeking new farm workers to join the growing team. Being an FRS operator is a flexible role, which suits people in many areas such as young people looking for experience, those with spare capacity outside of their own farm, dry stock farmers and women who want to avail of work while their children are at school.
John Barry from Newtown in County Tipperary has been an avid FRS operator for almost a year now. John comes from a farming background, is a suckler farmer but is also a dab hand with everything else farming related.
“I grew up on the family farm, I’m the only son and always had the interest [in farming]. After studying Dry Stock Management in Gurteen, I came back to the home farm here where I inherited it from my father. I’m in my 6th year, have 183 acres with 80 suckler cows.
Throughout the years John often worked with a local silage contractor but when the farm hit some misfortunate luck at the end of 2020, he looked into other areas of income.
“Unfortunately, we went down with TB. It was tough because there was no farm income. I seen an ad on social media for farm workers with FRS. I rang the office in January 2021 and on the 1st of February I started relief milking on a local farm. I have to say relief milking is definitely easier than going at silage!”
John is currently working on two local farms where he carries out general farm work including milking, feeding, yard work etc. During the Summer, John also worked for some of the FRS specialised services.
“I found that during the Summer I had extra capacity, so I did some calf dehorning and weighing for FRS. It was great because I was able to meet different farmers and see different farming enterprises. It was always outdoors and in a safe environment.”
Farm work comes easily to John, but most importantly he can manage his time around his own farming.
“Having flexible work really suits me as I plan my schedule what needs to be done on my own farm. I’m able to carry out my work first and then fit in local work. Farmers are very understanding, and I work with them and the FRS office to schedule in hours to suit us all. To be honest, I don’t know what I was spending my time on before. When I’m on farms, farmers can go away and rely on me to get the work done.”
By working with FRS Farm Relief, on different farms and meeting a wide range of people in agriculture, John himself feels that he has gained a new knowledge and the experience has made him a better farmer.
“For me there are loads of benefits to working as an FRS operator. Firstly, the money is good, and it is great to have a regular income. Everyday I’m learning and picking up on ideas from farms. The farmers I work with are great to give tips and advice on grassland management, breeding, housing facilities etc. It’s great experience and there is a wide variety of work there too. There is something to suit everyone”.
John is just one of the many farmers currently working with FRS. If you are interested in becoming a FRS operator visit www.farmrelief.ie/careers and fill out an application form online or alternatively you can call 1890 790 890 for more information.