One of the first places an agriculture student may experience farm work is with their host farmer.
Work experience is a mandatory part of most third-level courses in agriculture (see table).
With more and more students coming through agricultural programmes, some of whom are not from farms, their experiences on farm can set the tone for their future careers.
Making sure that students have a good experience on farm is of the utmost importance.
It is also worth bearing in mind, as a host farmer, the student will tell their classmates what sort of experience they had on your farm and you want them to be able to tell a good story.
Top 10 tips when hosting a student
1 Interview
The first time you meet the student is during an interview process. Give time to that and make it professional. This will set the standard for your relationship going forward. It is a good time to outline to the student how your farm works and what they would be expected to adhere to.
2 Plan
Plan out roles and responsibilities. Decide what tasks the student will be responsible for on a daily basis. It is a good idea to talk to the student before their start date and find out what are the top three things they would like to learn while they are on their work experience. For example the student might already be good at milking but would like to learn heat detection or how to measure grass.
3 Look for
guidelines
If it is your first time hosting a student, ask the college for guidelines on the student’s course content. Find out what modules they have covered before coming to your farm. Ask the college for the learning outcomes expected from work experience. Often students will have projects to complete on their work experience, so ask in advance what is expected.
4 Set out ground rules from the start
Students are young adults and it can be their first time experiencing a work environment. On their first day the host farmer needs to set out ground rules. For example if the student is running late they must ring ahead and explain. Set out what rules are expected for mobile phone usage, for example explain that necessary calls are OK but that spending a long time on the phone chatting to friends or posting photos of your farm on social media, is not OK.
5 Have good lines of communication
Just because something is clear in your head, does not mean it is clear to the people around you. Be comprehensive in your instructions and have good lines of communication. That might mean implementing a structure you have never had on your farm before such as numbering paddocks and feed passages. If it is a busy farm with multiple people working there, where should staff go to receive updates? They may have been off for the weekend and not know that cow 621 has mastitis. Have a one stop shop for that information; it can be on a whiteboard in the parlour, having colour coded tape on cow’s tails, a WhatsApp group to share info, a daily meeting or a combination of a few methods.
6 Be courteous
As the old adage goes, treat others as you would like to be treated. Greet students with a ‘hello’ in the morning and ‘goodbye’ in the evening. Ask them how their weekend went, get to know them as a person. Give instructions reasonably, don’t be sharp and narky even if you have been up all night calving cows. You want the student to be able to trust you.
7 Outline timings
Have a start time, finish time and break times. If you want the student to be prompt and show up to work on time, then this also means they should be able to finish on time in the evenings and not be asked to stay on for an extra hour unless there is a legitimate reason. Set out break times and a place for breaks. In some cases the farm might have a separate area for students to make their own lunch and relax for an hour. In other cases you might be willing to give them their meals. Just make sure the student knows at the start what their options are.
8 Have a procedure for when things go wrong
Inevitably things can go wrong. It is much easier for you to find out about it when something happens and not at a later stage. For example, if the student thinks they might have let antibiotics into the tank they need to know that they can tell you that so that you can test the milk. This is much easier than receiving a phone call from your milk processor. Or if a gate post has been knocked down, it is easier to find out then and not three days later when you want to go let the heifers out.
9 Give the students jobs they like to do
It might surprise you that some students will like doing jobs that you don’t. Perhaps cleaning cubicles is one of your pet hates, however it might be something that the student likes to do. You should also consider the fact that the student may be better than you at something, meaning you have the opportunity to learn off them. This could include using a particular type of software or the student might be good at fencing, calf rearing or book-work. It is also worth bringing the students to discussion group meetings, it is a learning experience after all.
10 Know the law
Ultimately when you take on a student you are an employer. It is up to you to familiarise yourself with time-sheets, running payroll and what hours the student is allowed to work. You need to know labour rights, have an up to date health and safety statement and ensure you are covered under your farm insurance.
Colleges set out minimum requirements for host farmers. In general these are:
They must have an up to date safety statement/ risk assessment statement.The student must receive health and safety training.The host must have employer’s liability and/or public liability insurance with casual labour.Child protection training where the student is aged under 18.Jim White,
Mullinahone,
Co Tipperary
Jim White, Mullinahone, Co Tipperary.
Dairy farmer Jim White has been hosting students for a number of years now on his farm. He says he was inspired to do it as he had such a good host when he was a student. Jim did his work experience on the farm of Michael Dowling in Whitechurch, Co Cork.
“He was a great host and it was something always in my mind that it would be a great thing to be a host farmer. Around 12 or 13 years ago I hosted my first student from Kildalton. I really enjoy it, it keeps me sharp and you like to be able give back something.
“The students come out for a month’s placement in October from Kildalton now. We had our first female student this year. She’ll be back in March to our farm for another month and hopefully we’ll have another student starting in January for the busy spring period.
“I have kept up to date with grass measuring and we do a good bit of that with the students. We also have them doing husbandry around calving, getting them milking as well. Really it’s stockmanship, milking and getting them used to the bookkeeping that goes on as well.
“[Work experience] could make or break a student, sadly. You have to be careful with the students, it’s not all about me and my farm and getting the jobs done. The last thing you want is the student to have a bad experience.
“Keeping it attractive is the key; that farming isn’t seen as drudgery and working wicked long hours. That it is profitable, sustainable and attractive.”
The need for training for host farmers was raised at the Irish Farmers Journal Dairy Day in November. It was suggested that training could be rolled out through the Skillnets programme being operated by farm organisations like the IFA and Macra na Feirme.
The Damer discussion group says that host farmers should be assessed and certified on their management and people skills. The group also suggested that one way to get more farmers into hosting students would be to introduce a system where a student would come out one day a week to get involved in the farm.
“A simple one would be where one student would come out to a particular farm on a day per week to do grass measuring, come back to the office, and input the information into the software for the grass wedge. I think it would be a huge learning experience for them. There are a whole load of things they could do maybe in relation to soil testing and milk recording,” Denis O’Meara, from the Damer discussion group said.
One of the first places an agriculture student may experience farm work is with their host farmer.
Work experience is a mandatory part of most third-level courses in agriculture (see table).
With more and more students coming through agricultural programmes, some of whom are not from farms, their experiences on farm can set the tone for their future careers.
Making sure that students have a good experience on farm is of the utmost importance.
It is also worth bearing in mind, as a host farmer, the student will tell their classmates what sort of experience they had on your farm and you want them to be able to tell a good story.
Top 10 tips when hosting a student
1 Interview
The first time you meet the student is during an interview process. Give time to that and make it professional. This will set the standard for your relationship going forward. It is a good time to outline to the student how your farm works and what they would be expected to adhere to.
2 Plan
Plan out roles and responsibilities. Decide what tasks the student will be responsible for on a daily basis. It is a good idea to talk to the student before their start date and find out what are the top three things they would like to learn while they are on their work experience. For example the student might already be good at milking but would like to learn heat detection or how to measure grass.
3 Look for
guidelines
If it is your first time hosting a student, ask the college for guidelines on the student’s course content. Find out what modules they have covered before coming to your farm. Ask the college for the learning outcomes expected from work experience. Often students will have projects to complete on their work experience, so ask in advance what is expected.
4 Set out ground rules from the start
Students are young adults and it can be their first time experiencing a work environment. On their first day the host farmer needs to set out ground rules. For example if the student is running late they must ring ahead and explain. Set out what rules are expected for mobile phone usage, for example explain that necessary calls are OK but that spending a long time on the phone chatting to friends or posting photos of your farm on social media, is not OK.
5 Have good lines of communication
Just because something is clear in your head, does not mean it is clear to the people around you. Be comprehensive in your instructions and have good lines of communication. That might mean implementing a structure you have never had on your farm before such as numbering paddocks and feed passages. If it is a busy farm with multiple people working there, where should staff go to receive updates? They may have been off for the weekend and not know that cow 621 has mastitis. Have a one stop shop for that information; it can be on a whiteboard in the parlour, having colour coded tape on cow’s tails, a WhatsApp group to share info, a daily meeting or a combination of a few methods.
6 Be courteous
As the old adage goes, treat others as you would like to be treated. Greet students with a ‘hello’ in the morning and ‘goodbye’ in the evening. Ask them how their weekend went, get to know them as a person. Give instructions reasonably, don’t be sharp and narky even if you have been up all night calving cows. You want the student to be able to trust you.
7 Outline timings
Have a start time, finish time and break times. If you want the student to be prompt and show up to work on time, then this also means they should be able to finish on time in the evenings and not be asked to stay on for an extra hour unless there is a legitimate reason. Set out break times and a place for breaks. In some cases the farm might have a separate area for students to make their own lunch and relax for an hour. In other cases you might be willing to give them their meals. Just make sure the student knows at the start what their options are.
8 Have a procedure for when things go wrong
Inevitably things can go wrong. It is much easier for you to find out about it when something happens and not at a later stage. For example, if the student thinks they might have let antibiotics into the tank they need to know that they can tell you that so that you can test the milk. This is much easier than receiving a phone call from your milk processor. Or if a gate post has been knocked down, it is easier to find out then and not three days later when you want to go let the heifers out.
9 Give the students jobs they like to do
It might surprise you that some students will like doing jobs that you don’t. Perhaps cleaning cubicles is one of your pet hates, however it might be something that the student likes to do. You should also consider the fact that the student may be better than you at something, meaning you have the opportunity to learn off them. This could include using a particular type of software or the student might be good at fencing, calf rearing or book-work. It is also worth bringing the students to discussion group meetings, it is a learning experience after all.
10 Know the law
Ultimately when you take on a student you are an employer. It is up to you to familiarise yourself with time-sheets, running payroll and what hours the student is allowed to work. You need to know labour rights, have an up to date health and safety statement and ensure you are covered under your farm insurance.
Colleges set out minimum requirements for host farmers. In general these are:
They must have an up to date safety statement/ risk assessment statement.The student must receive health and safety training.The host must have employer’s liability and/or public liability insurance with casual labour.Child protection training where the student is aged under 18.Jim White,
Mullinahone,
Co Tipperary
Jim White, Mullinahone, Co Tipperary.
Dairy farmer Jim White has been hosting students for a number of years now on his farm. He says he was inspired to do it as he had such a good host when he was a student. Jim did his work experience on the farm of Michael Dowling in Whitechurch, Co Cork.
“He was a great host and it was something always in my mind that it would be a great thing to be a host farmer. Around 12 or 13 years ago I hosted my first student from Kildalton. I really enjoy it, it keeps me sharp and you like to be able give back something.
“The students come out for a month’s placement in October from Kildalton now. We had our first female student this year. She’ll be back in March to our farm for another month and hopefully we’ll have another student starting in January for the busy spring period.
“I have kept up to date with grass measuring and we do a good bit of that with the students. We also have them doing husbandry around calving, getting them milking as well. Really it’s stockmanship, milking and getting them used to the bookkeeping that goes on as well.
“[Work experience] could make or break a student, sadly. You have to be careful with the students, it’s not all about me and my farm and getting the jobs done. The last thing you want is the student to have a bad experience.
“Keeping it attractive is the key; that farming isn’t seen as drudgery and working wicked long hours. That it is profitable, sustainable and attractive.”
The need for training for host farmers was raised at the Irish Farmers Journal Dairy Day in November. It was suggested that training could be rolled out through the Skillnets programme being operated by farm organisations like the IFA and Macra na Feirme.
The Damer discussion group says that host farmers should be assessed and certified on their management and people skills. The group also suggested that one way to get more farmers into hosting students would be to introduce a system where a student would come out one day a week to get involved in the farm.
“A simple one would be where one student would come out to a particular farm on a day per week to do grass measuring, come back to the office, and input the information into the software for the grass wedge. I think it would be a huge learning experience for them. There are a whole load of things they could do maybe in relation to soil testing and milk recording,” Denis O’Meara, from the Damer discussion group said.
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