Labour on beef farms

In advance of BEEF2024, Teagasc completed an online labour survey of beef farms, which examined the level of off-farm employment, hours worked and some of the challenges arising in developing sustainable beef systems.

One of the key drivers on beef farms that influences many of the decisions that are being made when it comes to the choice of beef system, stocking rate, type of animals purchased, age at finish and overall future direction for the farm is the amount of labour that is available to carry out the work involved.

The majority of beef farmers now have off-farm employment, which limits the amount of hours per week that they can devote to working on the farm.

In a recent online survey completed by Teagasc beef farmer clients, over 70% of both part-time and full-time beef farmers said they would like to reduce the number of hours they work per week on the farm. This is not surprising as a high proportion of the 266 respondents to the survey recorded working long hours each week throughout the year.

For example, of the 163 farmers (63%) who worked off the farm, over 70% of them replied that they worked at least 30 hours per week off the farm in spring, summer, autumn and winter (Table 1). When asked how many hours they worked per week on the farm across each season, 44% of these part-time beef farmers reported working at least 30 hours per week in the spring.

Table 1: Hours worked each season off the farm by part-time beef farmers

Feedback on labour issues

The respondents to the recent Teagasc online labour survey were asked for additional feedback in relation to the labour issues on their beef farms and this returned some very insightful comments. One mentioned: ‘Getting casual labour even on Saturdays is difficult for jobs like fencing, cleaning out sheds, dosing cattle, also hard to get items on farm fixed such as machinery, sheds, gates etc.’. A related comment stated: ‘There is not sufficient profit being made to employ and pay additional workers’ with another having a similar response: ‘I could do with employing someone but cost and availability is an issue’.

These statements show the difference between labour issues on beef farms when compared to the labour problems more intensive and larger dairy farms have. On dairy farms with large cow numbers and much higher profitability levels per hectare, hiring full-time labour that can be retained for 12 months of the year is often the biggest issue.

In contrast, on beef farms if extra labour is going to be employed it is only for a small number of days each year, but that is proving difficult due to low profitability levels and low availability of casual labour.

Weather conditions

Weather conditions are also having an influence on the number of hours worked on beef farms. The early winters and late springs experienced recently have an impact on the pattern of hours worked on beef farms and this is borne out in some of the comments.

One such comment was: ‘We don’t get enough good weather, so when the sun shines a lot of work has to get done. As a farmer with an off-farm job to make a living, I find myself rushing home to do a lot of work when the weather allows’.

An aging farmer population

It is well documented that our farmer population is getting, on average, older every year. This is especially the case in drystock farming, where the profitability levels are insufficient to support the next generation to take over the running of the farm, which means that they have no choice but to seek employment off the farm.

One of the survey respondents commented: ‘I’m a one-man show so, there’s no one to take over, if it’s not done this week it will have to be done next week’, another said: ‘I work on my own, I am also a pensioner’.

The low level of profitability on many beef farms also influences the long-term choices many farmers make, with many choosing not to invest in housing and facilities that could help to improve their labour efficiency.

One farmer summed up their thoughts on this: ‘Big investment will reduce the hours worked but is it worth it?’

Beef system choices

Another theme throughout the comments in the survey were the choices farmers were making when it comes to the choice of beef system they are operating on their farms. A number stated that calving and breeding cows was too time-consuming when trying to hold down an off-farm job. This is probably one of the reasons that we are seeing a drop in recent years in the number of calves born to suckler cows.

In 2023, there were over 60,000 fewer suckler calves born compared to 2022, and in 2024 the number born to the end of May (ICBF statistics) is down by over 32,000 compared to the same date in 2023.

Hours worked

The number of hours worked per day on beef farms varies throughout the year. In our recent online survey, 61% of the farmers who responded said their main beef enterprise was suckling. This was reflected in the number of hours worked throughout the different seasons, with springtime being the busiest period (Table 2).

This is not surprising as the majority of suckler herds calve in the spring. The workload associated with calving combined with feeding cattle indoors was illustrated in the increased proportion of farmers working over 40 hours per week on the farm in spring. In contrast, the proportion of beef farmers who reported that they work over 40 hours per week on the farm was lowest for the winter period.

Table 2: Number of hours worked per day on the farm by season

Labour intensive activities

When asked what was the most labour-intensive activity carried out on the farm, respondents to the survey ranked feeding fodder during the winter at the top, with calving and machinery work ranking after this (Table 3).

Table 3: Tasks on beef farms ranked by how labour intensive they are (highest to lowest)

In a follow up question, they were asked what area of their farm system they would like to make more labour efficient. Again, feeding fodder over the winter came out on top, followed by grassland management and machinery work.

Sustainable systems

One of the key measures of sustainability when it comes to any farming system is the long-term sustainability of the hours required to maintain that system so that it is profitable and environmentally acceptable.

For beef farms to meet this requirement into the future, it cannot mean working full-time off the farm and long hours on the farm, even if the farm work is seasonal in its intensity.

With each new generation of beef farmer taking up the management of farms, there is an increased demand for beef systems and technologies that reduce the time required to run a sustainable and profitable beef system.

Investment in infrastructure that includes having enough animal housing, slurry storage, feed storage, animal handling facilities, roadways for moving stock, fencing and water troughs, while costly to begin with, will likely be money well spent in the long-term.

The increased use of contractors will also need to be considered by many beef farmers who work long hours off the farm each week.

Sustainable beef systems into the future will be the production systems that return a worthwhile income for the number of hours devoted to them, that can be managed in the amount of time available to the beef farmer who has good facilities and who makes efficient use of contracted in labour and services.

This article was adapted from the paper titled: ‘Securing your future in beef farming’, which was authored by Paul Crosson, Pearse Kelly, Aidan Murray and Mark McGee, and first appeared in the BEEF2024 open day book.

For more insights from BEEF2024, the Teagasc National Beef Open Day, click here.