Labour Demand and Supply on Irish Dairy Farms, with Reference to Specific Scale Dependant Work Routines

摘要

Purpose:A requirement exists to establish current daily labour input levels on Irish dairy farms and the sources from which they are comprised, as well as ascertaining the dependency of certain tasks on particular labour sources and how these factorsare influenced by scale of production.Design/Methodology/Approach:The data in this study was generated on 36 spring calving dairy farms over a 12-m period. The farms were categorized into two herd size groups; medium (50-80 cows) and large (>80 cows) with average herd sizes of 60 and 150 cows, respectively. Labour input data was then recorded on these farms. All operators on the participating farms recorded the duration of the different tasks which they performed throughout the day (using data loggers),over a 5-day period on one occasion per month. Additionally, a questionnaire survey was completed for each farm. This survey recorded the levels of available labour on the farms, i.e. all labour available to the farm, whether family or hired, full-timeor part-time.Findings:Average total farm labour input per day over the 12-month period was 9.8 and 14.9 h on medium and large farms, respectively. The number of full-time family members available on medium and large farms was 1.2 and 1.0, while the number of part-time family members was 0.7 and 0.7, respectively. The number of full-time hired personnel available on medium and large farms was 0.1 and 0.7, while the number of part-time hired personnel was 0.2 and 0.2, respectively. Herd-size had a significant effect (P<0.01) on the average proportional contribution of full-time family and full-time hired labour sources. Full-time family labour sources contributed less, on a proportionate basis, (P<0.05) on large farms (0.58 of total farm labour) than onmedium size farms (0.87). Full-time hired labour sources contributed more (P<0.05) on large farms (0.27) than on medium size farms (0.01). Implications:Medium-size farms were dependent on the part-time assistance of members of the farm household, while large farms required full-time hired labour sources to meet the labour demands associated with increased scale. The contributions of part-time family members were mainly utilised during peak labour periods and were largely associated with the task of calfcare. Family labour does exhibit the advantage of being flexible. Part-time hired labour sources may need to be actively directed towards the spring-time labour peaks in an environment of increased enterprise scale. Originality/Value:This information isimportant in strategic decision-making, such as (i) identifying labour deficiencies on the farm and establishing the type of labour resource needed and the time frame for which they are required, and (ii) where additional labour sources are required, training of the main operator in management skills may be considered advisable, as this can be critical to the overall effective running of the farm business.