It is a historic year for the Teagasc land-based apprenticeships as the first cohort of 47 students are graduating in February. Among them is Carlow native Lisa Clarke who returned to education aged 35. While studying veterinary nursing in Athlone, part of Lisa’s course was doing placement at a large animal vet practice.
“I loved going onto farms, and that’s where my interest in agriculture started. I had no farming experience but I found it really interesting,” she explains.
Lisa was pleasantly surprised at how willing farmers were to teach her after she got a job relief milking.
“I remember it was a little six-unit dairy parlour just on the outskirts of Carlow. I loved it and was flying at it. From that, I kept relief milking to learn more and then I saw the apprenticeship come up. I would be a more practical person than theory; I loved the idea of just getting stuck in on the farm,” she says.
Lisa graduated from veterinary nursing in October 2023 and started the farm manager apprenticeship a month later.
“It was tough going, but when you love it, it doesn’t really matter,” she says.
“The apprenticeship is mainly on the farm, but you do get three to five days off every month to do the theory. That was really good because it’s not just learning about your basic practical husbandry skills, you’re also learning about the business side of farming, which was really interesting,” she explains.
Although Lisa is very chatty and has no problem approaching farmers for opportunities to work, she acknowledges that people who are not from a farming background are probably nervous about where to start.
“I didn’t know where to begin, but people told me to go in and speak to farmers. The farming community are excellent for helping each other out and providing connections. There are a lot of farmers looking for help, and they like to take on people who are eager to work, regardless of whether they come from a farm,” she explains.
As the ‘guinea pig’ year, Lisa, who is a single parent to Lilly (5), found the apprenticeship very good as everyone was approachable and supportive.
When deciding if she would stay farming or go back into veterinary nursing, Lisa says: “I couldn’t give up the farming”.
She believes her job now is the best of both worlds.
“I am doing a bit of both, I am part-time in the vet, working on the large animals, which allows me to stay in the medical side of things.
“And I managed to get into a 230 dairy herd farm right near Duncannon beach, relief milking.”
“I am a prime example. I am doing it on my own with my little one Lilly. I had no experience, coming from a veterinary nursing background but I am flat out on a farm, and I love it”.
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