Dave Stobo DairyFlow, Kilmarnock talks apprenticeships

Despite how progressive the sector is, attracting new workers is becoming increasingly difficult. Dave Stobo heads up the team at Scottish-based DairyFlow. With eight dairy equipment technicians, the business covers a wide area extending up to 100 miles from its base in Kilmarnock, an achievement that has been hard fought in a sector that is being compromised by falling margins and unregulated operators.

Technicians can work towards accreditations through the MEA’s milking systems technician accreditation (MSTA) scheme

“We have worked hard to build a loyal and skilful team that now services approximately 200 farms. However, finding staff, keeping them motivated, and being able to pay them properly for their work is a constant challenge,” he says.

A member of that team, who started in his teenage years, is 33-year-old Paul Gemmell. He grew up on his family’s dairy farm but was told at a young age that the farm would not support him with a job and that he needed to learn a trade.

“I was at the local merchant when a friend of the family asked me if I was looking for work, he said DairyFlow was hiring apprentices. I wanted to stay in farming and, with my home farm dairy experience, I felt I could learn well on the job, so I went for it,” says Mr Gemmell.

Some 16 years on and he has become a valuable member of the team. Along the way he has worked towards accreditations through the MEA’s milking systems technician accreditation (MSTA) scheme and believes that having a trade to learn has kept him motivated.

“People leaving school now haven’t been encouraged to learn a trade, and other opportunities, especially in rural areas, are few and far between. I consider myself lucky, but I have also had to work hard, and I don’t think many teenagers now accept that they might have to work long and unsociable hours to learn and develop in a career,” he says.

It is this observation that has both men frustrated. Despite paying above minimum wage, Mr Stobo suggests that it is hard for dairy technicians to compete with other trades such as electricians, but that, more worryingly, young people are not interested in trying.

“We try and attract new staff by word of mouth, and with a customer base of 200 dairy farms it should be easy, but it isn’t. We use social media but the difficulty is that agriculture appears more unsociable than trades in construction or engineering, and we can’t pay as much because there isn’t enough investment in farming,” says Mr Stobo.

He sees milk prices as the biggest threat to the business and believes that a lack of government investment in farming is preventing some dairy farmers from investing in the right equipment and, above all, timely service.

“If there isn’t a motorway close to a farm, milk buyers aren’t interested. Margins are being cut to unsustainable levels and it is having an effect on how farms are making decisions. If a qualified and accredited technician appears expensive then some will look elsewhere, which leads to unqualified and unregulated alternatives that can threaten farm safety,” says Mr Stobo.

He suggests that this has led to farms compromising on technicians and having equipment fail at crucial times, sometimes to the detriment of cow or worker health.

“I think it is hard to remember how much specialist knowledge is required to fit and maintain modern dairy equipment. The skills the team have now through their MSTA training, and our own support, is much more diverse than in the past. I also think it should be considered necessary to have at least this level of experience to work with dairy equipment,” he says.

Both men agree that having accreditations is vital to the industry. From Mr Stobo’s perspective it is a way for him to attract young people to join the business and offer them the opportunity to train through multiple categories of accreditation to become skilled technicians. For Mr Gemmell it is a marker of success, that he has progressed to become an accredited and trusted dairy technician.

“Young people should be rewarded for learning new skills, but they often think this is going to happen automatically. I have invested my time in this business, and it has invested in me so that I can do more work, more efficiently and create the margins we all need to get paid properly,” says Mr Gemmell.

For Mr Stobo, investing in the workforce’s development and retaining staff to make each technician more experienced, has helped the business to grow.

“To work with a farm you need at least two years’ experience, just to know how the system works and where everything is. Putting in the hours, whenever the time is needed, is also a way of earning farmer trust and loyalty. It’s not easy, but it is vital to supporting all dairy equipment.”

Both men agree that the milking equipment sector needs more recognition and that farmers should be warned about the risk to their businesses of unqualified operators working on dairy equipment.

“The MEA has developed the MSTA framework of training and accreditation as a way to benchmark the competence of technicians and others in the milking equipment sector. Dairying can benefit by demanding that employers, technicians, and other employees commit to continual professional development to protect farms and their livestock,” he concludes.