HUNGARY: Hungarian sheep farmers are running out of qualified shepherds and are importing them from Romania

Hungarian sheep are growing in numbers and becoming more and more popular in western countries. Italy is particularly keen on the Hungarian mutton meat. At the bottom of the Somlo Hill in Western Hungary is a sheep farm that exports 96% of its muttons to Italy. But while the demand for sheep is growing, shepherds are hard to find. The farm has been without a qualified shepherd for several months. Some of the shepherds left because they found the work too demanding, some were dismissed for being unreliable. Sandor Hart is not a shepherd by trade, but he occasionally helps out his friend, Tamas Toldi, who owns the farm. He'll do this until he finds a permanent shepherd. Toldi has now decided to solve his acute work force problem from abroad. He says he has given up trying to find an honest and qualified shepherd in Hungary and has turned to importing one from neighbouring Romania. The large ethnic Hungarian community in the Transylvanian region is the hope of the Hungarian sheep farmers. They speak the same language, they have a solid traditional way with the animals, and, farmers here say, they value work and honesty much more than people in Hungary. Toldi hopes a new shepherd will arrive from Romania in 2-3 weeks. Toldi says many sheep farmers solve their problem the same way. "The main worry of the sheep farmers today is the lack of workforce. One can hardly find a shepherd in Hungary who would be willing to take on the often very hard work, sometimes day and night. As a result, more and more sheep farmers have started to bring in experts from Transylvania (Romania). People from there, simple people are experts in everything with animals, can solve everything, and they have been a very nice success in the sheep farms in Hungary. They work here legally, with work permits, and I think for another couple of decades, this will be the solution for the Hungarian sheep farmers," he said. Not only are herd numbers growing, but sheep farmers must now also have accountancy skills and, since the country joined the European Union (EU) last year, be capable of applying for grants. Toldi has to deal with thick piles of paperwork to run his farm and get money for new developments. Once he has a shepherd at last, he will be able to spend more time on the labyrinth of grant applications from the EU. All animal farms need a workforce, and the problem is not limited to sheep. In the nearby village of Somloszollos, a horse farm also solved its workforce problems by importing help from Romania. Lazar Mike, originally from Kezdialmas in Romania, came to Hungary to work at the horse farm. He is employed as general horse and animal helper, and is also looking after the whole farm. He is only able to go home a few times a year, and admits of sometimes being homesick. But he said he has no other choice. "It's quite hard to earn a living over there, that's why we are trying to go away from there. It's a bit hard because we are far away from home, but that's the way it is," he said. Many of Lazar's friends also left home to work in Hungary and in other European countries. The shepherd who will arrive at Toldi's farm in a few weeks time is one of Lazar's neighbour back home, in Transylvania, Romania.

ITN Source | November 5, 2005

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