What does Tom Scanlan love about farming? "I love working with animals," he says simply. "I love cows, being around cows. I love milking cows and working with beef cattle, and computers - although that doesn't make a whole lot of sense," he adds, explaining that he's discovered that he loves working with computers also as long as it has to do with farming "and once you can get back out onto the farm".

The two years he spent at UCC studying for a degree only made him want to study farming all the more. Being a farmer means that he is his own boss, he says. He has his own freedom and he's able to take a day off if he wants to.

He loves the pace of life, the routine, the sound from the milking parlour in the morning, the pattern of the farm. "You set the pace yourself. You can decide to do things." Compared to an office, he's happier to be out on the farm, he says.

Part of his work experience while studying at the Clonakilty Agricultural College involved working in Agrinet, a computer company. He was involved in teaching farmers how to install and use computers and farm packages. "I used to set the whole thing up, I enjoyed that. But, you couldn't do it unless you had done it outside first," he explains.

Currently Tom Scanlan is an apprentice farmer. Long days and hard work haven't diminished his love of the life-style. It's what he's always wanted to do. "I have lived all my life on a farm," he says. His father runs a dairy and beef medium-sized farm and Tom has been involved since he was a youngster.

"My work experience (in college) would have been based on farming." And before that he worked on farm release as a young boy. "I've been working for neighbours since I was 10 or 11." He's the eldest of six - with two brothers and three sisters. After completing the Leaving Certificate in De La Salle College in Macroom, he headed for Cork City to do a degree in food business. At school his favourite subjects were the sciences and business subjects as well as agricultural economics.

He went to UCC for two years studying for a degree in food business. "I didn't like it," he says. "I packed it in. It was going away from what I was looking for. I was doing Italian. It was going into subjects that I had no great interest in. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. It just wasn't for me." He doesn't regret his decision to leave at all. "There's no doubt about that at all," he adds.

As for the course at Clonakilty Agricultural College, which he started immediately after his time in UCC, he says "I loved it. I just loved it, I loved being down there and having access to the computers. It made a lot of sense what I did down there.

"Up to then all I had known was the practice. There I began to learn the theory behind the decisions. Growing up you learn that you do it in a certain way but then you learn why."

Having completed the first-year certificate in agriculture, he carried on to do the diploma in agriculture this year. He's just graduated and now he's registered with the Farm Apprenticeship Board scheme to become trained as a farm manager. With about 14 more months to go, he'll qualify as a farm manager on completion in September 2001. At the moment he's working on a farm near Ballincollig in Co Cork.

He starts his day at 7.30 a.m. milking cows. After that it's whatever needs to be done. There are cattle to be fed and moved, fertiliser to be spread, topping (cutting grass that has grown too strong), feeding calves. With beef cattle, they're reared from calves and then they're brought to the factory for slaughtering. His day finishes around 7.00 p.m.

"It can be hard work, but for the most part it's OK." He says farming isn't as physical as it once was: "There's a lot of machinery so the physical side isn't as bad as it used to be."

There are other changes too: a lot of farm work is now contracted out. Growing up, he says, farmers would "do their own jobs. At home we did everything ourselves. Now jobs, such as silage, are contracted out."

As a fully qualified farm manager, Scanlan will earn from £18,000 upwards. The salary ranges up to £30,000 for farm managers with experience and "you can make more if you want to," he says. As to the early mornings and the long hours, he's philosophical saying that "you get used to it. Even though the hours are long, they're what you'd expect."

His plans for the future? "Hopefully I'd have a farm of my own or else be running a large farm. I`d prefer to own one myself though."