Mark Connors (27), who farms with his brother near Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford, is straining at the leash to get into dairying.

Connors, who has an agricultural science degree, believes that people involved in beef and sheep production are the poor relations in the farming sector.

"The dairy men, even now, make more money before breakfast than we do in the rest of the day," he laughs.

He says he is well aware of the complaints made by dairymen but feels that milking cows is still the best option in farming and that is where he wants to stay.

"The last young person to come into dairying in my area was in 1978, and since then there has been a decline in numbers but a consolidation of dairy farms in the area," he says.

According to Connors, his farming operation involves running beef cattle and sheep on 250 acres with an additional 100 acres of tillage, a portion of which used to be in sugar beet.

"The ending of the sugar beet industry has made a big difference, not only from a financial point of view, but its importance as a rotation crop is underestimated," he says.

"I have always had a dream of going into dairying and I see now is the time, but I am going to have to wait and see how I can get quota.

"We have no idea yet what is going to happen when the exchange system begins, but I want to be in there."

Connors says he could reduce the cost of getting into dairying by rearing heifers and holding them until such time as the quota system was sorted out.

"I would like to see myself having 150 cows and a milk quota of 220,000 or 230,000 litres of milk in 10 years' time," he says.

He accepts that milking 150 cows is a difficult and demanding task but he believes that with the proper equipment and managerial systems, it could be done.

"There is one unit in this area where one woman is handling even more milking cows than that on her own and I cannot see why I would not be able to do the same thing," says Connors.

"There are a lot of opportunities there and I am looking forward to taking them up, even though I know that milk prices are falling and there are difficulties coming down the line.

"I want to farm full-time. I want to stay on the land and that means I have to look at getting into dairying."