Down on the farm is the place to be during the lazy, hazy days of summer.

Padraig O'Regan, a farm manager in Drosna, Co Offaly, enjoys his job. Since graduating last November, he has become master of his own destiny. He can go anywhere in the world should the desire take him.

O'Regan's management qualification from the Farm Apprenticeship Board (FAB) is a ticket to travel. He's thinking about going to Saudi Arabia. It's warm, the money is good and they're looking for farm managers. "You're always guaranteed a job," he says.

Other advantages of being a farmer include being able to enjoy the fresh air. And being on the land means there are no parking problems, no fumes, no rush-hour traffic, no fierce honking of horns - only the lo-ing of calves, and the twitter of birds and the chug-chug of tractors. Green acres is the place to be. "Your dinner is made for you. You get to meet families and all the neighbours." As a trainee farm manager, he was never asked to do overtime, he adds, and his days off were guaranteed.

"It's physical, but it's not hard. In the summer it's just milking and mostly driving the tractor." The summer also involves managing the grass - "topping and cutting it and cleaning it up after the cows".

O'Regan grew up on a farm in Roscarberry, Co Cork. After school he always helped out at home on the farm - feeding the cattle and moving-around the electric fencing. In 1994 he did his Leaving Cert and went to Clonakilty Agricultural College for one year to study for a Green Cert in agriculture.

After completing the course, he went home to work with his brother and father on the farm for two years. Work on a dry-stock farm includes spreading fertiliser, cutting silage, scraping the yards and going to the mart every two months.

Then he became interested in FAB's three-year management course and registered with the board. The course is a closely monitored one, where trainee farm managers are provided with textbooks, journals and they are expected to be assessed throughout the year. His first job placement was in Inniscara, Co Cork, which was a mixed farm with dairy, beef and tillage. During the year, O'Regan had to keep a journal, undergo inspection once every three months, attend some study days and sit exams at the end of the year.

After one year there, he then worked on a farm in Carraignavar, Co Cork. "You can ask where you want to be put," he explains. He choose to work near Cork where his friends were. Here, he was involved in dairying, selling calves at six weeks and managing grassland consumption.

"You get plenty of responsibility and you're independent. You have your own accommodation too and you have your wages, unlike people at university."

In the third year of his course, he was on a farm in Ballyduff, near Ballybunion in Co Kerry. There was a computer in the milking parlour, and computerised machines and computers on many farm nowadays, he explains. "You just pick up computers."

O'Regan graduated in the top three of his class of 55 last year. He's now thinking seriously about travelling abroad at the end of this year. "Most lads go to New Zealand but it's kind of like Ireland. We get a list of jobs every month and there are plenty of them. The problem is trying to choose which one."

As a farm manager, starting off O'Regan can earn anything between £20,000 and £25,000 per year. And, he adds, accommodation and food is taken care of. Saudi Arabia and the sun are appealing. "I don't know about being out in the rain," he says, laughing.