MADRID - A Spanish farm union office has been inundated with calls from people wanting to apply for jobs as shepherds after a television report mistakenly said there were 2,000 posts vacant in the region with attractive terms.

"The program went out on August 7 and we've received thousands of calls," said a spokeswoman for the young farmers' union ASAJA in the central Spanish region of Castilla-Leon.

Phone calls and e-mails have come from Latin America, some from Britain, and even Morocco as well as from Spain.

ASAJA was forced to put out a statement denying it had a batch of jobs on offer, although it confirmed that many farms in the region are short of labor.

Two farmers had appeared on the program and said they needed shepherds and were prepared to offer 730 euros ($934) a month, a house and a vehicle.

Average salaries in Spain are around 2,000 euros a month, but many immigrants earn far less.