• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Justifying a hired hand

Help Support Ranchers.net:

E

eatbeef

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 10, 2011
Messages
517
Reaction score
0
Location
Kansas
I am at the point where I have expanded beyond my limits to be able to accomplish tasks in a timely matter. Been hiring custom help to hay because I get behind, along with others tasks. I seem to be 2 weeks behind at everything. My wife used to help a lot but with a fulltime job in town and a 2 yr old and another one the way she can't and I don't even like to ask for her help because of her workload already. I am trying to justify a hired man but it's tough to put in the budget when I have never had one. And what makes it really difficult is paying enough to get a hand let alone a decent hand. Seems they all want more than I allow myself in a year.

Any advice appreciated.......
 
I would say important question with insurance taxes etc

I have a guy that helps me when I need it but I hire all my haying done and some fencing when needed

Others in the area hire part time labor. Sometimes they tell them full time until they can not keep them busy and usually the hired man figures his time is short. Some pay in cash

Another hires a full time young man but had to expand even more to justify having him but the owners run a farm business to get even larger
They hire fencing and do there own chores at least one day a week

Many of the full timers here work Seven days all twelve months until they just flat give up and quit
Depending on if the owners works on the farm
With them. The ones that are not with the hired hand pay part in cattle to. Give them a goal or to keep them from
Stealing
 
Good luck. The good ones leave for more money than the can be generated on the farm and don't have to work in bad weather. The bad ones cost you 10 times more than you pay them in repairs and lost time. which ever way you go if they are under 30 make them leave their cell phone home! I've had my best luck hireing recent retired just to "drive in circles" and run errands. I tell them what day's we are doing what and roughly when but I don't tell them what time to be there just "morning" or "after lunch". (What I'm trying to say is they set their own hours.) Then I 1099 them at the end of the year.
 
big difference between finding help, and finding good help. avoid family. I had to fire my brother this past fall, and it has sent a ripple through the family that I doubt will ever mend.... he was mommies baby, and I am the oldest, according to family, I never gave him a chance.....

I have leased out a lot of the trucking, letting me avoid hiring one man, and the other man I have is a guy who went broke farming...this way he gets to farm, and pay no bills....he loves it that way, no pressure! and he is great help... other one I have is a high school senior. get out of school at noon everyday, I have turned the cattle over to him as an incentive to show responsibility... so far, so good

be a boss, not a friend. other wise it goes south fast.
 
I've had alot of hired men some great some not worth 1/2 of their pay an hour. Maybe find an older retired person alot of those will work when needed.In my ranch/ farming I've cut back on some acres and cattle so the work load is less leaveing more time to get things done on time you'll find doing a better job with less acres and cattle will end up paying better anyhow.

My Idea on hired men here is they better be in the shop because thats where the money's made. I do hire some haying help but otherwiseno other farm help.
 
There are two sides to this . When budgeting you should make sure you could make your ends meet . If you were the hired person!
 
If you have to pay someone to work for you, is it actually worth it to expand and be as big as your operation is? Struggle with this a lot.
 
4Diamond said:
If you have to pay someone to work for you, is it actually worth it to expand and be as big as your operation is? Struggle with this a lot.
Click to expand...

If you are increasing net revenue the answer to me is yes.
 
Stress of worrying with employees and dealing with people? That part screams no. I am almost to this point and wrestle often with this question.
 
I am an employee not an employer. I have been responsible for employees in the past. As far wages I would like to say this. While good help wants paid more than what an owner may allow themselves there are some differences. While an employee may not have the responsibilities they still have to make a living. Not only do they need to make a living there has to be incentive to do a good job. Lots of people think that they should be happy to just have a job, that's great until you are 80 yrs old and still working for a living because you don't any choice. Everyone needs to build something, for an owner he is building assets and increasing his net worth. It is not good enough as an employee to just build self respect from doing a good job.
 
We have grown the farming part of the operation to the point where a full time hired man could work.

My nephew has worked part time for us for about 4 years and approached my son about a full time position. My son ask him what he wanted in pay and he stated he wanted us to match what he was making as a manager of an electrical supply house where he had about 15 years in.

My son told him he would put him on salary and that during planting and harvest he would put in many hours on the base salary but during other times of the year he would not have much to do but still get paid. We also have taken in electrical and plumbing jobs ( he is licensed in both ) and we always give him all of the labor on top of his salary.

Right from the start he started bringing he step son ( 5 years old ) so we became a babysitting service or the boy would ride in the tractor with his step father. Then he was complaining that he had to drive his car to the various farms. My son bought a 2007 Chevy 3/4 ton 4X4 extended cab with a nice lockable shell for the bed. He is allowed to fuel it from the farm tanks. He drives it home and basically anywhere he wants - - - our plates, insurance, fuel and repairs. He is thinking about selling his car.

You can not believe some of the excuses for not coming to work - - - coming late - - - leaving early. Constantly complaining if we can afford to buy equipment we should be able to pay him more.

Bottom line I went thru this hiring my wife's family in the gravel pit and had to fire them all - - - hired a couple of friends and had to fire them.

Hire total strangers and let them become friends and that has worked but the other way around will blow up in your face! You should be expecting employees to get the idea if they see something of yours that they would like they will "borrow" it and feel good about keeping it.

I have had as many as 30 full time people when I owned all the Ameritech cell phone stores in east Indiana and when I shut the operation down ( sold out ) most had been with me for several years - - - when you get a good employee they are great and you keep them but I planned on hiring about 7 to 10 people to get 1 that would last past 90 days. I feel all of the people I let go when I sold out were and still are my friends and I would hire them back in a moment if I opened another venture that would fit them. Don't think of yourself as a failure ( as I did for a while ) if someone does not work out. There are great people out there but you need to start everyone out on a probation period as many can look great for a short time but their true colors will normally show in a 90 day period.
 
Flying S just about says it all.
It just happens that today is my birthday, a big one. It's easier to look back then to look ahead. There are some things I would like to get out of my craw.
When I came home from the service at the end of the Korean war, my main concern was to start to put together assets enough to make myself a living and to have something for security as I became older. Those who just work for a wage do not have the same incentive to do that.
What they, we saved 10 years ago will not but today what it did then. I can no longer operate my ranch, but still it is my only real source of my income.
Young people today believe I am being selfish or greedy when I am not interested in selling it to them. Still the writing is on the wall and the clock is still running.
I wasn't very old during the depression years, but do remember some. Here in Todd County South Dakota, the area was fairly newly settled by white people. People felt lucky if they could rent a home with a roof over their heads and could earn enough to put bread on the table.
 

Latest posts

Top