Soapweed
Well-known member
The reason I don't hire more help is because of government rules and red tape. There is too much paperwork, withholding taxes, and other malarky, and the problems go up exponentially with the more hands you hire.
You can't hire kids anymore until they are "old enough" to work, and by then they are out of the notion. When I was a kid, my dad hired twelve and thirteen-year-olds to work in the hayfield. It was a good situation for ranchers and the kids. The ranchers got their hay put up, and the kids learned to drive the smaller tractors that everyone used in those days.
The kids learned how to work, and made good wages. Minimum wage was not a factor; there either wasn't any or it didn't apply to agriculture. The kids maybe didn't get super rich, but they also didn't price themselves out of a job. They had spending money for the upcoming school year, and learned to handle their money. If they spent it all before they had a chance to earn some more, they were SOL.
The "entry level" job working on a ranch often provided city kids with a taste of realism. They learned that milk comes from a cow, and that veggies are grown in a garden. Great memories and lifelong friendships were developed. In those days, a rancher agreed to furnish room and board, and pay X amount of wages once a month. There were no withholding taxes of any kind. It was the employee's responsibility to pay any income taxes due at the end of the year.
Then along came Uncle Sam, with his infinite "wisdom" and screwed up the system. More rules and regulations, laws against "child labor", a minimum wage factor, un-keepable OSHA guidelines, withholding taxes, etc. all contributed to major changes in the work force.
Ranchers have spent money on bigger and better equipment to get by with less labor. They hire more of their work done on contract. Instead of fixing their own windmills, they hire specialists who have boom trucks and proper equipment to do the job. Fencing is contracted out to fencing crews. Instead of hiring several kids to drive small tractors and help put up loose hay in stacks, haying is contracted out to be baled (which requires less people but more elaborate equipment).
Uncle Sam has messed with the system all across the United States. The reason ranchers don't hire more help is the same reason other industries and businesses don't hire more help. There is way too much government medling. This is also the reason so much of our industry is now being done overseas. The United States has just plumb priced themselves out of business. Democrats, Liberals, Big Unions, and voters that continually want "something for nothing" are the major contributors to this trend.
This is the way I see it strictly from a cowboy's perspective.
You can't hire kids anymore until they are "old enough" to work, and by then they are out of the notion. When I was a kid, my dad hired twelve and thirteen-year-olds to work in the hayfield. It was a good situation for ranchers and the kids. The ranchers got their hay put up, and the kids learned to drive the smaller tractors that everyone used in those days.
The kids learned how to work, and made good wages. Minimum wage was not a factor; there either wasn't any or it didn't apply to agriculture. The kids maybe didn't get super rich, but they also didn't price themselves out of a job. They had spending money for the upcoming school year, and learned to handle their money. If they spent it all before they had a chance to earn some more, they were SOL.
The "entry level" job working on a ranch often provided city kids with a taste of realism. They learned that milk comes from a cow, and that veggies are grown in a garden. Great memories and lifelong friendships were developed. In those days, a rancher agreed to furnish room and board, and pay X amount of wages once a month. There were no withholding taxes of any kind. It was the employee's responsibility to pay any income taxes due at the end of the year.
Then along came Uncle Sam, with his infinite "wisdom" and screwed up the system. More rules and regulations, laws against "child labor", a minimum wage factor, un-keepable OSHA guidelines, withholding taxes, etc. all contributed to major changes in the work force.
Ranchers have spent money on bigger and better equipment to get by with less labor. They hire more of their work done on contract. Instead of fixing their own windmills, they hire specialists who have boom trucks and proper equipment to do the job. Fencing is contracted out to fencing crews. Instead of hiring several kids to drive small tractors and help put up loose hay in stacks, haying is contracted out to be baled (which requires less people but more elaborate equipment).
Uncle Sam has messed with the system all across the United States. The reason ranchers don't hire more help is the same reason other industries and businesses don't hire more help. There is way too much government medling. This is also the reason so much of our industry is now being done overseas. The United States has just plumb priced themselves out of business. Democrats, Liberals, Big Unions, and voters that continually want "something for nothing" are the major contributors to this trend.
This is the way I see it strictly from a cowboy's perspective.
