How many hours/week do farmers actually work?

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Time and notion needed I think

600 cattle fed and beded one Man just over an hour, although that doesn't take acount of the unpaid staff, the bullocks that role the bales out
 

Kildare

Member
Location
Kildare, Ireland
Lots of farmers are very busy with livestock . One man I know milks 170 cows and looks after them single handed-. But he has it well set up .once a day milking and out wintering on fodder beet.
 

Wilts

Member
Location
North Wiltshire
it depends, on a milking week 5-8:30 then 9-12:30 then 2-5:30 x 5 days = 55 hours + weekend 15-17 = 70 + any extra evening work(grassland management/building etc)
on a non milking week (i'd milk one day) take off 6 hours and one of the weekend days = 55ish but I can take time off when i want to more or less (got a 12 day driving holiday booked for aug)

some days take it easy so may finish at 11:30 and get me hair done

I don't mind working as long as I see it as constructive, if i think it's a waste of time I tend to drag my heels and mutter
 

Buddy123

Member
a usual week i normally work 50 hours. get up at 5.30 start milking at 6ish and by the time i have milked washed down and fed calves bedded up moved electric fences for cows and scraped the yard its normally 9.30ish am. then fixing things around the yard most days but when its busy and were tanking or ploughing i could work a 16 hour day easily for the whole week. I love working long hours stops me from getting bored. Got a week of atm already bored Lol
 

crazy_bull

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Huntingdon
As I'm only a hobby farmer I start at 6 leave for the office at 8, back for 6 and do a few more hours in the evening, but only if needed, plus the wife helps with odd jobs during the day when I'm at the office.
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Time and notion needed I think

600 cattle fed and beded one Man just over an hour, although that doesn't take acount of the unpaid staff, the bullocks that role the bales out

Can't understand you ft, you've done it all on large scale, sheep, beef, dairy, and tell us how wonderful you were at doing it, yet you haven't stuck to any of it....:confused:
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Can't understand you ft, you've done it all on large scale, sheep, beef, dairy, and tell us how wonderful you were at doing it, yet you haven't stuck to any of it....:confused:
I was feeding those stock one Sunday afternoon 5 years ago when I dropped to the floor with a heart attack, came round and mannage to get back to the house, ambulance man saved my life with a clot buster, since then my private life has become my priority with 6 young children it had to , I now have an office job trading forage, in five years I have gone from selling not one load to a 1000 ton in one week, not quite that much in a normal one , I can shut the office door and walk away any time I like, not tied to the stress of all those stock.


I never said I was wonderfull either, but my motto was always look for an easier way that saves time , like mixing all my feed with a loading shovel against a wall, the diet feeder just took to long and had a habit of breaking down on Xmas day
 
As I'm only a hobby farmer I start at 6 leave for the office at 8, back for 6 and do a few more hours in the evening, but only if needed, plus the wife helps with odd jobs during the day when I'm at the office.

I am in a similar position to you, except the land is rented out, and I have no livestock of my own.

The farm was inherited by my mother, and had been neglected for 35+ years. Winter it is trying to lay or coppice neglected hedges, and replanting gaps.

In this area, hedges are on top of a Hedge-bank, which originally vertical is now 45 degrees, due to rabbit activity. I use the JCB to bring them back to vertical, and then try and replace the stone facing, where it has collapsed. I gain an extra yard around most fields, before it is fenced.

The rest of the year, is trying to sort out collapsed drains etc.

I am self-employed and work whatever hours I need. I sleep less than 5 hours a night on average (to bed at 2 or 3AM and up at 7.30), as this appears is all I need. I regularly put a 60 hour week, without counting work on the farm, which I consider a "hobby", as it allows me to switch off from Accounts. Figures, and Legal Documents etc., which dealing with earns me a living, and enables Farm Rent and SFP to be ploughed back in to improving the land.

The last time I and my wife went away together for more than 7 days, was my Honeymoon 18 years ago if I remember correctly. (But don't hold me to that.) I am useless at remembering Birthdays and Anniversaries. To be honest I cannot remember the date I was married. I know it was in September, but what day or year is as far as I am concerned, of no consequence.
 

Elmsted

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Bucharest
I can not say really how many hours I do weekly and regard as work. I used to way back remember the joy of seeing in my my little brown envelope the numbers I earned doing overtime. Now I regard things as a balanced life. Sometimes I will work 24/7 for 3 days then stop for 1 day. It is quality of life that is more important than winning prizes. One thing all my teams understand is that if they regard walking in the farm gate is work, then turn round and go home. Work is a passion not a drudgery.

Farming is one of the last occupations that allows us that luxury.
 

Dalers

Member
Location
Cornwall
We try to keep it 8 to 5 ish and only work weekends if drilling/spraying/or harvest.Done all the hours when we milked and don't miss them. Take the kids on holiday for 2 weeks every year, and spend time with them at weekends, out in boat, shooting, mini Rugby or like today cycled across Cornwall to the Atlantic coast and back but that was harder than a days work,& my Ass is like a Japanies flag.
Fare play to you boys who do LONG Hours but if I can make enough with out doing big hours I will and don't feel guilty about it.
A wise man told me "Don't be to busy working to make money"
 
I can not say really how many hours I do weekly and regard as work. I used to way back remember the joy of seeing in my my little brown envelope the numbers I earned doing overtime. Now I regard things as a balanced life. Sometimes I will work 24/7 for 3 days then stop for 1 day. It is quality of life that is more important than winning prizes. One thing all my teams understand is that if they regard walking in the farm gate is work, then turn round and go home. Work is a passion not a drudgery.

Farming is one of the last occupations that allows us that luxury.

I must admit I don't count hours. I earn a living from office work, although most of my clients are Farmers or involved in Agriculture in some way. Day to day work is easy, and over the years I have set systems in place, that ensures I have the required information in the required format, which saves time for me, and money for them. Day to day work, I normally manage on average between 8am and 3pm, eating a Roll and Packet of Crisps while working.

I could make a comfortable living from this work alone, particularly as my wife works, and enjoys her work too much, to give up until she has to.

I cannot resist a challenge, or something outside my day to day work, such as to give a recent example, what a Power of Attorney, can and cannot do.

If I costed the hours spend on research for "one offs", and what I should charge at an hourly rate, then I am out of pocket, but like most farmers do not count or apply a realistic rate to their worked hours.

My daily occupation is mental calculations, rather than Physical Work.

Putting in hours of Physical Work on the land, is in my mind equivalent to other Office Workers spending time in a Gym.
 

Gulli

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Brother spends all winter feeding cattle. Seems to be in a grump through most of that! But won't accept help with any jobs. Not such a early starter but goes on late. No hobbies off farm. Does worry me abit.

Feb til end of April are 12-15 hr days for lambing. Then may is mostly 12hr days. Starting with checking stock and ending with checking stock. Shearing & other stock jobs between but have a good hour for breaki and lunch but eat tea when ever home. Usually bout 9pm.
Once shearing is done I can pretty much make it up as I go. Can't be trusted on a tractor :facepalm: so not involved with silaging.

Got to have interests off farm. Got a epic fishing trip planned for Saturday with bro in law, now lambing is drawing to a close & its not warm enough to shear.

Mind I'm happy just to shut myself away in the workshop for the day, get all the toys....mean tools out. Don't usually achieve much besides making a mess, burning myself &/or something, most likely have a accident at some point as well BUT it's not checking/lambing/shearing/ dosing sheep for a change.
they say a change is as good as a rest, often the people who say these sorts of things are barefaced liars
but after shearing today im quite looking forward to fitting a hot tub tomorrow

variety certainly helps my enjoyment of life
 

Flossie

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Lancs
I was feeding those stock one Sunday afternoon 5 years ago whe
n I dropped to the floor with a heart attack, came round and mannage to get back to the house, ambulance man saved my life with a clot buster, since then my private life has become my priority with 6 young children it had to , I now have an office job trading forage, in five years I have gone from selling not one load to a 1000 ton in one week, not quite that much in a normal one , I can shut the office door and walk away any time I like, not tied to the stress of all those stock.


I never said I was wonderfull either, but my motto was always look for an easier way that saves time , like mixing all my feed with a loading shovel against a wall, the diet feeder just took to long and had a habit of breaking down on Xmas day
My dad had a heart attack a few years ago, and yet him and mum still work like idiots-which is especially annoying in that they don't need to(n) It's as if they're letting the side down by enjoying what they earn-or they think me and my siblings will be impressed that they've left a lot to us and never enjoyed it themselves(n) Life's too short:nailbiting:
 
My dad had a heart attack a few years ago, and yet him and mum still work like idiots-which is especially annoying in that they don't need to(n) It's as if they're letting the side down by enjoying what they earn-or they think me and my siblings will be impressed that they've left a lot to us and never enjoyed it themselves(n) Life's too short:nailbiting:.
Many a word, spoken in gest!:unsure:

Forgive me for preaching, but I am interested in Genealogy and have traced many of my Ancestors, for the last 300 years or more. and know what aged they died.

I know, that sitting in a Chair is not a choice. (Trying to find smiles is hard work, and quite frankly I can't be bothered. Surely there is an easier way,)

I will keep going while I can, but I am destined for dementia.

My mother is 92 years old physically healthy, but in a world of her own. She knew what was before and for 30 years+ told me, if I ever become a Cabbage; Shoot me.

I feel guilty that I cannot carry out her wishes.

My Father's side of the Family, also had a history of Dementia, (The diagnosis differed from one to another, but the symptoms were the same.) and he kept a bottle of Strychnine in the Medicine Cabinet for personal use. He was admitted to Hospital with Chest Pains, and 10 minutes before I was to collect him, suffered a massive stroke, from which he never recovered aged 85.

I have inherited the bottle of Strychnine., which I hope I will be fully compos mentis to use before it is to late. If not, it will be inherited by my daughter.

This is not about suicide, in the traditional sense, but from an inherited belief that the body is only a vehicle to maintain the brain.

Once the Brain dies, there is no point in existing.
 

exmoor dave

Member
Location
exmoor, uk
they say a change is as good as a rest, often the people who say these sorts of things are barefaced liars
but after shearing today im quite looking forward to fitting a hot tub tomorrow

variety certainly helps my enjoyment of life

Shearing already? Night's are still abit chilly. Farm next door "down the valley" usually do theirs bout now. But no signs yet. I usually aim to start mine bout the 15th. Doubt I'll get started that early this year thou. The ewes could do with a good dose of rain on their backs to wash all the red soil out their fleeces.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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