Contract Calve rearing

[Rossymons]

The chap text me last night saying he will pay us £75 a calve but he said this last time and soon as all calves where in unit he cut it to £65. My father in law rang me yesterday and said he wants us to rear his calves and he will pay us 80pence a day per calve

Sounds like you're rearing your FiL calves then.

That the calf owner is only texting you rather than ringing - or better yet seeing you face to face - speaks volumes.

 

[Smokey16]

Sounds like you're rearing your FiL calves then.

That the calf owner is only texting you rather than ringing - or better yet seeing you face to face - speaks volumes.

Yes it does

 

[Rich_ard]

No it's not 15 hours aday is 5hours a for 2 of us my partner will help if me or my sister is busy doing something else

You are very unclear. Is that 2 people *5hrs or 2 people*2.5 hrs. Either way probably still not enough.

 

[Enry]

No it's not 15 hours aday is 5hours a for 2 of us my partner will help if me or my sister is busy doing something else

so 10 man hours a day - i.e. 2 of you for 5hrs every day? and you have had calves all the time this year - say 40 weeks....so you have had £500 a week for water, electric, consumables, using machine to move straw, pallets, muck out, pressure wash, etc and 70hrs a week of labour.....

 

[Smokey16]

You are very unclear. Is that 2 people *5hrs or 2 people*2.5 hrs. Either way probably still not enough.

It's 2 5hours each of us

 

[Smokey16]

so 10 man hours a day - i.e. 2 of you for 5hrs every day? and you have had calves all the time this year - say 40 weeks....so you have had £500 a week for water, electric, consumables, using machine to move straw, pallets, muck out, pressure wash, etc and 70hrs a week of labour.....

Yes

 

[Enry]

It's 2 5hours each of us

ok, if you take £13/hr as self employed rate, you have £45/week to cover everything else, you need to work out your electric and running costs pronto - should be going from 60p to 75p not 45p

 

[Rich_ard]

It's 2 5hours each of us

ok, if you take £13/hr as self employed rate, you have £45/week to cover everything else, you need to work out your electric and running costs pronto - should be going from 60p to 75p not 45p

I work it out to be 0.66p/h/d on labour only. And that's at £10 / h.

 

[Enry]

Im totally confused now, because you are saying 2 x 2.5hr in one reply and replied "yes" when I asked if it was 10hrs a day?

I would suggest you all keep a timesheet for a week and log every 15 mins you spend doing calf stuff, at your normal pace etc. Check electric use for water etc and I assume you have to pay for water? Then work out your costs and a margin and go from there

 

[Smokey16]

This gets worse....but when you say 5hrs a day, is that 5hrs for 1, or 2 people ?

2 5 hours each

 

[Rich_ard]

2 5 hours each

Reading between the lines I think it's 10 man hrs a day. This to me seems excessive but it's what he is saying

 

[Smokey16]

Im totally confused now, because you are saying 2 x 2.5hr in one reply and replied "yes" when I asked if it was 10hrs a day?

I would suggest you all keep a timesheet for a week and log every 15 mins you spend doing calf stuff, at your normal pace etc. Check electric use for water etc and I assume you have to pay for water? Then work out your costs and a margin and go from there

Sorry. Right there always 2 of us down doing the calves it takes us 5 hrs a day.

 

[Smokey16]

It's 2 5hours am and pm feeding

 

[ollie989898]

The number of hours required is almost a non-issue. The fact is you have to be there on site daily whether you spent 5 minutes a day or 5 hours a day. Either the guy with the stock pays sensible money or it becomes a waste of time.

 

[Enry]

Yes

Sorry. Right there always 2 of us down doing the calves it takes us 5 hrs a day.

ok....let's try another way....if 1 person did it how many hours would it take?

 

[Smokey16]

Probably 4 hours am n pm time milk is mixed and feeders and cart washed out topped up straw racks fed blend and checked waters

 

[Rich_ard]

ok....let's try another way....if 1 person did it how many hours would it take?

Probably 4 hours am n pm time milk is mixed and feeders and cart washed out topped up straw racks fed blend and checked waters

That's all day! For 150 calves.

 

[Smokey16]

Yes if one person was doing it as we bed up every thing by hand as I don't like bedding up the pens with straw chopper

 

[Smokey16]

We start at 6am and finish about 10am and in the afternoon 4pm and finish around 7.45pm

 

[ollie989898]

We start at 6am and finish about 10am and in the afternoon 4pm and finish around 7.45pm

This is a significant bind and will invariably be taking up your time- time you could be spending doing more lucrative work. You need to get a price per beast out of someone who is prepared to value your input and results.