Do any arable farms employ someone specifically for the night-shift?

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
With the weather the way it is be hard to leave someone on permanent night shift.

Students normally got the job in places I worked. I did night shift ploughing. Full timers weren't keen on it.
 
With the weather the way it is be hard to leave someone on permanent night shift.

Students normally got the job in places I worked. I did night shift ploughing. Full timers weren't keen on it.

That's the thing, a lot of the time you wouldn't need anyone on a night shift. The absolute utopian ideal would be a very experienced self-employed person who would be keen to do night-shifts at quite short notice. Pay would obviously have to be very good to compensate for the fact that working nights basically is very unhealthy. I think with liquid fertiliser, lower wind speeds and fewer people in their gardens at night you could keep a sprayer busy in the autumn and spring not too infrequently. Drilling and cultivation at peak periods. Servicing combine and moving between blocks overnight.

I really don't like the idea of pushing people to work exceedingly long hours going late at night after having got up early and worked through the day. Some sort of shorter but more intense shift system could be a possible alternative. Probably unlikely to work though. Number of people wanting to go into agriculture is low enough without asking them to do it all at night!
 
Location
Devon
That's the thing, a lot of the time you wouldn't need anyone on a night shift. The absolute utopian ideal would be a very experienced self-employed person who would be keen to do night-shifts at quite short notice. Pay would obviously have to be very good to compensate for the fact that working nights basically is very unhealthy. I think with liquid fertiliser, lower wind speeds and fewer people in their gardens at night you could keep a sprayer busy in the autumn and spring not too infrequently. Drilling and cultivation at peak periods. Servicing combine and moving between blocks overnight.

I really don't like the idea of pushing people to work exceedingly long hours going late at night after having got up early and worked through the day. Some sort of shorter but more intense shift system could be a possible alternative. Probably unlikely to work though. Number of people wanting to go into agriculture is low enough without asking them to do it all at night!

You need to gear up so you can cover the ground in the daytime.

What happens at 3 am if the tractor breaks down? Do they call you and drag you out of bed or sit there with nothing to do until the end of the shift?

Also can you properly service a combine in the dark in the middle of a field?

Dangerous game to move the combine on the road at night without an escort!
 
There was a chap in Arable Farmer magazine who reckoned his tractor driver had pulled a 26 hour shift on the Quadtrac.

Why employ a night shift, just let your staff fall asleep at the wheel.

Seen people boasting of doing 36 hour shifts. One thing I have decided this year is that I'm happy to work at strange times of the day, as long it isn't alongside working all the main part of the day. I get quite grumpy when tired and it has such an effect compared getting a decent amount of sleep. Same therefore should apply to people that we employ. I like the idea of double shifting machinery and making the machinery work much harder than the people. Easy to say, but difficult to do.
 
You need to gear up so you can cover the ground in the daytime.

What happens at 3 am if the tractor breaks down? Do they call you and drag you out of bed or sit there with nothing to do until the end of the shift?

Also can you properly service a combine in the dark in the middle of a field?

Dangerous game to move the combine on the road at night without an escort!

If tractor breaks down then you go home or do something else. Would only work with very good people who can think for themselves and act autonomously.

Yes, I think you can service a combine in the dark. Very good lights make all these jobs a lot easier.

Arguably safer to move combine in the dark with less traffic. Would never do it without an escort, but would use two people maybe at beginning or end of the night when other people are around.

Not saying it would be easy, just doing a thought experiment. Lone working would be a big hurdle. Two people on night-shift would mitigate, but twice as difficult to find suitable people!
 
Never done it but in Australia some farms did 12 till 12 night shifts. At least that way you get decent period of time working in daylight. 3-4 in the morning was always killer for me. Used to hallucinate some nights. Once sun came up felt like could keep going for 3 or 4 hours We did 7-7.

I think the fundamental problem is that, even if it's planned, working night-shifts just is very bad for humans.
 
Location
Devon
If tractor breaks down then you go home or do something else. Would only work with very good people who can think for themselves and act autonomously.

Yes, I think you can service a combine in the dark. Very good lights make all these jobs a lot easier.

Arguably safer to move combine in the dark with less traffic. Would never do it without an escort, but would use two people maybe at beginning or end of the night when other people are around.

Not saying it would be easy, just doing a thought experiment. Lone working would be a big hurdle. Two people on night-shift would mitigate, but twice as difficult to find suitable people!

Safety issue of someone working all night on their own as well.

Also will people with houses near your land be happy with tractors keeping them awake all night?? ( and don't forget sound travels a lot further at night when its quieter )
 
Could they keep the drier running through the night if wet.

Don't have drying systems that require that. Often plenty of jobs to do in the day that could be swapped to at night. Again would need a quality set-up. Well lit workshop that is as pleasant to work in at night. Sort of see this in our new spray store. Indoors, insulated and very well lit. Happy to fill up in this in the dark. A bit less keen elsewhere on the farm.
 
Safety issue of someone working all night on their own as well.

Also will people with houses near your land be happy with tractors keeping them awake all night?? ( and don't forget sound travels a lot further at night when its quieter )

Undoubtedly safety would be a big concern. You would need at the very least need something like Skyguard on a lanyard, but probably more robust systems than that.

Big sprayers work fast enough that they aren't in the same place for long. You would aim to plan jobs so that you're working on fields away from houses for the most part.
 

Slick

Member
Location
Beds
There was a chap in Arable Farmer magazine who reckoned his tractor driver had pulled a 26 hour shift on the Quadtrac.

Why employ a night shift, just let your staff fall asleep at the wheel.
He was telling porkies, the guy did a 36 hr shift.
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
I think the fundamental problem is that, even if it's planned, working night-shifts just is very bad for humans.
I'm sure there's thousands of people do it though. Nurses, factory workers etc.

It's not natural though. I used to live on Mars bar's and orange lucozade. No appetite in dark. Not healthy not seeing or speaking to anyone else for 12 hours either.

Farm had a saab 9000 carlsson me and a kiwi chap used to rag round Essex back roads in middle of night!
 
I'm sure there's thousands of people do it though. Nurses, factory workers etc.

It's not natural though. I used to live on Mars bar's and orange lucozade. No appetite in dark. Not healthy not seeing or speaking to anyone else for 12 hours either.

Farm had a saab 9000 carlsson me and a kiwi chap used to rag round Essex back roads in middle of night!

True. I think if you could work as a two person team, it might be quite a lot more palatable. Bowser and sprayer, drill and seed cart, combine and escort vehicle.
 
I'm sure there's thousands of people do it though. Nurses, factory workers etc.

It's not natural though. I used to live on Mars bar's and orange lucozade. No appetite in dark. Not healthy not seeing or speaking to anyone else for 12 hours either.

Farm had a saab 9000 carlsson me and a kiwi chap used to rag round Essex back roads in middle of night!

Good point though -- employ a Kiwi and just tell them not to bother dealing with the jet lag!
 

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