Farm children working hours

[milkloss]

Don’t bed them in cotton wool, farming as an enterprise on its own is a hard life and going to get harder so don’t pretend anything else. Any youngsters need to understand this before they get too far into it.

Having said that, it can be a great life if you cut your cloth about right.

 

[roscoe erf]

that would make a good thread title

f.f.s don't encourage them

 

[roscoe erf]

I think sons / daughters are better off working for someone else first

and even better if in another industry

 

[IEM]

Interesting thread.
I never wanted to farm when at school but was keen to earn some money so started out on the potato grader at about 12. By 15 dad expected us to do the same hours as everyone else all through summer holidays which was tough and made me decide Farming definitely wasn’t for me. On leaving school I got a proper 9-5 job which after a year I was bored out of my mind with and went back to the farm.
It’s much easier to work the 100 hour weeks that are sometimes needed in farming once you get to 22/23 and have finished growing!
Now I have kids of my own I wonder what the best approach will be so they learn the discipline needed for the inevitable hard graft during busy times (if they want to farm) but aren’t put off and can have some time off to be a kid and not feel guilty about it.

 

[Hilly]

If my kids layed in bed till ten oclock id go mental farming or no farming thats unacceptable in my house.

 

[ollie989898]

I would be wary of them putting work before academic work. By all means encourage some farm work, it never hurt anyone, but not at the expense of doing their homework or revision. None of us can possibly know what the world of work/farming will require of us in future years. The more rounded their academic focus, the better placed they will be. The farm will always be there and formal education does eventually finish.

 

[texas pete]

I feel completely the opposite and agree with those who let their kids sleep as much as they (the kids) feel they need. I have always treated my livestock this way too. One place I farmed I had two not very far away neighbours who used to compete with each other as to who was first out in the morning giving hay to their stock. 5 a.m. in December and January was normal and earlier in other months of the year. Stupidity. Would you want to be woken in the middle of the night with breakfast stuck in front of you? Then wait until the middle of the next night to be fed again.

Nobody ever needs to struggle to develop a sense of achievement. I was never pushed at home to get on with work. I appreciated that. Achievement is gained when one achieves something no matter what has occurred previously.

I have a Brother in Law just like that.

Nearly every farming conversation of what he's been up to begins with how early they started.

I'm often tempted to ask why they aren't a bit further on sometimes, as they do seem to make long jobs of things,... but I don't.

 

[Hilly]

I have a Brother in Law just like that.

Nearly every farming conversation of what he's been up to begins with how early they started.

I'm often tempted to ask why they aren't a bit further on sometimes, as they do seem to make long jobs of things,... but I don't.

Their is one in every parish, the fact they like too boast about early starts says something about it and them.

 

[Wellytrack]

If they are going to come to farming they will, some of the smartest people in agriculture have had a life and life experience outside of it and can look at things in a way others cannot.

All this BS about hard work never doing harm. Nonsense. Of course it does, the clue is in the name look at all the knackered farmers in their 60’s and often much younger.

Any medals? No. Thought not.

 

[milkloss]

I can’t work out why some farming kids go to practical ag colleges. Surely they know how to drive a tractor and hook up implements etc.?

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

Farming is its own worst enemy for encouraging family to step aboard the farm ship some times. Working kids all the hours they can during their summer holidays is ludicrous. Some of the best memories I have of my teen years is of bike riding with the group of friends I had, was big into the bike game, jumps, downhill racing, drops, north shore, you name it. I also did a lot of work during my teens, but enjoying myself was number 1.

What it is with the younger generation nowadays is that we're more switched on to the fact that there is life off the farm, and that life is too short to grind yourself into the ground like the old buggers that have been nowhere and done nothing.

Life's too short, you need a life as well, even just for a few days you come back fully re-charged and raring to go again. Hugely appreciate it is difficult with stock which is why I'm glad we aren't farming any more.

I went and worked at a few different places and went off doing my own thing quite a bit, the money was nice but soon made me realise how much better it was at home really. However this also allowed me to see how other people do things and bring the ideas home with me and make some changes, all for the better!

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

I can’t work out why some farming kids go to practical ag colleges. Surely they know how to drive a tractor and hook up implements etc.?

There's a lot more to be learnt than that. I went and did land based tech (ag engineering) and learnt a massive amount of stuff that probably wouldn't have at home, even did a module on business which gave me a large understanding of that part of it as well.

 

[glasshouse]

I have a Brother in Law just like that.

Nearly every farming conversation of what he's been up to begins with how early they started.

I'm often tempted to ask why they aren't a bit further on sometimes, as they do seem to make long jobs of things,... but I don't.

In the film leon the pig farmer, they got out of bed at 4am and sat about reading, not starting work till 9
struck a chord with me, my grandfather went apeshit if u arrived late, but it didnt seem to matter what u did after that, and woe betide you if you wanted off early

 

[Red Fred]

Seen that a lot, even here when we were young. On a family farm, there can be all sorts of weirdness going on in peoples' heads due to the very small community, and this idea of "I work harder than you because I get up at 5" can lead to a life of pointless "work" just to score brownie points or butter up the older generation.
Thanks to college and working away, I ended up in the US and New Zealand for a while, but I still remember the tiny minded comments from the stay-at-home crowd when i got back "So the prodigal son has returned, then," and so on. By 'eck, I'm glad I got away though as the family farm suddenly looked so small minded and I had enough friends and outside support network to go it alone at the first opportunity.

 

[glasshouse]

Seen that a lot, even here when we were young. On a family farm, there can be all sorts of weirdness going on in peoples' heads due to the very small community, and this idea of "I work harder than you because I get up at 5" can lead to a life of pointless "work" just to score brownie points or butter up the older generation.
Thanks to college and working away, I ended up in the US and New Zealand for a while, but I still remember the tiny minded comments from the stay-at-home crowd when i got back "So the prodigal son has returned, then," and so on. By 'eck, I'm glad I got away though as the family farm suddenly looked so small minded and I had enough friends and outside support network to go it alone at the first opportunity.

I remember the small minded comments from the morons when i arrived back from hard graft in oz, "yer wellies were sat waitin for ye"
I never wore wellies again, after all that time in bare feet i couldnt.

 

[pappuller]

My eldest is 16 and wants to come home to work but is going back to the 6th form in September.
It is always difficult with your own but overall he is excellent, likes things done right, steady and careful with machines and fully 'gets' what me and his mum are trying to do.
He doesn't start with me first thing but has done plenty of 10 and 12 hour days, quite often working over 50 hours a week when I stop to think about it.
Every now and then he seems to run out of steam and lose interest , as he is still a student in my eyes I leave him to it and in fairness if I want him to come out and get up a gear he will, I have to remind myself sometimes that he is on holiday and wants to lie on his arse for a while.
What does everyone else do with your own, force them out every hour every day, indulge them or what?
I'm not worried at all but it would be interesting to know others experiences.

Our son has just done his gcses and going to ag college 4 days a week in sept, he is v steady and of the x box generation but is working at two other farms for two days a week as well as helping out here, at 16 they have so many opportunities and we would like him to try as many as he can rather than be saddled in the family firm forever, you dont always know what you want to do until your in your 20s.

 

[Vader]

6 year old dropped idea of being a farmer .
Now wants to be a footballer.
I asked him about the farm.
' don't worry dad. When I am a footballer I will pay someone to do the work '

Can not fault the lad!

 

[Chae1]

I never really wanted to follow a career in agriculture until I worked for someone else. I couldn't get along with my father at all. Really grateful to the farm manager I worked with.

 

[michael N123]

I can’t work out why some farming kids go to practical ag colleges. Surely they know how to drive a tractor and hook up implements etc.?

I went to newton rigg on some agri course thing for my GCSEs and that put me off staying on afterwards left as soon as I could when I was 15-16 it just seemed a waste of time

 

[michael N123]

Their is one in every parish, the fact they like too boast about early starts says something about it and them.

I started at 8:30 this morning because it looked rainy out the window when the first alarm went off