Good experience or just cheap labour?

Tom147

Member
Location
North Suffolk
volunteering is one thing. You could say if you wanted paying you should have said. YOu have now gained enough experience through volunteering to get paid.
So move one, and get paid to do what you obviously enjoy. It is a shame, the farmer should not have taken advantage BUT look at what you have learned.
sometimes it is difficult to be accepted by a gang, especially so if you have not been included in the breaks and the "banter" (i mean included, not the subject of the banter) when you ventually become in such a position as the farmer (ie, some form of manager who directs how organisations go) you will remember this experience and not subject 14 year old volunteers to such a crap experience.
in 20 years time, you will look back on this and realise what you have learnt. HOWEVER, that does not mean people should take advantage of you. the fact you have done the volunteering, and joined this forum to raise the issue is commendable. take heart in it and dont lose heart

Definitely something I'll remember for the future, and there's always a silver lining to the bad stuff. At least I know what to look for next time
 

Tom147

Member
Location
North Suffolk
Maybe you should remind the boss that he'd said there was money to be earned at shearing.....what happened to it? Could be he just wants you to show your mettle ands ask?...same with food, if you had said pass the sandwiches boss I don't expect he would have said "there's none for you, shut up and keep sweeping that wool up!
I know it takes a bit of nerve but you got to ask or communicate to make your opinion known. It's about self confidence, speak your mind and 9 times out of 10 you'll likely be pleasantly surprised at result.

Suppose it's always worth asking, still got a couple of weekends there at least before I won't have a job there to do. To be fair it's an excellent point you raise. Cheers
 

Turra farmer

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Because I struggle to find labour , that's got any common sense , some don't even turn up on start day , others haven't got the brains they were born with , and if you get more than 2 in one place the only thing that works is their tounges ,
 

Tom147

Member
Location
North Suffolk
Because I struggle to find labour , that's got any common sense , some don't even turn up on start day , others haven't got the brains they were born with , and if you get more than 2 in one place the only thing that works is their tounges ,

Fair enough, lot's of people I've talked to struggle to find decent workers at the moment
 
Location
Cumbria
Difficult to broach the subject when you're young but somehow you need to. Try by asking if he wants you to put an invoice in for the shearing .If he finds you useful something will be forthcoming. If the others have seen how useful you are other work will soon come your way.
 
So about 6 months ago I decided to ask a local sheep farm about my DofE volunteering. thankfully they said yes and I spent my entire Easter holiday doing 12-13 hour days work, this was fair enough as I was gaining experience, meeting new people and earning a fantastic reputation and at that point money wasn't really concerning me as everyone else was doing it out of free will. However after I finished my volunteering I was offered the opportunity to come back to help out at shearing. Again I was really happy they invited me back especially with the notion I may be payed.

However, I started this weekend, doing the usual 12 hours. It is at this point I would like to mention the work I was doing was exactly the same as everyone else apart from the shearers (herding sheep, getting the into groups and separating the lambs, sending them up the race, Rolling and baging wool and stacking it in the shed).I noticed that I was the only person who hadn't been payed, wasn't offered drinks and apart from one other person didn't have breaks.

Now I'm not going to say that my employer is in the wrong, but surely I should to some extent be payed? I'm not being greedy but most of my friends are earning more a week for a two hour paper round on a Friday whilst I do their hours for a month in under a day. So back to the question at hand, is it worth sticking at it for the experience or am I just being used as cheap labour?
Don't let anyone take you for a ride stand your ground
 

MF135

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Fife
Try and find a farm that shows cattle or sheep it's a good way to get experience with livestock and if your looking for a career within the industry possible future employers will see you in the ring.
 
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Not even offered a drink?! That's not on, get from there, plenty of others out there who will appreciate you and your efforts. Won't be easy but sounds like you ought to be fine judging by how you've come across so far. Best of luck!
If it's anything like the shearing that went on around here, it wouldn't be fizzy pop that they were drinking...
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
As the scrap dealer said when towing away my first car, "Experience is cheap whatever you pay for it".

The advice I got when I was starting out was to keep my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open. I was pleased to work for nothing for those with wisdom just to get the chance to gain from it. I realise that things change and that today's society is money orientated, but I don't think those priciples were wrong. I've often hitch hiked to someone's premises for the privilege of pushing a broom all day for no wages just so I could learn something. When that is achieved, move on. Knowledge is more valuable than money. But money has it's good points too, just don't let it dominate your life, OP, because it is also over rated!
 
So about 6 months ago I decided to ask a local sheep farm about my DofE volunteering. thankfully they said yes and I spent my entire Easter holiday doing 12-13 hour days work, this was fair enough as I was gaining experience, meeting new people and earning a fantastic reputation and at that point money wasn't really concerning me as everyone else was doing it out of free will. However after I finished my volunteering I was offered the opportunity to come back to help out at shearing. Again I was really happy they invited me back especially with the notion I may be payed.

However, I started this weekend, doing the usual 12 hours. It is at this point I would like to mention the work I was doing was exactly the same as everyone else apart from the shearers (herding sheep, getting the into groups and separating the lambs, sending them up the race, Rolling and baging wool and stacking it in the shed).I noticed that I was the only person who hadn't been payed, wasn't offered drinks and apart from one other person didn't have breaks.

Now I'm not going to say that my employer is in the wrong, but surely I should to some extent be payed? I'm not being greedy but most of my friends are earning more a week for a two hour paper round on a Friday whilst I do their hours for a month in under a day. So back to the question at hand, is it worth sticking at it for the experience or am I just being used as cheap labour?
I had run in March v two plonkers from Llangollen who are builders, did 2 days work for them on water pipe works, they rang me evening to say work wasn't gettin done quick enough and my services wouldn't be required, I got money off them but there turned nasty issuing threats and all stay away from bullies like that in life !
 

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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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