Herdsperson wage??

[kiwi pom]

View attachment 829111

So shelf stackings not flash then? 9.87 an hour, I bet they don't get more than 35 hours a week, possibly split shifts certainly a weekend component.
18k a year!

I'm sceptical of a lot of the rates on here (unless things have changed massively in the last few years) often they don't include all the employment details. Big picture I think some of these dairy jobs are quite good, the house being a massive part of it.

 

[JES]

Come off it.

Dairy industry is circling the drain is it?

Ok, I challenge you to do this. Get a mobile phone and spend one hour enquiring with various trades and suppliers trying to buy and have installed by the end of 2019 any of the following.

A rotary parlour or robots.
A slurry store.
Umbrella building plus cubicles for 200 cows. For extra lulz tell them you want all the steel galvanised.
Builders to construct the above.
Tradesmen to plumb and wire the above.
Cow matresses including fitting.

From what I have been told recently in this region the majority of companies involved in the sale, supply or installation of the above capital items are basically running flat out and there are waiting lists for much of them.

For extra points try finding a company who can supply and install plastic piping for underground slurry piping.

For an industry that is borked colour me surprised.

I could get all of the above if I had already spent £2m+ and owed it to banks/ finance companies. If I wanted to update any of the above I would have problems because there aren’t the staff available in many of the support sectors. Ask your vet if he could recruit an experienced large animal vet, then ask a small animal vet the same question. There is not enough money coming in to the dairy industry to give people the standard of living they can else where.

 

[vantage]

Come off it.

Dairy industry is circling the drain is it?

Ok, I challenge you to do this. Get a mobile phone and spend one hour enquiring with various trades and suppliers trying to buy and have installed by the end of 2019 any of the following.

A rotary parlour or robots.
A slurry store.
Umbrella building plus cubicles for 200 cows. For extra lulz tell them you want all the steel galvanised.
Builders to construct the above.
Tradesmen to plumb and wire the above.
Cow matresses including fitting.

From what I have been told recently in this region the majority of companies involved in the sale, supply or installation of the above capital items are basically running flat out and there are waiting lists for much of them.

For extra points try finding a company who can supply and install plastic piping for underground slurry piping.

For an industry that is borked colour me surprised.

Conversely I’ll add that in most instances if you are lucky enough to own a farm it is relatively easy,but getting harder, to borrow money. It’s not always plain sailing paying it back.

 

[ollie989898]

Conversely I’ll add that in most instances if you are lucky enough to own a farm it is relatively easy,but getting harder, to borrow money. It’s not always plain sailing paying it back.

I am categorically not talking about money in my post.

I am saying that you could be a lottery winner and it would not matter, you will struggle to source or find installers for a lot of the above and have it completed by the end of this year. Companies are just so busy building or installing stuff on farms its unbelievable.

 

[ollie989898]

I could get all of the above if I had already spent £2m+ and owed it to banks/ finance companies. If I wanted to update any of the above I would have problems because there aren’t the staff available in many of the support sectors. Ask your vet if he could recruit an experienced large animal vet, then ask a small animal vet the same question. There is not enough money coming in to the dairy industry to give people the standard of living they can else where.

I can speak with some authority on the subject of large animal vets. The long and short is the industry has lost the James Herriot effect and now has the Noel Supervet effect. Throw in the rise of corporate practice and a subsequent dearth of partnership opportunities along with the anti social hours on call and you don't really need much imagination to realise why large animal isn't really all that attractive to people entering the profession. At least with small animal work you can generate good fee income like clockwork from relatively normal hours. I also see a number of practices are moving toward the hospital model which greatly simplifies the workload as you can then justify people on the premises at night.

Young people leaving school today just do not seem to want to enter a vocation that might entail working more than school hours. It is also having an effect on other professions besides those veterinary in nature I fear.

 

[JES]

I wish I could find some enthusiasm, I am glad that there are people investing for the future, people looking for a career should associate themselves with those people on the understanding they a treated to the same wages and conditions as comparable sectors and that is not supermarket shelf stacking.

 

[unlacedgecko]

So shelf stackings not flash then? 9.87 an hour, I bet they don't get more than 35 hours a week, possibly split shifts certainly a weekend component.
18k a year!

I'm sceptical of a lot of the rates on here (unless things have changed massively in the last few years) often they don't include all the employment details. Big picture I think some of these dairy jobs are quite good, the house being a massive part of it.

Personally, I think £9.87 stacking shelves PAYE in a supermarket is a lot better than 285 day contract at £90/day “self employed” on a dairy farm, living in a glorified static caravan.

Fortunately for me I have a variety of other options.

 

[kiwi pom]

Personally, I think £9.87 stacking shelves PAYE in a supermarket is a lot better than 285 day contract at £90/day “self employed” on a dairy farm, living in a glorified static caravan.

Fortunately for me I have a variety of other options.

I cant get my head around being full time BUT self employed on a dairy farm either. Unless your an actual contract milker or share farmer, supplying labour (not just your own) and equipment etc and receiving part of the milk check or similar.
But some of these full time employed packages are pretty good, especially if you get a nice house in a rural location.
I think the tricky thing is, working on a small to medium size farm you're often working with or directly reporting to the business owner and are often the only employee. Its a lot different than working with a large group of other employees and having a manager as a boss. So you actually have to get along with each other. Finding a good fit is as hard for an employee as it is for the employer.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

I can speak with some authority on the subject of large animal vets. The long and short is the industry has lost the James Herriot effect and now has the Noel Supervet effect. Throw in the rise of corporate practice and a subsequent dearth of partnership opportunities along with the anti social hours on call and you don't really need much imagination to realise why large animal isn't really all that attractive to people entering the profession. At least with small animal work you can generate good fee income like clockwork from relatively normal hours. I also see a number of practices are moving toward the hospital model which greatly simplifies the workload as you can then justify people on the premises at night.

Young people leaving school today just do not seem to want to enter a vocation that might entail working more than school hours. It is also having an effect on other professions besides those veterinary in nature I fear.

My latest employee is a vet student who was supposed to be here on a part time role before going off to university next month. She started last November just to gain some cow experience but now she's pulled out of university and has taken on a salaried role here with nice house and I'm building her some stables for her horses.

 

[unlacedgecko]

My latest employee is a vet student who was supposed to be here on a part time role before going off to university next month. She started last November just to gain some cow experience but now she's pulled out of university and has taken on a salaried role here with nice house and I'm building her some stables for her horses.

From everything I’ve read here, you sound a great employer who recognise the value of staff.

 

[ollie989898]

My latest employee is a vet student who was supposed to be here on a part time role before going off to university next month. She started last November just to gain some cow experience but now she's pulled out of university and has taken on a salaried role here with nice house and I'm building her some stables for her horses.

Good on you, I am not surprised in the slightest- who wants 50K worth of student debt to end up earning £35,000 a year?

 

[dinderleat]

I can speak with some authority on the subject of large animal vets. The long and short is the industry has lost the James Herriot effect and now has the Noel Supervet effect. Throw in the rise of corporate practice and a subsequent dearth of partnership opportunities along with the anti social hours on call and you don't really need much imagination to realise why large animal isn't really all that attractive to people entering the profession. At least with small animal work you can generate good fee income like clockwork from relatively normal hours. I also see a number of practices are moving toward the hospital model which greatly simplifies the workload as you can then justify people on the premises at night.

Young people leaving school today just do not seem to want to enter a vocation that might entail working more than school hours. It is also having an effect on other professions besides those veterinary in nature I fear.

I don’t understand why large farms don’t employ vets. A 30k+ package with a house, they could do all treatment of animals on farm, rear calves take charge of vaccines and post natal calving checks aswell as fertility work. Sees a no brainier if you had the work to justify it.

 

[ollie989898]

I don’t understand why large farms don’t employ vets. A 30k+ package with a house, they could do all treatment of animals on farm, rear calves take charge of vaccines and post natal calving checks aswell as fertility work. Sees a no brainier if you had the work to justify it.

Its only a matter of time. I heard about a guy being paid more money than that just be to someones full time AI man so a vet who could do the other bits as well would be well worth it.

 

[unlacedgecko]

I cant get my head around being full time BUT self employed on a dairy farm either. Unless your an actual contract milker or share farmer, supplying labour (not just your own) and equipment etc and receiving part of the milk check or similar.
But some of these full time employed packages are pretty good, especially if you get a nice house in a rural location.
I think the tricky thing is, working on a small to medium size farm you're often working with or directly reporting to the business owner and are often the only employee. Its a lot different than working with a large group of other employees and having a manager as a boss. So you actually have to get along with each other. Finding a good fit is as hard for an employee as it is for the employer.

Being full time but self employed is a tax dodge for employers. Means they escape their responsibility for employers NI, holiday pay and sick pay.

The sooner HMRC turn their attention to these kind of arrangements in ag the better.

 

[dinderleat]

Being full time but self employed is a tax dodge for employers. Means they escape their responsibility for employers NI, holiday pay and sick pay.

The sooner HMRC turn their attention to these kind of arrangements in ag the better.

What like lkl’s business model.

 

[unlacedgecko]

What like lkl’s whole business

Yes. LKL's business model is not defendable or ethical.

I can understand the fee for recruiting someone for a client/farmer, but the way they expect to take a slice of you're wage for evermore? No thanks.

 

[WillM]

Most of LKLs recruitment staff are failed dairy managers. ?

 

[JP1]

I'm trying to grasp what my worth is as a herdsperson, going from a self employed acting herdsperson. I was finally presented a contract at 24K with a 3 bed house, day off a week and every other weekend off, 230 cows, NZ system. Would of said I was worth a minimum 26K but they insist the advice was from a farm consultan to be 24K. Would like some thoughts before I have to fight my corner.

The cynic in me wonders how much of the £2k difference in salary is swallowed up in his / her fat fees for doing sweet FA

 

[SteveHants]

£9 an hour self employed is no where near a living wage. Especially for a job which involves unpleasant working conditions and antisocial hours.

The living wage is £10/hour employed, whic would make it at least £15/hour self-employed.

 

[betweenthelines]

My latest employee is a vet student who was supposed to be here on a part time role before going off to university next month. She started last November just to gain some cow experience but now she's pulled out of university and has taken on a salaried role here with nice house and I'm building her some stables for her horses.

Salary, house, stables for the horse? Your Mrs OK with the arrangement?