Hourly rate

Jersey123

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
South west
Recently been asked by a customer if I would be interested in milking there herd of 150 cows twice a day, which is approximately 6 hours a day and a couple hours of general farm work to make roughly 10 hour day 5 days a week (self employed) but not sure what to charge as an hourly rate as there will be no accommodation and I’m capable of keeping the farm ticking over while the owner is away and able to carry out repairs and administer medications. A.i and foot trimming trained.
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Yes you can, if there’s a risk of a percentage of your income e.g A.i targets or s/c targets not met.

Why would you want to do it self employed? It's a full time employed job, you can still add bonusses into the contract for targets met.
What do you think is a fair rate? If you must be self employed you need to be on a better rate than an employed herdsman to factor in the risk of no contract and no sick pay etc. Plus you'll need insurance to cover any mistakes you make.
 
Why would you want to do it self employed? It's a full time employed job, you can still add bonusses into the contract for targets met.
What do you think is a fair rate? If you must be self employed you need to be on a better rate than an employed herdsman to factor in the risk of no contract and no sick pay etc. Plus you'll need insurance to cover any mistakes you make.
Why would you want to be employed ? a fair few get carried away and think they've actually purchased you, far better to be self employed, in the driving seat more.
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Why would you want to be employed ? a fair few get carried away and think they've actually purchased you, far better to be self employed, in the driving seat more.

Nothing wrong with being self employed, have a lot of customers - hopefully more than you need - pick and choose where you go and how much you charge and be your own boss.

This is none of those things, they're asking for someone 5 days a week for 50 hours. That's a fulltime job, might as well get all that comes with that, holiday pay, sick pay, pension, a little job security etc.

I bet you'd have to be around 20 pound an hour self employed to be better off than employed?
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
At 50 hours you are effectively employed as you will have little say in what else you can do. You need at least 20% over an employee wage to cover holidays, illness, pension contributions

Yep then you'd only be at the same level as an employee, so you really need more to make it worth your while.

You'd need insurance as well if self employed for inhibs in the tank and any other cock ups.

@Jersey123 look into what you could get as a salary for a fulltime herdsman job, then work it out from there.

If you really want to be your own boss look for a contract milker or share milker position, provide all the labour and do the job for a % of the milk price.
 

thewalrus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northern Ireland
At 50 hours you are effectively employed as you will have little say in what else you can do. You need at least 20% over an employee wage to cover holidays, illness, pension contributions

at least 20% is correct
Employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks holiday pay so they only work 46.4 weeks a year there’s 11%!
then there overtime for everything over 39hours
pension contributions another 5%?
 

Sparkymark

Member
As above you may as well be fully employed and get all the perks.
If you’re good and 50 hrs 5 day week i would put you around £700/week fully employed.
Add the extra for self employed.
 
I agree being fully employed is the way forward.

Too many farmers are using the self-employed thing to shirk their responsibilities and avoid having to pay NI contributions. I have spoken with two potential employers in the last 18 months and both were more than willing to have me on an employed basis where I had asked for it.
 

YELROM

Member
Location
North Yorkshire
I agree being fully employed is the way forward.

Too many farmers are using the self-employed thing to shirk their responsibilities and avoid having to pay NI contributions. I have spoken with two potential employers in the last 18 months and both were more than willing to have me on an employed basis where I had asked for it.
What was the job?
 
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