How many hours in a standard working day?

[Fellstoflats]

Genuine question, and I know that I'll get a thousand different answers.

What is a "standard" working day to you, or your staff, on your farm? How many hours?

On a run of the mill day - not lambing/calving/harvest/silage etc

For reference, I'm thinking 800ac, mixed beef/sheep/arable, modern equipment, not so modern buildings.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

When I reached 75 I decided to switch the alarm clock off except for special occasions like hospital appts. etc.. Despite that, my normal getting up time is 6 to 6.30, can't stay in bed anymore. Then just occasionally I wake and it is 8.30. I'm much slower now getting going in the morning so rarely out before 7. After midday meal I will fall asleep for half hour, hour and then potter about until tea time. So I'm definitely a morning person.

 

[Zippy768]

I like how flexible farming is with children. What does your other half do work wise and could you manage (as easily) with out being in the position your in able to ‘rock up late’ to work because that’s how it’s fallen with school run etc

Not sure on the "rock up late".
Not uncommon to be out to try and get routine work done before the other half starts at 8, but tbf starting earlier never means I finish any earlier.
Easy to forget all the weekend; silage and harvest hrs as well. There has to be some benefit to running a farming business - cos it ain't the monetary return.

Also when kids are on hols, it's my other half that has to take time off and sorts the childcare between her and granny.
I don't work with children on farm.

In all honesty, I don't know how families with multiple children with 2 "traditional" jobs manage.
In our case we are fortunate that other half earns well, and the reality is that I'd give up work and she would work 5 days not 4.
Truth be told - even without a farm dwelling - we wouldn't be hugely worse off but probably have a far better quality of life

 

[livestock 1]

Hours of actual work will usually be between 8 and 10 for the main part
Hours on duty for other things which are just tending to various things but not actual work as such will be a lot longer but I couldn’t include that all as ‘work’

 

[DrWazzock]

Being self employed there just isn’t a standard working day. Some days I’ll do 16 hours to catch up on spraying if the wind drops and the machine will travel. Other days I might do next to nothing. Personally I’d rather work a steady 8 hours a day but it just doesn’t happen in this job. And sometimes I’ll work early hours, have to stop then work late. It’s that kind of weather related unpredictable unsociable hours that really screws me up.

 

[Adeptandy]

Standard day Pre long covid it was 7am start with the dogs, then on the heating job or farm, back 6:30pm for food, 7:30 back out with the dogs and in the house by 10pm. Drinks and food generally while working until I got back home.

Nowadays, a lot less, especially if it’s a damp atmosphere

 

[ollie989898]

A fencer up here is renowned for his working hours, on site every day by 7am and still there well into the evening. Apparently he has a swimming pool in his house that he has never been in. And sleeps in a chair .
A few years ago a lad working for him asked for time off to go and buy a suit for a wedding. He was allowed to stop at 3 45 on a Sunday afternoon

Not being obtuse here but how hard is fencing as work goes? I've only ever done the odd part day or day doing farm work where there is hedge trimming/chainsaw, post banger, telehandler, 360 etc etc and/or an 'all hands' operation going on so not really proper contract fencing where they go like hell and put up hundreds of metres a day. In reasonable weather, how hard on you is it?

I mean 7 till 7 might be possible if you are fit or there isn't a lot of sheer grunt involved?

 

[DrWazzock]

It was the unpredictability of the start and stop times that screwed me up last autumn trying to get drilling done. We didn’t actually work many hours per week but I remember starting drilling at 4 am in the dark on a Sunday morning and thinking to myself that it had really come to something when this was the only opportunity. It knackered sleep patterns then you’d work silly hours, then days coming back down off a kind of adrenaline high. I’d much prefer a steady 8 hours a day without weather anxiety. Then even after all that effort a lot was trashed by rain. Awful. But we are still here.

 

[kiwi pom]

It was the unpredictability of the start and stop times that screwed me up last autumn trying to get drilling done. We didn’t actually work many hours per week but I remember starting drilling at 4 am in the dark on a Sunday morning and thinking to myself that it had really come to something when this was the only opportunity. It knackered sleep patterns then you’d work silly hours, then days coming back down off a kind of adrenaline high. I’d much prefer a steady 8 hours a day without weather anxiety. Then even after all that effort a lot was trashed by rain. Awful. But we are still here.

I agree routine is more important than we give it credit for, you can work a lot of hours a week if they are all basically the same start stop times, your body gets used to it.
Rotating shifts are bloody awful after a while, you don't know whether you're supposed to be getting up or going to bed.
I did 10 years of 3 days, 3 nights, 3 off. Think I aged about 30 years.

 

[principal skinner]

A fencer up here is renowned for his working hours, on site every day by 7am and still there well into the evening. Apparently he has a swimming pool in his house that he has never been in. And sleeps in a chair .
A few years ago a lad working for him asked for time off to go and buy a suit for a wedding. He was allowed to stop at 3 45 on a Sunday afternoon

What a sad existence.

 

[ARW]

Not being obtuse here but how hard is fencing as work goes? I've only ever done the odd part day or day doing farm work where there is hedge trimming/chainsaw, post banger, telehandler, 360 etc etc and/or an 'all hands' operation going on so not really proper contract fencing where they go like hell and put up hundreds of metres a day. In reasonable weather, how hard on you is it?

I mean 7 till 7 might be possible if you are fit or there isn't a lot of sheer grunt involved?

It depends how hard you work!
I think it’s hard work, it’s hard physically and mentally. Some jobs are easier than others, I’ve had staff only last a few days and they suddenly become “busy”
It’s tough in all weathers and you need a very positive mentality that we are here, we have a job, don’t think about it just get on with it.
The days where we can put up 300 metres plus or wire all day and knock out over 1000 you have been on your feet all day on all terrain in all weathers. We once had a day where we got 1100 metres of Clipex up in a day with 4 of us I did 28,000 steps that day
Out of all my friends my age I’m probably the fittest, and I don’t carry a gut either!

 

[grainboy]

All I can say now at 66,
I was spray contractor for 25yrs, worked every hour, came back from holidays to please customers, etc,
But,
Missed my 3 daughters growing up,
My biggest regret in life,

 

[Zebbedee]

Standard day Pre long covid it was 7am start with the dogs, then on the heating job or farm, back 6:30pm for food, 7:30 back out with the dogs and in the house by 10pm. Drinks and food generally while working until I got back home.

Nowadays, a lot less, especially if it’s a damp atmosphere

Sorry to be nosy but what effect is a damp atmosphere, don’t answer if I,m being too bold regards

 

[Bobthebuilder]

8-4.30, 3,30 on a Friday anything before or after that is overtime

 

[Jackov Altraids]

It's a good question.
Almost impossible for a self-employed farmer to answer.
I'm not sure how many 'run of the mill' days a farm such as you suggested would have.
It would be hard to argue somebody was wrong if they claimed they worked zero hours, as it was all a hobby or that they worked 24/7, as they are literally always on call.
When I completed a survey on hours worked for a supermarket contract, they didn't like my very high hours. I pointed out the rules in the RT handbook on daily requirements for animal husbandry and asked how it was possible to meet those in any less time. They kind of inferred they didn't expect me to.
A business has to 'sweat its assets', and for most smaller farms, the main asset to sweat is the farmer. We do a lot of work you simply couldn't pay for anyone else to do.
And if you are responsible for a few hundred acres, livestock, crops, buildings, machinery etc, you will literally have an infinite list of things to do. Your work is never finished.
So my answer is entirely arbitrary, I'd guess an average somewhere between 8-10 hours/ day 365 days a year, my opinion mainly depending on the weather.

 

[KB6930]

I'm employed and my normal hours are 7 till 5 half hour for dinner.

Busy times I try to not work after 10 at night on a regular basis. But that weather dependent also could start a lot earlier to get something done due to weather but that's not a regular thing

 

[Kiwi Pete]

100 hours a month, in the past year I can't think of one "standard working day"

 

[Derrick Hughes]

No such thing as Standard in farming or support industry

 

[Adeptandy]

Sorry to be nosy but what effect is a damp atmosphere, don’t answer if I,m being too bold regards

Long covid has knackered the lungs, for some reason a damp day effects my lung function

 

[glasshouse]

What a sad existence.

It's a good question.
Almost impossible for a self-employed farmer to answer.
I'm not sure how many 'run of the mill' days a farm such as you suggested would have.
It would be hard to argue somebody was wrong if they claimed they worked zero hours, as it was all a hobby or that they worked 24/7, as they are literally always on call.
When I completed a survey on hours worked for a supermarket contract, they didn't like my very high hours. I pointed out the rules in the RT handbook on daily requirements for animal husbandry and asked how it was possible to meet those in any less time. They kind of inferred they didn't expect me to.
A business has to 'sweat its assets', and for most smaller farms, the main asset to sweat is the farmer. We do a lot of work you simply couldn't pay for anyone else to do.
And if you are responsible for a few hundred acres, livestock, crops, buildings, machinery etc, you will literally have an infinite list of things to do. Your work is never finished.
So my answer is entirely arbitrary, I'd guess an average somewhere between 8-10 hours/ day 365 days a year, my opinion mainly depending on the weather.

i see that supermarket

I see that supermarket approach coming through in the post office enquiry.
As long as the paperwork was right it didnt matter if they “sweated” a few Postmasters When they forced them to confess.
As long as they got their bonuses.

 

[Willie adie]

Sod that…

Which us why he struggles to get staff