exmoor dave
Member
- Location
- exmoor, uk
Also lately been trying to make a effort to do paper work in the day in "work time". Rather than treating it as a extra to be done late in the evenings. Doesn't seem quite so bad then.
How many hours/week do farmers actually work?
- Thread starter gone up the hill
- Start date
- Location
- Ceredigion
You probably pay 80% tax here if you count everything you pay so best keep none and be 80 % better off
had a good couple of weeks of sun on their backs and if i don't get them now I won't get the chance until july most likely.
too late to worry about it now anyway
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
I agree with all you say about not working yourself into the ground and having the right system etc but you cant honestly say that it only took you an hour seven days a week for 5/6 months of the year looking after 600 cattle!! how about checking them, cleaning out the feed passages, pulling out and injecting any that were unwell, getting them ready for mart/slaughter etc...
No way in hell you could do it now, esp with the paperwork cattle generate, clipping them for slaughter etc etc.... pipe dream at best!!!
exmoor dave
Member
- Location
- exmoor, uk
had a good couple of weeks of sun on their backs and if i don't get them now I won't get the chance until july most likely.
too late to worry about it now anyway
Fair play!
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Hubby generally works from 5am until 7.00 pm with half an hour for breakfast and lunch sometimes. Often back out after tea to check cows etc. He will also do an hour sorting out his dairy program in the evening. Works 12 days per fortnight but on his 2 days off still does a couple of hours per day. Generally he gets 5 days holidays per year but can sometimes get half a day away between milkings. I would say he is very tired and grumpy most of the time. When we met he had a lot more free time and could even go on dates and the occasional sleep over
I am on gardening leave for 5 months so practicing unpaid slavery.
Why is he working such long hours??? is he working flat out or spending more time talking about the next job than the job will actually take?? cant see the point of it all year around myself...
Cell count problem last summer in wet weather so milking routine was changed to foam dip, pre-wipe, milk, post dip and clusters are also sprayed inside after each cow milked. I worked one weekend to let him take our son away to young breeders and it was endless. He doesnt want to change it as he wants to get all his milk bonuses. Really just him and his brother with various part time staff 270 dairy cows, all replacements homebred and 90 acres cereals. He does all the management and livestock work including AI and his brother does tractor work and also milks. Part time help fills in the gaps. I would say it has been a long winter, no cattle out yet although hopefully some will be this weekend but cows have been in since mid summer after a really wet summer.
Took my old man [82yrs of age] for a ride out to buy a few hogs and lambs,and seeing the field full of them in the sunshine we started to chat about when we had sheep.The old man was telling my friends,quite scathingly i thought,how i didn't like to work weekends now i have no livestock[he doesn't seem to count doing 400 acres of arable on my own,often at weekends as work!].
Anyway,on the way back he tells me that if my son Tom wants to come home after Harper,I would have to start a sheep flock or something to make work!
I say,bugger that,it's about making a living,and who in their right mind would grass down good arable land to keep sheep, just to make work.
I think it must be a generational thing as he used to be all work,work work and would always keep mum waiting half the day .if they had agreed to go out.
I have done my fair share over the years, but am making a better living now than when we tried to have lots of different enterprises.sheep,cattle and pigs have all gone,and now in Dads eyes i don't work as hard.
You should work to live,not live to work!
Anyway,on the way back he tells me that if my son Tom wants to come home after Harper,I would have to start a sheep flock or something to make work!
I say,bugger that,it's about making a living,and who in their right mind would grass down good arable land to keep sheep, just to make work.
I think it must be a generational thing as he used to be all work,work work and would always keep mum waiting half the day .if they had agreed to go out.
I have done my fair share over the years, but am making a better living now than when we tried to have lots of different enterprises.sheep,cattle and pigs have all gone,and now in Dads eyes i don't work as hard.
You should work to live,not live to work!
Kildare
Member
- Location
- Kildare, Ireland
You have to ask what is work. Work to me is doing something I don't really want to being doing.
Most of the time I am very happy working with our few cattle or growing the crops,
Sort of hobby and livelehood combined
Most of the time I am very happy working with our few cattle or growing the crops,
Sort of hobby and livelehood combined
- Location
- Derbyshire
I work variable hours depending on what I'm doing. If I worked 100+ hours per week all year round I would probably be a right boring git. It amazes me that there are people working these hours and then moaning about it. Who forces them? I honestly don't think it makes anyone a hero... if you do it and stay happy, it is admirable. If you do it and moan at anyone who doesn't, it makes you a bit of an arse to be honest.
I used to work as a health manager in a cattle company and would average about 11-13 hours per day (5 days per week) and spent the weekends worrying and becoming paranoid about what my boss thought or what I hadn't done the week before. It was no life!! I now work strange hours trimming feet, disbudding and freeze branding. The hours aren't long but I graft. At lambing, I can do 100 hours per week but usually a bit less.
I used to work as a health manager in a cattle company and would average about 11-13 hours per day (5 days per week) and spent the weekends worrying and becoming paranoid about what my boss thought or what I hadn't done the week before. It was no life!! I now work strange hours trimming feet, disbudding and freeze branding. The hours aren't long but I graft. At lambing, I can do 100 hours per week but usually a bit less.
Stoxs
Member
- Location
- Andover , Hampshire
Douglasmn
Member
Bit late on this thread but will just add my bit. Can't understand how farmers can be so busy. 550 acres here and there's bugger all to do. Machinery is kept spotless and in good condition. Yard is always kept tidy. Stock are happy and healthy and crops generally look well. Honestly do not understand how people can work so many hours in farming. When I tell people I'm a farmer and they say "that must be hard work and a lot of hours" I just have to laugh and say "eh...not really..."
Grassman
Member
- Location
- Derbyshire
I will have a wild guess you are arable?
Douglasmn
Member
Mixed farm. Approx 120-150 cattle (figure always varies). Permanent grass, temporary grass and about 400 acres cropped. Grass let out for sheep in winter, they sometimes graze some stubbles too. Me and dad. Just very little to do. Always strived to make everything as efficient as possible. End result is that I'm currently training for another job, will just do farming on the side once I get hired(hopefully by end of the year).
Douglasmn
Member
Haha. Not a chance one of those types. Any work to do I get on and do it without making a fuss. End result is that it gets done quickly, so soon left with little to be doing again!Or a landlord
2 years on, have things changed for you?
Douglasmn
Member
Have to say the only real experience I have with stock is store cattle, and they really are not a lot of work. And as long as the system is good (fences well maintained, sheds and handling systems well maintained and looked after), it's definitely not hard work either. A few too many drama queens in farming in my opinion.
Hang about, drama queens? You have 120 cattle? And 400 acres of corn? There's people round here with 1000/1100 cattle and 750 acres of corn with 2.5 people.