Neighbours kid doing odd-jobs on Saturdays, what to pay them.

Turnip

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
So my neighbours girl is 12 (might be 13) and is looking for some things to do on Saturdays, she is more than welcome to help me sorting out odd-jobs around the farm but I'm wondering what I should offer her in pay? Any tips from the community would be appreciated as she is eager and I'd like to get her started.
 
Think £5hr is fair. Depending on her attitude, reliability and quality of work you could increase - if she is equivalent of a 18yr old now then its far to give £8 and you become reliable then its more of a bonus to keep her. You can invoice this and put through the books too
 
Think £5hr is fair. Depending on her attitude, reliability and quality of work you could increase - if she is equivalent of a 18yr old now then its far to give £8 and you become reliable then its more of a bonus to keep her. You can invoice this and put through the books too
Not sure if you want the girl to raise ing invoices used to able to put casual labour into your books
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
£5 is very generous when the minimum wage at 16 is £4.81.
Make sure you do a full induction ( seriously ) about the dangers, risks etc and drum it into them that they must not take risks. Check their age wth their parents too if their is the slightest chance they may be riding or driving a tractor.
Remember if they have the slightest accident which requires a trip to casualty then you will get a visit from H&S.
50 years ago accidents happened and it was a fact of life, today even a small cut or. Greenstick fracture can bring the ire of the authorities.
Saying this it is a wonderful experience for any kid to have, so do it!
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
£5 is very generous when the minimum wage at 16 is £4.81.
Make sure you do a full induction ( seriously ) about the dangers, risks etc and drum it into them that they must not take risks. Check their age wth their parents too if their is the slightest chance they may be riding or driving a tractor.
Remember if they have the slightest accident which requires a trip to casualty then you will get a visit from H&S.
50 years ago accidents happened and it was a fact of life, today even a small cut or. Greenstick fracture can bring the ire of the authorities.
Saying this it is a wonderful experience for any kid to have, so do it!
when son did work experience on a civils site (while in school), they wrote young persons risk assessments for him, which I had to sign as well (he decided after that Civil Engineering was not for him).

Just putting it out there, that H & S for a young person is quite onerous.

Having said that, I think James started driving the tractor here at home when he was 5.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
when son did work experience on a civils site (while in school), they wrote young persons risk assessments for him, which I had to sign as well (he decided after that Civil Engineering was not for him).

Just putting it out there, that H & S for a young person is quite onerous.

Having said that, I think James started driving the tractor here at home when he was 5.
I would hate to discourage anyone from "employing" youngsters on work experience or whatever.
When I grew up half the children in the village used to help around the place ( medium sized dairy farm). Helping feed, bed, move stock, paint gates, you name it, all was voluntary , half the time they were off playing in the woods stacks etc. some kids we saw every day some only occasionally. We paid them pocket money.
Then one day it all changed , a new kid arrived and at the end of the week we had his parents round to to know why little Johnny had not been fully paid for his weeks work. Our explanation was not good enough and we had the wages inspectorate around. From that day it all changed sadly and we had to limit to those who wanted to work on a regular basis.
I believe little Johnny got a fair beating from the other kids and they moved away shortly.
But we must always be aware that the parent who sees you as their best friend when you are providing baby sitting may quickly turn to a night mare if they see the chance of suing you for a big sum when Johnny or Mary breaks an arm.
I surmise there are not many on this forum who grew up on a farm did, not visit casualty once, "tell em you were playing football" not castrating calves or fell off a trailer ;)
 

BAF

Member
Livestock Farmer
If she's good, reliable, cheerful and generally not a pain in the arse then £5-£8/hour. You don't want to see yourself out of pocket but you want to make sure she feels valued.
I've had similar problems to @Exfarmer taking in kids to do yard work and ride and wanting top wages despite being useless then getting the hump when they were stuck pushing a broom.
Also little things like Xmas and birthdays chuck her an extra tenner or a box of chocolates or something. It's nothing much but it makes people feel valued. Same if she's been around helping through lambing or calving or something and you sell a bunch and they sell well, a £20 bonus for all her help will mean the world to her. If you get a good kid and you can train them they're worth looking after.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,292
  • 1
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/
Top