Staff

[jersey lou79]

I have 5 part time staff. Have fallen into the friend not boss category which in many ways I'm proud of, We have a happy team. Long standing staff and a good working atmosphere BUT I need them to start talking responsibility mainly because we're just exhausted being on farm ALL the time while all staff have regular time off. We have over 650 stock to look after and I don't really want to bin staff off and get a herdsman Basically what's the best route to be a firmer boss without turning into a dick!
Has anyone else had issues due to expanding herd and realising managing staff seems to be a job in its self!!!

 

[Deereone]

You have to start as you mean to go on. It can be even more difficult when employing family, you need to wear two hats (like Schizophrenia). One whilst at work and one socially.

 

[Boysground]

Over the last 8 years we have gone from 2 full time staff to 4 full time and a number of part time. The part time ones are mostly doing the 3rd milking. It is difficult as someone is always off.

I think the most important thing to do is look at yourself and you must make sure you are getting time off. Perhaps choose a day a week and say to the staff that you will not be out on that day and they will have to take responsibility. Make this regular. One of my guys has always had a weekday off and that is really useful as it’s easier to find cover, perhaps you could do that.

I suspect the staff will either go with what you want or leave. With that number of stock you should be able to find a good full time herdsman. Who could start with a good degree of responsibility.

Hope that helps
Bg

 

[Whitepeak]

Some of the staff might relish the opportunity to be given more responsibility if you were to have some time off. They might feel 'babied' and not trusted if you are constantly there. However others might like that and crumble under the pressure of being left on there own. Only you will know your staff well enough to say which they are.

From experience on working at a couple of dairy farms where all the staff are self employed part time, it's a bit of a nightmare tbh. I'm never sure who I'm going to be in with due to time off and a high turnover of staff (don't need to give notice like an employed staff would). The boss is constantly ringing round trying to arrange cover. Staff are unhappy due to either long hours or not enough hours. I often think they'd be better off employing more on a fulltime basis and having a proper work rota between the family and staff.

 

[Headless chicken]

We have the same issue that you do to a degree with one member of staff. The difficulty is increased in that he doesn’t get paid per hour. Infact he does an incredible amount for nothing as he just enjoys it.

This obviously creates difficulties. We’ve overcome this by and large by giving him the tractor work ( which he enjoys and I don’t ) and he looks after the kit

 

[betweenthelines]

If you continue to micro manage, staff will never take any responsibility. Perhaps you could start by giving each one something they can "manage" eg A manages dairy chem stock, B looks after dairy cake ordering, C keeps fencing up to standard etc. Good guys will love it, others may even refuse to take it on. Also show them that there's a progression path -do so & so well and you can then start looking at such & such a job/task

 

[som farmer]

staff in dairy farming is getting to be a real problem, we have just completed a winter with very little help, we are knacked, and starting the winter as a block calving autumn herd, we have come out with a spring block herd, lot of keen buying and selling, but we have changed. I often wonder that people I know well, who have gone down the 3x day route, with all the hassle of staff, extra work, keeping cows in 24/7 is it ever worth the hassle? you may well achieve 10-15% extra milk, but is it profitable? or does just bring in the extra money to make the ' the money wheel' go a bit further ? in the current climate, no-one has a clue what is going to happen re Brexit, and if we do have a hard Brexit, and rely on world tarrifs, it is clear that the present bunch of idiots in Westminster will concentrate on cheap food, whils't paying lip service to us, as 'in the public good etc', so what will happen to these high imput, high output herds ? may well stand up at 30ppl, but what about 20ppl ? I am certain you could attract staff for a lower cost , more relaxed system , than a high pressure, full on system

 

[Deereone]

@som farmer, I sympathise with your staff shortage and agree that good staff are very hard to find. Brexit however does not worry me. I think the general public are becoming more discerning about where their food comes from and will look for British food.

 

[More to life]

@som farmer, I sympathise with your staff shortage and agree that good staff are very hard to find. Brexit however does not worry me. I think the general public are becoming more discerning about where their food comes from and will look for British food.

Unfortunately I don’t agree it’s a very small percentage with the disposable income to think a long those lines.

 

[O'Reilly]

I have 5 part time staff. Have fallen into the friend not boss category which in many ways I'm proud of, We have a happy team. Long standing staff and a good working atmosphere BUT I need them to start talking responsibility mainly because we're just exhausted being on farm ALL the time while all staff have regular time off. We have over 650 stock to look after and I don't really want to bin staff off and get a herdsman Basically what's the best route to be a firmer boss without turning into a dick!
Has anyone else had issues due to expanding herd and realising managing staff seems to be a job in its self!!!

A friend had a member of staff (not dairy) that he was frustrated with, but when he gave the guy responsibility for something, the chap picked up the challenge and became really useful, and now runs his particular area with little input from the boss. Sometimes you need to let go, which is easier said than done, especially when so much can go wrong with livestock.

 

[som farmer]

Unfortunately I don’t agree it’s a very small percentage with the disposable income to think a long those lines.

totally agree, what is said before going shopping, and whats in the basket coming out is very different,
people just haven't got the spare money. you read about the huge amounts of money spent on credit cards, the rates of interest on payday loans, look at ordinary bank loans, very different rates than our overdrafts, or business loans, these people are the public that buy in the supermarkets, our customers. if you think any government is going to do anything to make food prices go up, I think you are living in cuckoo land. at the same time, do you trust the idiots in power to subsidise us? pay us to look after the country side, to keep it 'pretty'? when the nhs needs more money? the nhs is a bottomless, out of control system, they will never have enough. ok easter rant over, apologies if I've offended anyone!

 

[kiwi pom]

I have 5 part time staff. Have fallen into the friend not boss category which in many ways I'm proud of, We have a happy team. Long standing staff and a good working atmosphere BUT I need them to start talking responsibility mainly because we're just exhausted being on farm ALL the time while all staff have regular time off. We have over 650 stock to look after and I don't really want to bin staff off and get a herdsman Basically what's the best route to be a firmer boss without turning into a dick!
Has anyone else had issues due to expanding herd and realising managing staff seems to be a job in its self!!!

Is being on the farm ALL the time actually the problem? Some people don't like others looking over their shoulder all the time, for fear of being criticised (farmers hate inspectors for the same reason) or just screwing something up while the boss is watching.
If you tell them what needs to be achieved and what standard you expect and let them get on with it what would happen?

 

[kiwi pom]

If you continue to micro manage, staff will never take any responsibility. Perhaps you could start by giving each one something they can "manage" eg A manages dairy chem stock, B looks after dairy cake ordering, C keeps fencing up to standard etc. Good guys will love it, others may even refuse to take it on. Also show them that there's a progression path -do so & so well and you can then start looking at such & such a job/task

I'd agree with this except, what's the progression path on a farm employing 2/3/4 staff? There isn't one really, unless you accept the fact you're training up new entrants to leave for better opportunities as their skills improve, which is great I know people that do it and they turn out good herd managers but it doesn't help their labour problem in the long term.

 

[linga]

Unfortunately I don’t agree it’s a very small percentage with the disposable income to think a long those lines.

If people didn’t spend so much on luxuries and/or rubbishthey would have more disposable income

 

[john1968]

get a head herdsman and pass the headache to him you get time off and not as much hassle

 

[Wurzeetoo]

If the management style of friendly suits you and works well how about arranging a group meeting and explaining how you are feeling and that you need a break? You may be pleasantly surprised that staff are happy to take up the strain if you’ve been good to them it often creates a strong team spirit. If nothing else it’s a good warning that people will need to step up soon. I know all business advice is never be a friend rather than a boss but it has never sat right with me ruling with an iron fist. I’ve had to on certain projects and it feels a constant conflict zone. I try and think to treat others as I’d like to be treated myself and bar a few numpties it works

 

[som farmer]

If people didn’t spend so much on luxuries and/or rubbishthey would have more disposable income

try telling them that. wot no fags ? no sky tv ? no boozy nights out ? many people who spend their income on these things, think they are nescessaries of life. we might not agree but that is what happens, sons partner works in social services, what she say's makes you want to cry/puke/emigrate or whatever. most of us do not have a clue what life on the dole, or very low money is like. before having a go at me, I know there are plenty of farming families on very low income, and other families the same, but they don't act like it is their right to have the above, and work bloody hard to get themselves a better future, the above does not apply to them

 

[ollie989898]

If people didn’t spend so much on luxuries and/or rubbishthey would have more disposable income

You have no place to tell the working man what they can or cannot spend their money on I'm afraid. What you define as a luxury or rubbish may differ from theirs. They might question why you spend so much money on cushelle toilet roll when Tescos own will do.

 

[Beef farmer]

You have no place to tell the working man what they can or cannot spend their money on I'm afraid. What you define as a luxury or rubbish may differ from theirs. They might question why you spend so much money on cushelle toilet roll when Tescos own will do.

Agree 100%.

90% of people dont enjoy/worry about food, its eaten to survive.

 

[ollie989898]

Agree 100%.

90% of people dont enjoy/worry about food, its eaten to survive.

We have to be realistic and recognise that actually, a good part of the British population can no longer cook like our grannies could. In fact, a lot of them would not even recognise much of the stuff people were able to buy 40 or 50 years ago. That being the case, it is probably no surprise that the public don't appear that interested in food in a basic unprocessed form and are unlikely to appreciate differing qualities of product. As an example we mistakenly ordered 3 packs of pork loins from the Tesco home delivery service the other day. All three contained pork from Denmark. Cooked and seasoned they were basically identical to the same offering in Tesco we have had before which was UK sourced. Modern supermarket meat is just the same mass-market stuff all prepared in the same way and packaged in a convenient way. Despite all that, it seems to sell and has become the recognised supply that people want.

It is a bit sad that people are now happy to accept this stuff as being normal and desirable but I do not know how you will change consumer habits when faced with the multimillion marketing spend of the retailers.