Staff

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Regarding staff, thankyou for all the replies. I guess I'll just carry on on my own for another year.

The reasoning behind wanting someone full time is firstly because I'll be able to keep on top of things a lot better, at busy times (calving, silage etc) I'll be able to keep my head above water and then lastly I'll be able to spend more than a few hours away from the farm. Sounds stupid but it would be nice to be able to just go to market and see a dispersal sale every now and then, or even spend an afternoon away from the farm etc. I haven't actually left the farm for more than a few hours since well before Christmas. Currently I can't leave because I spend all morning doing the routine work, then after lunch I have a few hours before I have to be back for milking, I can't go out in the evening because I've got to be up to milk in the morning etc

I'll add to that, I am really enjoying myself for the most part and am incredibly proud of my cows but I do feel like I'm missing out on things every now and again - especially when I get invited to things and have to decline
How many are you milking? I can't figure out why its taking until lunch to do routine jobs in summer?
 

In the pit

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembrokeshire
Thread doesn’t make a lot of sense
Looking for a worker but getting rid of a lot of the work , sucklers being sold and nearly all the sheep
Apart from milking 90/100 cows there can’t be much else to do
I milk 230 animals and look after all the yongstock and I can be home with my feet up at 10 in a morning and 5.30 in the afternoon
 
Location
southwest
Thread doesn’t make a lot of sense
Looking for a worker but getting rid of a lot of the work , sucklers being sold and nearly all the sheep
Apart from milking 90/100 cows there can’t be much else to do
I milk 230 animals and look after all the yongstock and I can be home with my feet up at 10 in a morning and 5.30 in the afternoon

You're more organised.

Some people don't "act" they just "react"
 

Happy at it

Member
Location
NI
Some people don't tell it straight either. Suprising the people that will tell you that do it "all by themselves", They never seem to include the father alongside them in the yard, doing ai and calves calves, the mother on paperwork, maybe the uncle doing all the silage slurry hedges etc and the part timer just to keep them all company.
 
Last edited:

In the pit

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembrokeshire
I block calve so have a bloke who helps from mid sept through til feb ,so that’s calving and help with the feeding in the winter for 2/3 hours a day
Difference is my block is 10/11 weeks not as some people who say they block calve 10/11 months
I have myself organised during calving as well and can be home by 12 in the morning and 6.30 at night
Getting yourself organised is the key and sorting problems before they occur
 

early riser

Member
Location
Up North
I block calve so have a bloke who helps from mid sept through til feb ,so that’s calving and help with the feeding in the winter for 2/3 hours a day
Difference is my block is 10/11 weeks not as some people who say they block calve 10/11 months
I have myself organised during calving as well and can be home by 12 in the morning and 6.30 at night
Getting yourself organised is the key and sorting problems before they occur

Do you just manage the cows or do you also manage the financial running and organisation of the overall business?

Big difference between the two.

Hats off to you if you are doing literally everything yourself for that number of stock

Whilst @Jdunn55 might be running a lot less cows than what some herdsman achieve, he also has to pay the bills, order the inputs, maintain records, sort the accounts, decide on business strategy etc etc and that’s what eats time
 

In the pit

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembrokeshire
Do you just manage the cows or do you also manage the financial running and organisation of the overall business?

Big difference between the two.

Hats off to you if you are doing literally everything yourself for that number of stock

Whilst @Jdunn55 might be running a lot less cows than what some herdsman achieve, he also has to pay the bills, order the inputs, maintain records, sort the accounts, decide on business strategy etc etc and that’s what eats time
Yes but that’s not eating his time though as he has said before he does the dairy work and then has to go to his dads and run round after sheep and sucklers all day and then back to milk at silly oclock
If it was just the cows he would probaly manage easily
Oh then he does his own contracting
 

Jdunn55

Member
The thing that eats my time up is problems and it's all very well saying prevent problems instead of solve them (I do my best to do this) but it doesn't always work.

I've been milking my own cows for just over a year so still got lots to figure out in terms of that

But more importantly I've only been on this farm for just over 12 months.
For instance the other day, my fencers put 2 posts through a water pipe so my entire afternoon was spent digging up ground and repairing it. Had I known where the water pipe was this wouldn't have happened, but I didn't know.
This meant I was behind for the next day and then the next day and then the next day etc
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
The thing that eats my time up is problems and it's all very well saying prevent problems instead of solve them (I do my best to do this) but it doesn't always work.

I've been milking my own cows for just over a year so still got lots to figure out in terms of that

But more importantly I've only been on this farm for just over 12 months.
For instance the other day, my fencers put 2 posts through a water pipe so my entire afternoon was spent digging up ground and repairing it. Had I known where the water pipe was this wouldn't have happened, but I didn't know.
This meant I was behind for the next day and then the next day and then the next day etc
Yes emergency jobs like that are what eats your time, that's why you need to be able to get the routine jobs done in good time each day.
You said up thread that the routine work was taking until lunch. That only gives you a couple of hours to sort the problems and do the management work before milking again.
Getting rid of the other stock will help, I still think you need to get shut of the tractor work though. You're stuck in a tricky spot of not enough work/income for a full timer but taking too much on to do it all yourself as its currently run.
 

Jdunn55

Member
Yes emergency jobs like that are what eats your time, that's why you need to be able to get the routine jobs done in good time each day.
You said up thread that the routine work was taking until lunch. That only gives you a couple of hours to sort the problems and do the management work before milking again.
Getting rid of the other stock will help, I still think you need to get shut of the tractor work though. You're stuck in a tricky spot of not enough work/income for a full timer but taking too much on to do it all yourself as its currently run.
I sort of include problem solving as part of my routine work. A lot of time is taken up with electric fencing (not got a good layout atm) but should be sorted once fields are fenced properly.
Youngstock also take up a lot of my time and I am running a lot of them, next year i will hopefully have 150 black and white heifers of various ages. Then there's paperwork (I include it as routine), it takes me ages, I don't really know if I just take a long time to do it or if it's the same for everyone but I do have lots of the bloody stuff.
I guess with me trying to make things simpler for next year I could probably cope on my own.
It's just it would be nice not to have to struggle for once, so if I could afford and find someone decent then that would be nice but maybe I'll have to wait another year.
It will also mean when there's a job that requires 2 hands I'll have someone there to give me a hand as and when needed, for instance moving heifers from one end of the farm to the other, or dehorning calves, or milking whilst I sort out fresh calvers and clean out the calving pen once a week etc

I'll add I'm not looking for anyone right now, it wouldn't be until after christmas I'd start looking if I was going to. Next year I'll be milking 120 and hopefully 150 the year after.
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
I sort of include problem solving as part of my routine work. A lot of time is taken up with electric fencing (not got a good layout atm) but should be sorted once fields are fenced properly.
Youngstock also take up a lot of my time and I am running a lot of them, next year i will hopefully have 150 black and white heifers of various ages. Then there's paperwork (I include it as routine), it takes me ages, I don't really know if I just take a long time to do it or if it's the same for everyone but I do have lots of the bloody stuff.
I guess with me trying to make things simpler for next year I could probably cope on my own.
It's just it would be nice not to have to struggle for once, so if I could afford and find someone decent then that would be nice but maybe I'll have to wait another year.
It will also mean when there's a job that requires 2 hands I'll have someone there to give me a hand as and when needed, for instance moving heifers from one end of the farm to the other, or dehorning calves, or milking whilst I sort out fresh calvers and clean out the calving pen once a week etc

I'll add I'm not looking for anyone right now, it wouldn't be until after christmas I'd start looking if I was going to. Next year I'll be milking 120 and hopefully 150 the year after.
That would be a better number, you could do with a GFW then. Someone that could do all the yard work, feed calves move breaks and milk in the afternoons.
Don't blame you for wanting a hand, lonely old job by yourself.
 

frederick

Member
Location
south west
Do you just manage the cows or do you also manage the financial running and organisation of the overall business?

Big difference between the two.

Hats off to you if you are doing literally everything yourself for that number of stock

Whilst @Jdunn55 might be running a lot less cows than what some herdsman achieve, he also has to pay the bills, order the inputs, maintain records, sort the accounts, decide on business strategy etc etc and that’s what eats time
I had a really good chap that then went on to buy and run his own dairy farm.
Two years later he said I thought you used to dissapear in the house and drink tea. Until he had to do all those other jobs he didn't realise just how time consuming it was.

Currently in house drinking tea.
 

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

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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/
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