The apprentice

[Tractorstant]

Not the TV show !

Thinking we could use an extra pair of young hands, cant really justify another full time wage though and think it would be nice to train up someone wanting to come into the industry

Anyone use any of the apprentice schemes ? how do they work ? what do you pay etc ?

I reckon we could offer the right person a great training on a modern forward thinking farm and over time they could take on more complex tasks and become a proper member of the team as work expands I need more people and would rather have staff that have learnt how to do things to the standard I expect rather than be fixing mistakes in training from others

I'll do it if I get to pick the company car....

 

[Clive]

Nowt tighter than them with money. Apprenticeships can be mainly funded by goverment help etc so in the end it costs you next to feck all , talk to your accountant about it . Apprentices get less than £4.00 an hour ,which isnt even noticable to someone of your size. Slave labour at its worst , and folk wonder why kids dont want to farm .

I don't mind paying staff well but if I take a completely unskilled youngster here I am going to have to invest a lot in turning him into a quality operator, he may then bugger off to another farm and I see no benefit of that investment, he will probably also cost me in damage / higher insurance premiums etc along the way !

I'm running a business, I have to see a return on things we invest in or why would I do them. If Im going tommy a proper wage same as current employees get I will just advertise for a fully killed and qualified individual that someone else has invested time and money in training

I wouldn't dream of paying anyone £4/hr - you cant live off that unless you like cat food I reckon ! - I was thinking more whatever the min wage is for that age and the potential of a full time proper salary job one day if up to the job

 

[Clive]

But if said apprentice took another apprentice ship as a trades man he could easily aim at 50k a year and aspire to have his own company and be his own boss, that aint ever going to happen working on a farm, i advise anyone against starting in farming now.

this is true but some people want to work on a farm, isn't spending your life doing what you actually want to do more important that the size of your bank balance ?

My good operators earn that kind of money anyway so if your good enough and prepared work hard you can earn well farming

 

[Gatehouse Farm]

40K gisa job

 

[Hilly]

this is true but some people want to work on a farm, isn't spending your life doing what you actually want to do more important that the size of your bank balance ?

My good operators earn that kind of money anyway so if your good enough and prepared work hard you can earn well farming

To a point you have a point but finding that person will be like finding hens teeth, the reality is you will train him on peanuts and when he comes of age will jump ship to another industry with better pay and conditions.

 

[green giant]

If the younger generation don't get the chance of a decent paying job to learn farming will be in a difficult position in 20 years time. They need to be taken under a qualified mentors wing and willing to learn. From the bottom up over. From what I see, a lot are just given the sh!t and payed accordingly, employers think cause they have a new or fairly new tractor that they can drive, it's ok to get away with as little wage as possible.
I have customers asking all the time do I know any young lads or lasses looking for a full time tractor driving job, IMO yes you seem nowadays to wrap the younger generation in cotton wool and at times they think there God, but there has to be a carrot at the end off the string to aspire to. You can go to a supermarket and earn decent money at a young age, better hours and always a ladder to climb, farming should be no different.

 

[B'o'B]

To a point you have a point but finding that person will be like finding hens teeth, the reality is you will train him on peanuts and when he comes of age will jump ship to another industry with better pay and conditions.

I'm not sure you are right. We had an apprentice. It took her 2 years to do the qualification she worked for us full time for about 2 ½ years and now works on a livestock farm 20 odd miles away after her and her boyfriend got a house out that way and is very happy there. She is a good worker with the right attitude and wanted to work on farms.

 

[TripleSix]

Would you want to start working on a farm ? you would get double money better conditions doing almost anything eles, total dead end job unless you have your own place to work on.

Making me feel better about my job as a GFW!

 

[Jfp]

Would you want to start working on a farm ? you would get double money better conditions doing almost anything eles, total dead end job unless you have your own place to work on.

It really is no life being a farm worker. I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Steevo]

I don't mind paying staff well but if I take a completely unskilled youngster here I am going to have to invest a lot in turning him into a quality operator, he may then bugger off to another farm and I see no benefit of that investment, he will probably also cost me in damage / higher insurance premiums etc along the way !

I'm running a business, I have to see a return on things we invest in or why would I do them. If Im going tommy a proper wage same as current employees get I will just advertise for a fully killed and qualified individual that someone else has invested time and money in training

I wouldn't dream of paying anyone £4/hr - you cant live off that unless you like cat food I reckon ! - I was thinking more whatever the min wage is for that age and the potential of a full time proper salary job one day if up to the job

Well......I'm no expert but you might not get many swift replies!

 

[Hilly]

Making me feel better about my job as a GFW!

Sorry, at least you have a job and more than likely fair enjoy it, alot are unemployed.

 

[Clive]

I'm not sure it is dead end if you work for the right boss and enjoy the job and lifestyle that goes with it

Working in a supermarket might be more regular hours and money even but my god what a sad and repetitive existence ! about time we looked at the positives of working in such a varied and rewarding job in the countryside with some often fantastic machinery and technology to help us these days

I don't even think of the guys I work with as employees, they are simply people I work with, they are involved in and as big a part of most (none financial as that's not their skill set ) decisions we make, the farm may as well be their own and I think they think of and care about it as such, they earn more than some self employed farmers do and are less dependant upon yields and prices to get paid, they take zero risk personally

They take none of the risk I do but they do more hours and work harder. It's silly hours at times yes but no one is being forced to do anything, dare I say it even enjoyable sometimes to put in a few big hour weeks ! its simply nature of our seasonal industry and is to some extent unavoidable

As owner I may have a lot more capital wealth but what use is that to me if I'm not selling ? In the past there have been times where employees have earned more out of the farm than I have

 

[Hilly]

It really is no life being a farm worker. I wouldn't recommend it.

Its all i am realy just a gfw , except i have 100% responsibility so have to make it work, building assets is what floats my boat, if if were not for that i would happily do something else ! christ boys sitting on harvesters and forwarders doing a k a week employed.

 

[Hilly]

I'm not sure it is dead end if you work for the right boss and enjoy the job and lifestyle that goes with it

Working in a supermarket might be more regular hours and money even but my god what a sad existence !

I don't even think of the guys I work with as employees, they are simply people I work with, they are involved in and as big a part of most (none financial as that's not their skill set ) decisions we make, the farm may as well be their own and I think they think of and care abou th it as such, they earn more than some self employed farners do and are less dependant upon yields and prices to get paid.

They take none of the risk I do but they do more hours and work harder. It's silly hours at times yes but no one is being forced to do anything

As owner I may have a lot more capital wealth but what use is that to me if I'm not selling ? In the past there have been times where employees have earned more out of the farm than I have

Itsnot a dead end in a super market, my cousin left school at 16 to stck shelfs ended up store manager, big companys big opportunities.

 

[Hilly]

I'm not sure it is dead end if you work for the right boss and enjoy the job and lifestyle that goes with it

Working in a supermarket might be more regular hours and money even but my god what a sad and repetitive existence ! about time we looked at the positives of working in such a varied and rewarding job in the countryside with some often fantastic machinery and technology to help us these days

I don't even think of the guys I work with as employees, they are simply people I work with, they are involved in and as big a part of most (none financial as that's not their skill set ) decisions we make, the farm may as well be their own and I think they think of and care about it as such, they earn more than some self employed farmers do and are less dependant upon yields and prices to get paid, they take zero risk personally

They take none of the risk I do but they do more hours and work harder. It's silly hours at times yes but no one is being forced to do anything, dare I say it even enjoyable sometimes to put in a few big hour weeks ! its simply nature of our seasonal industry and is to some extent unavoidable

As owner I may have a lot more capital wealth but what use is that to me if I'm not selling ? In the past there have been times where employees have earned more out of the farm than I have

In my experience of farming if your telling the truth your bloody rare.

 

[Clive]

Itsnot a dead end in a super market, my cousin left school at 16 to stck shelfs ended up store manager, big companys big opportunities.

store manager ! wow ! does he have 2.4 children and new Mondeao ever other year and live in a nice neat box in suburbia somewhere maybe ?


.......my idea of hell frankly, i would rather be living in caravan but doing a job that actualy meant something personally

each to their own, work to live or live to work ???

 

[Clive]

Seriously count your blessings, the grass may look greener but its probably not !

there is a massive amount of very positive things about working on a farm if you start to notice them and not take them for granted, massive variability for a start, most people do same thing day in day out over and over again thats rarely the case on a farm as work over with seasons etc

I have friends in other industries, many well paid but lots of them would love to be doing what we all do every day

 

[Hilly]

N

store manager ! wow ! does he have 2.4 children and new Mondeao ever other year and live in a nice neat box in suburbia somewhere maybe ?


.......my idea of hell frankly, i would rather be living in caravan but doing a job that actualy meant something personally

each to their own, work to live or live to work ???

No he packed it in years ago, my point is if a ladder is put infront of a man if he has half a brain he can climb it, very short ladder on a farm.

 

[Clive]

In my experience of farming if your telling the truth your bloody rare.

maybe your not in the wrong industry and just in the wrong job ?

any industry will have good and bad guys to work for (even supermarkets !)

 

[Hilly]

Seriously count your blessings, the grass may look greener but its probably not !

there is a massive amount of very positive things about working on a farm if you start to notice them and not taking them for granted, massive variability for a start, most people do same thing day in day out over and over again thats rarely the case on a farm as work over with seasons etc

I TOTALY agree if own or rent your own, working on one for someone else, not good !