gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Yep there will always be exceptions to the rule but they practically run the farm on a day to day basis reading between the lines.
What's a fair wage on a family farm?
- Thread starter flyonthewall
- Start date
Yep there will always be exceptions to the rule but they practically run the farm on a day to day basis reading between the lines.
yorkie
Member
- Location
- pe34 norfolk,but not born there
was getting £30+k ten years ago and a house,they say add another £8k if no house
,wage has kept going up since,if no house would want £40k at least,but you do get what you pay for,why pay for 2 workers if 1 skilled bloke can it just as well
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
Most farm workers don't do anywhere near the hours of a dairy cowman and wouldn't want to do the work or keep the records and take that responsibility. You just will not get the standard of staff for £18 to £20k for that work.
You are correct though that the returns are not there to pay what is considered to be normal average wages on probably the majority of UK farms. They are only marginally viable as businesses. UK agriculture has become a bad joke and its going to get worse rather quickly.
Tarw Coch
Member
- Location
- Bottom of Wats Dyke
I refer you to my earlier post and my conversation the other night with a large dairy farmer (approx 600 cows) who said that at one point he was loosing 25k per month with one of the largest milk buyers who certainly weren't the poorest payers out there.
But to add a bit of balance, as he told me his cost of production he would almost certainly have been making that much profit per month at the peak.
What I don't know is his long term averages but it's quite axrollercoaster for a business to be on, he certainly needs to take quite a bit out of it considering the investment and risk involved, as a much smaller dairy farmer myself I can tell you dairy farming is no licence to print money but on my acreage it probably is the most profitable thing I can do over the long term average although it also involves the most investment and labour. Im sure my profit divided by hours worked wouldn't look so great.
You may well be right, Cowabunga.
Hopefully they'll be another two or three years of the reasonable farm income generated here now to finish paying off the accumulated debt (whilst I continue happily living it up on my state pension).
As to what pleasures may not be achievable in the last third of one's life, I have absolutely no wish to live to be 120.
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they are far more than "tractor drivers" as far as I'm concerned
- Location
- Fife
I didn't mean to be derogatory. Employees is perhaps a better word. What I meant was there are agribusinesses which can pay their staff well and still make a good profit (as I'm assuming you don't run your farm for their benefit!).
holywell farmer
Member
- Location
- holywell, north wales
There not enough work for me full time at my uncle farm but gives me ok hours and rates, when I go there
Any business is only ever as good as the people it enploys
Clayfarmer
Member
A couple of points the op should consider, if you work 30+ hours a week then you can claim tax credits, probably of around £1200, I am guessing you ought to earn the minimum wage on paper if you are employed but I am not certain that's still the case.
State pension - its worth ringing them to make sure your contributions are up to date, sooner rather than later as it is cheaper that way. One year when I went back to study, I was short and voluntarily topped it up. If you don't you won't qualify for the full state pension. Many self employed are at risk as they make lower NI contributions.
State pension - its worth ringing them to make sure your contributions are up to date, sooner rather than later as it is cheaper that way. One year when I went back to study, I was short and voluntarily topped it up. If you don't you won't qualify for the full state pension. Many self employed are at risk as they make lower NI contributions.
Sweepa
Member
- Location
- Northern Ireland
Dont buy a 70k tractor? ?
If you can persuade the manufacturer's sales.co to let you keep the sales subsidy they always remit to their in-house or tame finance.co, then fair enough, but that's becoming increasingly difficult.
Otherwise, we're all now just stuffed with the tick as the best option, like it or not.
RedMerle
Member
I'm not . The OP has family trying to persuade him.
If i had a spare 70k I could find much better ways of spending it
- Location
- Fife
Hookers and blow! Lol.
RedMerle
Member
If you can persuade the manufacturer's sales.co to let you keep the sales subsidy they always remit to their in-house or tame finance.co, then fair enough, but that's becoming increasingly difficult.
Otherwise, we're all now just stuffed with the tick as the best option, like it or not.
Aye I could have expressed my point better. Admittedly some things do have to be bought on tick as such. But i feel 70k borrowed against 30 acres of owned land and 200 acres of rental a big gamble if what you have already can do the job.
Tarw Coch
Member
- Location
- Bottom of Wats Dyke
flyonthewall
Member
Think the reality to my situation is to find some off farm better paid work, and put my foot down over the wages and tractor situation, if I am to stay here full time. At the end of the day I only do around 900 hrs year, perhaps if we were bigger it would be a different decision on spending 70k...... To my mind an investment is a house or an appreciating asset, I appreciate if you're charging out your time/tractor as a contractor it may be a different situation.
- Location
- Fife
Is that not one and the same?
Nope.
yellow belly
Member
- Location
- south west lincolnshire
if you only do 900 hours you have another 900 hours available to earn off farm so does your brother but if he will not work more hours that is a problem which will be difficult to overcome
if possible sit down with all parties and work out a medium to long term plan of where you both want to be in 20 years time
the problem with hoping for or expecting inheritance is that care costs can eat up the inheritance that is earned but not paid to the younger generation
my grand parents had experience of this 50 years ago having to pay out brothers and sisters for improvements to the family farm
I was always paid the proper wage for the job and would urge all others to do the same with their offspring
this is hard for those who do not get control of the farm till they are near retirement age
the older generation need to realise that if thing are not right then money will not keep the family together
openness and honesty will
a fair days pay for a fair days work it does not have to be cash in the pocket but needs to be shown in capital accounts /shares