Efficiency gained from employing labour.

kowtow

Dawggone wrote: »

Hmmm breeding...
My father was quite the savant when it came to breeding. Tokyo Cups and 1000guineas and 2000guineas were in his cabinet...



Cows. I'll leave it to Stan to breed an 'Irish' cow for grazing grass from feb to nov.

Good idea, he knows what he's doing.

I'll start work on one that can operate the tub mixer herself.

Mooooo

Anyone here getting someone just to milk the cows? WHILE you do the rest yourself? Thinking it may be easier to find someone to milk than go part time full days. What kind of hourly rates are lads paying for relief or otherwise for milking. No point in getting someone to milk if the same money would pay someone for a day

RightTurnClyde

Mooooo wrote: »

Anyone here getting someone just to milk the cows? WHILE you do the rest yourself? Thinking it may be easier to find someone to milk than go part time full days. What kind of hourly rates are lads paying for relief or otherwise for milking. No point in getting someone to milk if the same money would pay someone for a day

Got a guy to do evening milkings from 1/05 to 01/09. 30c/cow/milking. Having the evening milkings done made a massive difference to freeing up time for "farming". Was able to go doing work after the morning milking without worrying about stopping for the evening milking.

whelan2

I pay a man 35 Euro per milking wether its 60 cows in the winter or 160 in the summer. He will stay on for a bit after if needed

Mooooo

I take it they include gathering the cows as well? Hoping to be able to keep a fresh group separate in spring so extra hands at milking would speed things up and hopefully give freshly calved cows that extra chance. When main group come in I could head off. I'll give frs a shout initially maybe and get a lad/lass out now while they may be quiet and see how it goes.

Keepgrowing

Mooooo wrote: »

I take it they include gathering the cows as well? Hoping to be able to keep a fresh group separate in spring so extra hands at milking would speed things up and hopefully give freshly calved cows that extra chance. When main group come in I could head off. I'll give frs a shout initially maybe and get a lad/lass out now while they may be quiet and see how it goes.

We have 2 guys that come for milking only. For 1 guy the cows are in the yard and locked out though he'll do if necessary. It really doesnt matter as we've got to allocate grass anyway. Other guy collects himself but we'd allocate grass. We will milk with them throughout calving and breeding. Like you we keep penno group seperate and I milk these. They both get e45 per milking. They will both be let off around 15 Dec when a large number of cows will be dried, they return at the start of calving

Mooooo

Do ye think milking is a job that should be done by oneself? Was chatting to a neighbour today he reckons it's too important management wise to be getting in a lad for that as opposed to anything else. He made a good point that getting fellas in part time jobs should be simple to explain, simple to do and repeatable

Wildsurfer

In fairness I know we'd like to think it is, but putting cups on teats is hardly rocket science. If Mexicans can do 12 hour shifts of it in Dakota, then I'm sure it's not too much to expect that we can find a suitable person to milk for an hour or so on our farms without the business collapsing

pedigree 6

The Farm Relief are doing milking courses for operators for just that very reason.
So they know what they're doing and doing it properly.

There's a large dairy farmer near me who won't let the staff anywhere near the parlour only himself. He has won a quality milk award though.

I wouldn't mind wages being paid on cell count, tbc and thermos levels though.
It would be an interesting concept and focus attention.

White Clover

Mooooo wrote: »

Do ye think milking is a job that should be done by oneself? Was chatting to a neighbour today he reckons it's too important management wise to be getting in a lad for that as opposed to anything else. He made a good point that getting fellas in part time jobs should be simple to explain, simple to do and repeatable

Text milk quality results to Milker as you get them. They won't want to see them going downhill either. Despite what many of us think, we are all replaceable and often our replacement is more competent than we previously thought.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Wildsurfer wrote: »

In fairness I know we'd like to think it is, but putting cups on teats is hardly rocket science. If Mexicans can do 12 hour shifts of it in Dakota, then I'm sure it's not too much to expect that we can find a suitable person to milk for an hour or so on our farms without the business collapsing

It's not all putting on cups though.

There's heat detection, mastitis detection, general health, yield, cleanliness etc etc going on all through milking.

There's two guys I trust to milk my cows, if they can't be got then I think again. If I know i'll be missing, I'll book as soon as I know the times I'll be off.

For 1 milking, though, I'll try out a lad and work from there with him but I'd still prefer the two I know will do a good job.

Wildsurfer

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

It's not all putting on cups though.

There's heat detection, mastitis detection, general health, yield, cleanliness etc etc going on all through milking.

There's two guys I trust to milk my cows, if they can't be got then I think again. If I know i'll be missing, I'll book as soon as I know the times I'll be off.

For 1 milking, though, I'll try out a lad and work from there with him but I'd still prefer the two I know will do a good job.

Well I was being facetious saying just putting cups on teats, but I think there are some guys who think that the farm cannot operate without them. I was probably guilty of this at one stage but once numbers grew I had to adapt and trust that there are people out there who are trustworthy and take pride in their work also. And I suppose having a milker in frees up my time to concentrate on issues such as heat detection and general health etc

Keepgrowing

Wildsurfer wrote: »

Well I was being facetious saying just putting cups on teats, but I think there are some guys who think that the farm cannot operate without them. I was probably guilty of this at one stage but once numbers grew I had to adapt and trust that there are people out there who are trustworthy and take pride in their work also. And I suppose having a milker in frees up my time to concentrate on issues such as heat detection and general health etc

That's the nub of it. A milker doesn't mean you abdicate all responsibility. The buck stops with you the owner. If it goes wrong it's your fault and no one else's.

At breeding your there at calving penno cows are seperate, make it as easy as possible for the milker and avoid complications. There's no need to over think it.

Test results shod be texted to milker, this works and if it doesn't he's not the right person. I used to pay bonus in scc etc and that's fine but when it goes wrong and it does how do you reduce his money without bad feeling. I'd be totally opposed to a bonus system and anyone I've tried it with agreed. A day off with pay is really appreciated. Our man went herding after lunch today and I told him to head home when he was done, I'll get repaid many times over for that and I really cost me nothing. It's about trust and respect

Mooooo

Any issue contracting in labour?. Possible may get a man 2 to 3 days a week, he is working for another similar days. He would invoice every month or whatever? May be more expensive hourly but can do everything? Must do figures and check out insurance

Bullocks

Mooooo wrote: »

Any issue contracting in labour?. Possible may get a man 2 to 3 days a week, he is working for another similar days. He would invoice every month or whatever? May be more expensive hourly but can do everything? Must do figures and check out insurance

I do it but not on the farm, every payment is registered with Revenue and they tell me how much tax to withhold (if any at all)
My insurance is a bit more expensive if the contractors dont have insurance ( most do but some 1 man shows don't) so check it out with your own provider