# Hourly farm help



## Mrs1885 (Apr 21, 2019)

Looking for input of paying for farm help.

I'm in a very rural area of middle TN. Most people here make federal minimum wage. $10 an hour is considered good pay for hourly labor workers.

We needed someone to clean the sheep, goat and pig stalls. They have winter bedding so it's definitely the hardest time to clean with straw piled a couple feet high. 

Pens are 8x10. We provide everything needed. The ad I placed offered $100. When we do it, it takes a few hours. So basically $33 an hour.

Girl got here this morning and is doing a good job but it's very slow going. Hubby just checked on her, took her a bottle of water and said she's complaining that she didn't know it would be this much work and isn't happy with pay. There is hay that has to come out of the fenced goat yard as well to be fair. But even with it in there, it really should only be 4 hours max. She's close to done and has been working about 5 hours.

I got $120 from the bank for her because she sat in our driveway for an hour. Said she knocked but we didn't hear her and the dogs didn't bark. She called my phone but it was on the charger downstairs so I didn't hear it. That hour was ENTIRELY my fault and I feel she should be compensated.

So my question is what would you pay? Should I do more? Or is what I'm paying ($120) fair? Don't want anyone to feel we shorted them but even at 5 hours work and one hour sitting in the driveway, she's making $20 an hour tax free. Hell, it's more than I make before taxes and what I make around here is considered upper income level. 

Thoughts?


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## frustratedearthmother (Apr 21, 2019)

Sounds fair to me.  I've paid anywhere from $10 - $12 an hour to high school kids.  I stayed with them and worked right alongside them so I know it wasn't too much for them.  This was about 5 years ago though - maybe wages have gone up since then...


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## CntryBoy777 (Apr 21, 2019)

I think that is more than a "just" compensation....I have found it best to have an amount in mind, and just make the "deal" with an amount for a completed job.....this eliminates the "time" factor and it gives them incentive to get it done, cause they want to get done....."by the hour" work only gets dragged out, so the "goal" is reached of the amount "needed".....I really miss having the young man around we once had....he was Great and needed no supervision.....most these days are looking for "something for nothing".....ya may want to check with your local 4-H and see if there are any youngsters with animals would like to make some extra $$....they will know ahead of time, just what to expect.....


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 21, 2019)

I went and told her to just pile it in the open field a bit away from the pens. Once it dries up I'll burn it off. She said she likes the animals and planned to spend all day here. Her problem was it was just harder labor than she expected.

It is hard but I don't want her here all day. Not to be mean, but we had reservations to take our girls and their families to dinner for Easter. I moved it back an hour but can't do more. Not sure how to get her to pick up the pace. :/


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## frustratedearthmother (Apr 21, 2019)

I think I'd just tell her that you have plans later and if she isn't done before you're ready to go that she'll have to come back to finish the job - and get paid then.  That would hurry me up!


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 21, 2019)

Ok. Will see how that goes.


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## Baymule (Apr 21, 2019)

luck of the draw. You got a whiner and a slacker. I hope she got finished and you made it to your Easter dinner. $120 is MORE than fair.


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 21, 2019)

She did one pen in 6 hours and I told her she had to go because we had to leave. Six hours for one pen is ridiculous. What a waste of my day. We did make dinner though and had a great family night.


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## Baymule (Apr 21, 2019)

Sounds like she thought she was going to get paid to come out and play with the animals. Glad you had a good Easter dinner with your family.


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## frustratedearthmother (Apr 21, 2019)

One pen in six hours???!  Holy cannoli....
What’s up with the work ethic of some of these kids nowadays?


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## Southern by choice (Apr 21, 2019)

Did she see the job before she took it and agreed to the price? 
How big are the pens? How many was she suppose to do? 
If it is piled 2 ft deep that takes enormous amount of energy and time to do with pitchfork and shovel and to haul it out.

I never look at whatever the wage is.... manual labor and grunt work requires a higher price IMO BUT for stuff like farm work I would not pay hourly either.  Some people work slow and take their time, others are fast.


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 22, 2019)

frustratedearthmother said:


> One pen in six hours???!  Holy cannoli....
> What’s up with the work ethic of some of these kids nowadays?


I don't know. I'm dealing with a contractor now like this. He didn't work a single day last week. His truck broke down. He was sick. He had to go to Indiana to pick up his son. His wife planned a family day in Chattanooga. Excuse after excuse. He pulled his whole crew another week to go work another job site.

He's a friend and neighbor too which makes it worse. He'd done work for us before and did well but wasn't working a full week, so before this project we sat him down and explained this work is a construction loan and we have a deadline. If we miss the deadline to get the work done and can't roll the construction loan into conventional, they call the loan and we lose our house. So for him to be pulling this while complaining himself about how hard it is to find good help is enough to make me scream. Needless to say we are having a very serious talk this morning. I had other contractors out last week giving us quotes on the rest of the work.


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 22, 2019)

Baymule said:


> Sounds like she thought she was going to get paid to come out and play with the animals. Glad you had a good Easter dinner with your family.



I guess she did too. It was odd when she called. She said she was more interested in learning about caring for goats than she was about being paid because she was thinking about getting goats and wanted to see if they were a good match.

Then after she got here she told us she'd had goats before. Um, then you should know how to care for them and if they're a good match. It was odd.


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 22, 2019)

Southern by choice said:


> Did she see the job before she took it and agreed to the price?
> How big are the pens? How many was she suppose to do?
> If it is piled 2 ft deep that takes enormous amount of energy and time to do with pitchfork and shovel and to haul it out.
> 
> I never look at whatever the wage is.... manual labor and grunt work requires a higher price IMO BUT for stuff like farm work I would not pay hourly either.  Some people work slow and take their time, others are fast.


The pens are about 8x10 and the fenced areas are about 6x8. It takes hubby and I about an hour for the goat and sheep pens each, just shy of an hour for the pig and about 20 minutes for the peafowl. And we are older and have health issues. So a bit over 3 hours. Had she worked hard it would have basically averaged $30+ an hour. Even for hard labor in a $10/hr town, that's pretty good pay I think.

She would shovel a couple scoops and stop, sit down, drink some water, play with goats, etc etc.

It IS definitely very hard work. I actually wanted a young guy but she said she could do it. I honestly think Baymule is right and she wanted to get paid to play with animals.

Either way, job wasn't done and I don't have time to find someone else so it's my job now. At least we had a nice dinner with the family.


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## Baymule (Apr 22, 2019)

There is a neighbor boy that comes over and helps his Daddy when he does work for us. Last summer, we hired him 1 day a week to work for us. He was 10. His mom dropped him off on her way to work. We worked all morning, had lunch, watched a little Tv then took him home. He is too old for day care, at the in between age. His older brother is there at home to help watch him. This kid has the best work ethic I’ve ever seen. We paid him $20. We’ll probably hire him again this summer. He loves to hang out with us. He wants to be a rodeo bull rider. He went to two youth rodeos at the end of the season, we missed both of them. But we’ll durn sure be there when the season starts back up.


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 22, 2019)

Baymule said:


> There is a neighbor boy that comes over and helps his Daddy when he does work for us. Last summer, we hired him 1 day a week to work for us. He was 10. His mom dropped him off on her way to work. We worked all morning, had lunch, watched a little Tv then took him home. He is too old for day care, at the in between age. His older brother is there at home to help watch him. This kid has the best work ethic I’ve ever seen. We paid him $20. We’ll probably hire him again this summer. He loves to hang out with us. He wants to be a rodeo bull rider. He went to two youth rodeos at the end of the season, we missed both of them. But we’ll durn sure be there when the season starts back up.


That's fantastic. We live in a farming community but few kids want anything to do with it anymore. Half are buying into the whole government funded lifetime college student. A good portion are fine collecting food stamps, Medicaid and disability for a stubbed toe, while many others decide to work for themselves as a handyman or backyard mechanic. The problem is they have little experience, do poor work, want to work 2 days a week for a few hours a day and get mad you don't want to pay $50 an hour. I don't understand this generation. We have one son in law like this. Can't keep a job to save his life so decided to start his own at home auto repair. The last year he's had two people sue him for bad work. Daughter kerps defending the dud and keeps getting pregnant. Makes us crazy.

Other son in law is a VERY hard factory worker but has no drive to climb the ladder. Same $9 an hour supervisor position with the same company for over a decade. He has a license as a mason and does great work. Did our sidewalk for us and it looks great. He could make very good money starting his own company but just won't do it. 

I've never been motivated to climb corporate ladders personally, but did it anyway because that's how you provide for your family. Was an executive for Marriott for years. Now I'm working from home as an insurance agent and we are kicking around ideas for our own company. Hubby on the other hand has always had a crazy high work ethic and drive. In his late 20s he climbed the ladder as a paramedic to being in a high level in Camden NJ and has his own company on the side while teaching classes at the FBI academy in Quantico. Crazy work ethic! So kids today we don't understand. Kind of concerning about the future of the coutry.


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## AmberLops (Apr 22, 2019)

Where in Middle Tenn are you located? If you're close to me maybe I could help!


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## Baymule (Apr 22, 2019)

Mrs1885 said:


> That's fantastic. We live in a farming community but few kids want anything to do with it anymore. Half are buying into the whole government funded lifetime college student. A good portion are fine collecting food stamps, Medicaid and disability for a stubbed toe, while many others decide to work for themselves as a handyman or backyard mechanic. The problem is they have little experience, do poor work, want to work 2 days a week for a few hours a day and get mad you don't want to pay $50 an hour. I don't understand this generation. We have one son in law like this. Can't keep a job to save his life so decided to start his own at home auto repair. The last year he's had two people sue him for bad work. Daughter kerps defending the dud and keeps getting pregnant. Makes us crazy.
> 
> Other son in law is a VERY hard factory worker but has no drive to climb the ladder. Same $9 an hour supervisor position with the same company for over a decade. He has a license as a mason and does great work. Did our sidewalk for us and it looks great. He could make very good money starting his own company but just won't do it.
> 
> I've never been motivated to climb corporate ladders personally, but did it anyway because that's how you provide for your family. Was an executive for Marriott for years. Now I'm working from home as an insurance agent and we are kicking around ideas for our own company. Hubby on the other hand has always had a crazy high work ethic and drive. In his late 20s he climbed the ladder as a paramedic to being in a high level in Camden NJ and has his own company on the side while teaching classes at the FBI academy in Quantico. Crazy work ethic! So kids today we don't understand. Kind of concerning about the future of the coutry.


And this generation wants "free" stuff with no idea of how the REAL world works. As the baby boomers die off, the millennial generation will take over as the largest voting block and vote for socialism. Things will be great for awhile, then as the wealthy leave the country with their money, or stay here and send their money to Hong Kong (out of reach of our government grabs) the economy will begin to fail. It will all drain into the toilet from there. Politicians love to lie, the bigger, the better, and stupid people swallow it, hook, line and sinker. I'll shut up now.


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 22, 2019)

AmberLops said:


> Where in Middle Tenn are you located? If you're close to me maybe I could help!


Van Buren county


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 22, 2019)

Baymule said:


> And this generation wants "free" stuff with no idea of how the REAL world works. As the baby boomers die off, the millennial generation will take over as the largest voting block and vote for socialism. Things will be great for awhile, then as the wealthy leave the country with their money, or stay here and send their money to Hong Kong (out of reach of our government grabs) the economy will begin to fail. It will all drain into the toilet from there. Politicians love to lie, the bigger, the better, and stupid people swallow it, hook, line and sinker. I'll shut up now.


Absolutely agree. The US will be Venezuela soon.


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## AmberLops (Apr 22, 2019)

Mrs1885 said:


> Van Buren county


That's 3 hours from me, sorry! I would've loved to help out!


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## Mrs1885 (Apr 22, 2019)

AmberLops said:


> That's 3 hours from me, sorry! I would've loved to help out!


Totally understand. Thanks for even thinking of it.


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## Rammy (Apr 22, 2019)

Mrs1885 said:


> Van Buren county


Im in  Robertson Co.


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