$16 An Hour

Traditional Farmer

Well-known Member
Location
Virginia
On some people making light of the fellow going to work for $16 hr.Got a question how many here that are into farming full or part time have had years where they would have gladly
taken $16 for every hr they spent farming over the money they made from the farm? I know I would have heck a couple years I'd of took $1 hr and been happy.At least he knows he's going to get that $16.
 
What some people don't realize is that different parts of the country can get by on less money due to cheaper cost of living. People paying $400 - $500 and more per acre ground rent in the corn belt, but yet still making the same net as people in the Midwest wheat country paying $55 - $60 per acre.

$16.00 here in Central KS is not a bad wage to start. You hope hard work will move you on up. On the thread below, I'm thinking SV is doing well because he has the desire to at least get a job. More than a lot of young'uns.

And as you said TF, if any of us figured the hours it takes to farm, $16.00 might look pretty good at times. Bob
 
That's a better wage than I make in Ohio !

Back when I had my own repair shop I figured up one year I only made like $ 4.50 an hour for all the total hours I actually was working. Running parts, ordering parts, bookkeeping etc.
 
I checked into a job opening at a newly opening John Dealership here in northern Michigan. Job was for a shop manager who could also do mechanical work. That was in June of 2014 and the starting pay they offered was $10 per hour.
 
I dont make that, but my wife makes WAY more than that, so I really dont need the money. (Not bagging, at all. Just a fact.) If I needed to, I could probably find a job making more, bt my health just wont let me do much except sit behind a desk and tap on these keys.
 
I know someone that is always saying how his help makes more than him. He doesn't take in consideration that everything he has is paid for by the farm including his toys. He definitely has a lot more the his help.
 
I pay myself $500/wk and my wife pays herself the same,I'm not sure what her hourly wage works out to but I'm pretty sure most weeks mine would out to $8/hr give or take. My sons making $18/hr no overtime 78 hr weeks if it's not his weekend off. He has his heart set on farming himself someday,I told him he makes way more per week than his mother and I do put together has no worries the bankers not going to take his house and he has a lot to think about before coming home to take over the farm.
 
I read through the replies and I do believe all were well meaning, although some may have been a bit direct or gruff and maybe not what everyone wanted to hear. The "Congratulations!!!" on finding a job he likes are definitely called for and are well earned. The cautions about postponing any new spending on expensive hobbies until there is excess money to burn is also good advice. I think we all agree that the days of making any money on collector tractors are long gone unless you are getting paid to work on someone else's tractors. Maintaining older working tractors that will earn their keep is still worth the effort.
 
But what's the whole story?
Benefits are considered part of your wage. Health insurance? Profit sharing? Paid vacation? Sick leave? Personal days? Company vehicle? Company phone? Fund matching retirement programs? Company paid continuing education? Are you sure you're not making 20 or 25 an hour?

And then there's a few other benefits that are hard to put a price on. Regular hours, no weekends or holidays? Work in a modern clean building? Work close to home so you're not burning gas driving 50+ miles every day? Work with other employees who aren't a-holes and actually pull their own weight?

While we're thinking out loud here....how about working with a hot chick who actually has a brain and a sense of humor and doesn't get wrapped up in gossip or drama or is joined at the hip with Hellory? In other words, working with someone who is a pleasure to be around 9 hours a day who doesn't make you cringe every time she opens her mouth? Better yet, maybe she doesn't talk much at all?

I guess I'm going the long way around the barn to prove a point. There's lots of places a guy could work for 10/hr if the benefits are in place.
 
Anyone willing to work and not looking for a hand-out has my respect. I wish SV luck and hope things get better for him.
 
In 1980 I was working for a farmer 7 days a week for $150/week.(Sundays I just had to do morning and night chores - I had the rest of the day off)
I took a job with another farmer that paid $2.65 and hour - I thought I was living large!
Pete
 
I got out of the farming and ranching thing this Christmas. Have been running operations for absentee owners for the last 15 years. Over that time I have managed to acquire some nice things, a number of tractors, NICE horses. A couple NICE pickups and trailers. Last November, I was told the ranch I was running was for sale. I decided that I was tired of busting my rump for a salary. I put WAY more hours in then the owners, worried about the livestock, and equipment much more, and never saw the benefits of the ownership. ( I have a phobia of borrowing money to operate on)Anyway, the middle of January I took a job at a local feedlot, basically doing whatever needs done. I am making $15/hour, a $500/month housing allowance, and they are reimbursing me for my insurance premium, since the wife has me on her policy. I get paid for every hour I am working, haven't had to work a Sunday, and if something breaks, I don't have to wonder how to get it fixed, or how to get it paid for.
The stress level is low, hours are long, and paycheck is BIG.
 
Not necessarily I've known quite a few farmers that fought debt for years and then finally got sold out later in life and were bankrupt so that can end up good or bad.
 
I farm part time and I work a full time job/career. Took this afternoon off to do some catch up on some things at home, and peruse through my computer. Been working for others (outside the family farm) in various roles since I was 9 years old. It started with mowing lawns, baling and stacking hay, walking soybeans, and grew to handyman/caretaker type work through college. I am in a managerial role in my job now and have been for quite a few years. Make a very decent wage, but feel a bit burned out in dealing with an ever demanding/over demanding public. As a friend of mine told me some years ago: "The price on pays for a high salary comes from the increasing difficulty of the tasks at hand and the demands from the people you have to deal and work with." How true that is! In my departmental budgets, payroll amounts to a set amount per hour and the fringe benefits and payroll taxes will typically add another thirty percent onto the cost of labor. My wife had the idea she was going to run her own "at home" daycare when we were first married. She thought it was going to be a great way to provide an income comparable to what she was obtaining where she was working. It took her some time to understand all the costs to be self employed, along with the licensing issues. About the time she thought she had that figured out, along with how many kids she could watch over, and make it all cash flow, I asked her about the toll it was going to take on our home. We actually looked into buying a distressed property and fixing it up simply to run a daycare out of it, instead of our home. About the time she thought she could make that cash flow, I asked about insurance for this business, and then she also looked into health insurance for our family, which had been provided to her at no charge at her place of employment. That was the clincher. With what has happened with healthcare and insurance, I am so glad she opted to stay working. As a manager, I see so many people solely look at their after tax paycheck and think the grass is greener on the other side. Little is taken into consideration about employer paid retirement investments, the number of paid holidays, the typical work schedule and if that includes weekends or not, employer paid health care benefits, and other fringe benefits. I have seen employees leave a lot of money on the table since they didn't consider what they had put away into retirement plans, and the fact they left a lot of employer paid dollars on the table before they were wholly vested. I also envy those who have been able to be their own boss, too. As I stated before, the public can be overly demanding, as I have dealt with the public in my regular jobs for nearly 30 years, but I do what I feel I have to do in order to take care of myself and my family. Perhaps there will come a time when I can leave this job behind and enjoy my final working years on the family farm doing what I love to do the most, while having the financial security of a "war chest" I had busted my butt in building since I started my first job out of college.
 
I never got paid more than $3.65 per hour, and haven't held a job in 38 years this April. If I want to hire someone , the law says I have to give them $14.00 per hour , even if they don't know their Azz from their elbow.
 
Certainly was no company vehicle offered to me. One week paid vacation after one year. Two weeks after two years. Heath insurance group membership offered for a charge (not paid). Continuing ed? I did not hear it mentioned and would not want it if offered. I am near 70 years old. Worked as an electrician and as a mechanic, including at three John Deere dealerships. Also have a post-grad degree and two undergrad degrees. The last thing in the world I want is more formalized "education."
 
Why would John Deere offer continuing education to work on equipment? All they do at the local shop is bill by the hour and if they screw up they get to bill for it twice. That way the shop gets paid $100 an hour while their employees learn by working on your equipment.
 
I can only speak for the three Deere dealerships I worked at. None of them charged a customer "twice" for a repair. If one of us screwed up and had a come-back - we got reamed out by the boss but the customer did not get charged.

We also got sent to many service schools every winter. Dubuque, Syracuse, etc. Even a few small-engine schools for the consumer lawn & garden stuff.
 

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