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It must be harvest time

E

Eric in IL

Well-known Member
I'm starting two see quite a few posts on agriculture related forums about fixing broken refrigerators in combines.

REALLY??? What would your great-grandfather say if he knew you were asking this type of advice on a PUBLIC forum?

Would he be proud or ashamed of how cushy your life has become?
 
Totally agree. Saw a comment on another forum a while back, guy posted "if I had to go back to open station equipment I'd quit farming". Seems to be the same reason nobody but the big boys want livestock, that way the hired help can deal with the day today chores.
 
MoMike Where can I find this "hired help" for livestock chores???? I can not find them that will even show up to work half the time. Let alone do chores reliably. I guess I need to get bigger!!! LOL
 
don't know about great grandfather, but my grandfather was born in 1896 and lived till 1996. he saw and went through lots of changes. he did not drive either, other than his massey harris 201 he had and I wish I knew where it ended up.i remember he had an old pull type combine behind it. dad did not want it because it was massey. I often think of all the changes he has seen. he never even had a telephone.it was make do with what you had. I don't consider having a cushy life and don't really know what he would think with the world now.
 
I understand. I was being somewhat sarcastic. It was aimed more at the modern attitude. I used to be one of the ones that wanted to farm so badly I'd work for somebody, until I felt that "wait a minute, I'll never own any of this, will be the help until the end" I would rather have a small part time operation that I can call mine than work for somebody else, even if it means smaller older equipment and fewer cows. My wife and I have a few registered Limousin cows, we may never make it to the levels of the ones with money that have hired help but I'd put ours against anything they have. I read other forums and there are constant thread on finding and keeping help. I realize that help is hard to find and good help is even harder, but it seem to me that offering good help a chance to become a partner would go a long way to making them feel like there is a chance to become something other than just another hand. (light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps)
 
Mike our farming operation is a Corporation. When we last had non-family employees their average wage was well over $20 per hour, PLUS benefits. So why should we offer them a "piece of the pie"???? I do not know of any other business that is expected to offer employees an ownership stake just for working there.

As for cattle, I raise what the market pays me the best for. In the last ten years that needs to be BLACK and fat. I had a registered Hereford herd in the 1970-80s. The switched to Limousin in the late 1980s as I was feeding for a small company that paid premiums for Limousin beef. That stopped being profitable around 2005. Having registered cattle rarely pays in commercial beef production.
 
I remember learning in high school that the only thing in life that doesn?t change?is that things are always changing. If you think we are living a ?cushy? lifestyle, then get rid of your electricity and indoor plumbing, that is how great grandfather lived.
 
Not meaning to start a fight, but that is what I'm referring to. I make $20+ with benefits for a 40 hour week. If you want me to give you the benefit of whatever skill and knowledge I have the paycheck is great if that is my goal. If I want more than that the money doesn't fully cut it. I know registered cattle are a niche, but as John from la put it, your going to buy registered somewhere along the line, whether bulls, cows or semen. In your case being a LLC, is it not possible to offer employees shares? (don't know how LLC are set up) My wife works for TSC and they offer a stock option, if nothing else it gives her an additional reason to do the best she can to help make the store successful. Like I said in my first post, I wanted to farm so bad I worked on farms for several years, don't have anything bad to say about any of my former employers but I'm not working for them now for a reason.
 
I wonder what farming will be like in the next 100 years. I can remember when farmers laughed at these newfangled houses we put on tractors. The houses were called cabs. Today I will not do fieldwork without a cab.
 
To get back on the subject-The combines with refrigerators and others are meant to keep moving. No stopping if possible. That means having your lunch or dinner close at hand. I believe some have micro waves also. Custom harvest companies that start in the beginning of the season in Texas and end up in Canada keep there combines working as many hours as they can. It?s easier to stock a refrigerator daily than to stop and eat and waste harvest time.

And another note. One of the benefits of a cab on a tractor or a combine besides the weather or lack of dust that no longer has to be inhaled is the noise level is reduced a lot. Same with dump trucks and concrete mixers. All of the drivers were excited when they got A/C in their cabs. And soon realized the bonus benefit of less noise.

Your grandfather would agree if he could still hear. You hear of people talking about the good old days. Believe me YOU are living the good old days.
 
Quite common in the software industry to offer stock options as part of employee compensation.

To answer a previous question, if you want reliable help for ?affordable? wages, they come from south of the border. Good employees can get a premium in today?s market, you can?t blame a guy(gal) for going where they are rewarded the most.
 
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