A really good day

flying belgian · Jul 14, 2010

Got 2 high school kids over today and we loaded out a semi load of wheat and then baled 748 bales of alfalfa. Ran the bales up in the barn and stacked them. Backed baler in shed. Every thing safe and sound and dry. I know many of you bale much more hay in a day but I feel this was a good days work for me and these kids. Many complain about todays youth but I cannot say a bad thing about these guys. I pay them $14/hr. Which they think is fantastic money and are willing to show their appreciation by giving me my moneys worth of labor. I feel they work just as hard as me or harder and their is no way I would handle bales all day for less. Any way I just sat down to an ice cold beer and now going to make me a sandwich. Talk to ya later.

Ralph wd45 · Jul 14, 2010

I am glad that there is lots of miles between our sections of the country! You are ruining the market, paying $14 an hr. I have the local guys happy to work at $12, and would only offer $10, if I thought I could get away with it! I remember putting bales in the barn, for 1 1/2 cents a bale in 90+ deg weather, and still made more weekly cash, than a married farmhand. (Pike co. Ill, in the late 1950's) Those guys should be thankful, that you hired them, instead of this tight old fart.

DAVISFARMS · Jul 14, 2010

i pay ten cents a bale and when you are here you get all the water and gatorade you want. we feed them also i dont have any problem gettin help once they work for me they always come back

CLTX · Jul 14, 2010

And gasoline was 18 cents a gallon then. Farmhand wages were $6-$7/day then too.

camju · Jul 14, 2010

It sure is good to see some people pay what it is worth.I always hated it when I did all the manual labour and got less pay than the guy sittin in the AC. cab and then they couldn't understand why I wouldn't come back next year.

JDseller · Jul 14, 2010

There is an old saying: Poor pay makes poor help. I bet that you have one hell of a time getting any repeat workers. I was making $8-10 dollars an hour in hay thirty years ago.
I always tend to pay in the top range of the local market. I have several High school boys that work their butts off for me. One of them a neighbor asked me why I kept him. He said that the kid was not worth hiring. I found out he paid him half of what he told the kid when he hired him. Docked the kid for taking time to get a drink between loads of hay. Funny the neighbor is always getting hay wet and over ripe because he can't get any help to put it in. These boys watch my hay field and as soon as I mow hay they are calling me to see when I want to bale. I keep track and it never costs me more than 15 to 20 cent a bale to get into the barn. I have good equipment and make it as easy as I can. When a bale of good hay is worth $3-5 dollars a bale around here why screw over some high school kid to make a few more dollars.

A really good day

flying belgian

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Ralph wd45

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DAVISFARMS

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CLTX

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camju

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JDseller

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