Hired help, hourly wage?

[Dave]

At 16 I spent the summer cleaning chicken houses with a scoop shovel and a wheel barrow. It paid $1.25 an hour. It was kitty corner through the pastures to the chicken farm so I walked to work. Dad said you could see the grass growing behind me when I walked home.

 

[msplmtneer]

I started in the hayfields when I was 12 got paid .75 cents a hour paid for my school clothes :tiphat:

 

[Cross-7]

Growing up I didn't get paid anything
My first paying job and my current employer was minimum wage of 3.35 an hr at 60-80 a week with time and a half over 40 hrs. I was rich.

I think they pay 10.00 now and about 10-15 hrs overtime, insurance and 401k
You can make a living and retire at 65 with a million dollars
But good help is hard to come by, no one wants to do physical labor anymore

 

[tater74]

$1.25 to move a 1/4 mile sprinkler line. No wheels, just pick up each joint and move it about 50 feet.
Not too bad in a wheat field, potatoes and beans were worse.
$5.00 to mow a lawn.

 

[Son of Butch]

There is a 16 year old high school student that would like to work part time on the ranch this summer. He has no farming or cattle experience but loves the outdoors, neighbors highly recommend him and he is definitely willing to learn. Any suggestions on an hourly wage? Minimum wage is $7.25 but he'll be doing a lot of physical labor.

federal minimum 7.25 our state minimum is 9.50 with ag exemption of less than 13 weeks of employment or training under 18 years 7.25

$8 hr to start, if you start them at $10 they don't appreciate $10
I've had kids with excellent references turn out both great and not so great.... lazy.
After 2 weeks if I want to keep them I give a raise to $10 (makes them feel good to have earned a raise)

 

[Son of Butch]

he has no experience driving a tractor, track loader, etc.

Red Flag a 16 yr old (not your child) opens you up to serious liability and insurance concerns if he hurts himself operating farm equipment or a chainsaw ect.

 

[TCRanch]

he has no experience driving a tractor, track loader, etc.

Red Flag a 16 yr old (not your child) opens you up to serious liability and insurance concerns if he hurts himself operating farm equipment or a chainsaw ect.

Good point. Even with our insurance umbrella it's a risk we should avoid. I rarely drive the Man Toys but surprisingly handy with a chainsaw

 

[greybeard]

well Im afraid the life guard for the sand box is already taken.

I took that job at a public pool back in the 70's. Those were the longest days of my life. The clock runs backwards I think. It was kind of nice when kids misbehaved; it actually gave me something to do.

Amen brother..I wasn't a life guard, but stood security duty at a USN dependent's beach in Guantanamo Bay Cuba about once/month the 2 years I was there. It got old really really fast. Hot as the blazes in full dress summer uniform. About the 3rd time I seriously considered walking out into the breakers and drowning myself.

 

[Dave]

I was really happy when I got that $1.25 an hour to shovel chicken manure. Before that I picked berries. I started at 10 years of age picking strawberries and raspberries for 25 cents a flat, and blueberries at 4 cents a pound. It took a real good day to make $4.00. I am sure I never made $4.00 a day in the blueberries.

 

[Jogeephus]

he has no experience driving a tractor, track loader, etc.

Red Flag a 16 yr old (not your child) opens you up to serious liability and insurance concerns if he hurts himself operating farm equipment or a chainsaw ect.

A few years ago we had a terrible thing happen here with a child. A guy who ran a shop took this kid under his wing and loved him like a son and spent time with him. The boy loved to mow grass and would earn money doing odd jobs for the guy but he really loved running the riding lawnmower. One day the boy flipped the mower over and the mower killed him. It was a terrible accident. The man was crushed. Everyone was. This was a good kid. All involved were good people. It was just one of those things that happen.

To add insult to injury we had this young DA who was trying to make a name for herself to fill her political aspirations and she filed manslaughter charges against this man as if he was guilty of something. People in the community were outraged and this gal left town ever so lucky she wasn't tarred and feathered.

It sad when you have to think about stuff like this because this is the only way kids will ever get experience. Why hire someone when you are going to have to watch everything they do and the only way you won't have to do this is if they have experience and the only way to get experience is to make mistakes.

 

[TCRanch]

Jo, that's a horrible story! I cannot imagine the devastation of that man. And yet the actions of the new DA do not surprise me, where we now apparently live in a society where no one is responsible for their actions and even with true accidents, forces of nature, unexpected tragedy . . . . . someone has to be blamed. Bonus if there is money or accolades to gain. I'm glad you live in a community that stands together and still maintains integrity.

 

[Jogeephus]

Jo, that's a horrible story! I cannot imagine the devastation of that man. And yet the actions of the new DA do not surprise me, where we now apparently live in a society where no one is responsible for their actions and even with true accidents, forces of nature, unexpected tragedy . . . . . someone has to be blamed. Bonus if there is money or accolades to gain. I'm glad you live in a community that stands together and still maintains integrity.

Me too! Everyone was super upset with the actions of the DA - even the child's family. They even tried to get her to drop it but she had some sick agenda.

Everyone complains about an unskilled workforce but the thing is learning how to work starts at a young age and you make mistakes as you gain experience. We all hope everyone makes it with just a few bumps and bruises but missing digits and twisted limbs are bound to happen. Even death.

I once screwed up really good and I'll never forget what one of the best bosses I ever had told me and it was this. "Only those who don't do anything don't make mistakes. Learn from it and move forward." This was a great boss and there is so much truth in what he said.

 

[greybeard]

That's right Jo. "Those who do nothing do nothing wrong" is not a good thing to have said about ya.

Last person I paid to work here was on a fencing job and was in between drilling jobs. Told him $12/hr but after seeing he could use a chainsaw, drive a tractor and worked good, I paid him $14/hr. $$ well spent IMO.

 

[herofan]

I knew I had a smaller operation than most, but now it feels even smaller. I've never had the need to hire anyone, and if I payed anybody $10 an hour, I'd probably be in the poor house

 

[f1tiger]

Worked for $ 8 a day and $ 1 for every nutrant rat killed in the rice fields in 1969 ( made $ 14 in one day thought I was shi$$ing in high cotton ) boss man was going to pay my way to TAMU but I was young and restless & knew everything so I turned down his offer and joined the USMC and what can I say ........ best decision I ever made lol.... pay my high school help $ 10 bucks/hour but takers are few and far between as nobody has any work ethics any more

 

[greybeard]

Worked for $ 8 a day and $ 1 for every nutrant rat killed in the rice fields in 1969 ( made $ 14 in one day thought I was shi$$ing in high cotton ) boss man was going to pay my way to TAMU but I was young and restless & knew everything so I turned down his offer and joined the USMC and what can I say ........ best decision I ever made lol....

Are we brothers.. separated at birth?
And your pay went way down the second you stood on those yellow footprints too.
Base pay for a E-1 in '69 was what...about $85.00.......per month?

 

[slick4591]

I normally pay labors $10 to $12 an hour depending on what I have them doing and how well they work.

I did have an experience Friday that I've never had before tho. Two young Elders from the LDS church volunteered to help us out with some things that we would normally hire out. Gave us about three hours of their time and we sent plenty of eggs and vegetables home with them as they can not accept money. I also asked if I could send pictures of them to their parents and they acted like they had just hit the jackpot. By the response I got back from their parents I think they thought the same thing.

 

[Nesikep]

I started in the hayfields when I was 12 got paid .75 cents a hour paid for my school clothes :tiphat:

Lucky you.. I started doing the same thing at the same age.. I didn't get paid though (well, there was food on the table).

$1.25 to move a 1/4 mile sprinkler line. No wheels, just pick up each joint and move it about 50 feet.
Not too bad in a wheat field, potatoes and beans were worse.
$5.00 to mow a lawn.

That's what I do all summer still.. I do about 100 pipes a day, depending on if we have seed beds.. mowed fields are soo easy.. 5' high alfalfa is horrendous.. you move forward by continually tripping yourself pretty much.. doesn't make it easier that its usually 100F out either

 

[greybeard]

I started in the hayfields when I was 12 got paid .75 cents a hour paid for my school clothes :tiphat:

Lucky you.. I started doing the same thing at the same age.. I didn't get paid though (well, there was food on the table).


Lucky you indeed. Brother and I were talking a few weeks ago..reminiscing about hauling hay for 3 cents/bale in the mid '60s..we wuz in high cotton..all the baled up skunks, thorns, snakes and dusty low overhead haylofts we could stand.

 

[Nesikep]

Thankfully I've always used a bale stacker wagon.. though playing 42 pickup when it messes up is never fun.. Then again, our bales are often crowding 90 lbs, which is a whole other story than a lot of the coastal hay I've worked with that is 40-50 lbs/bale.. I had some bales this year that were a touch wet when baled, so I kept that for the cows that had already calved.. they were SOOO heavy.. about 110 lb each, it was all I could do to lift them onto the trailer, and it was a surprise the strings held up.. it's all used up now and the 80 lb'ers feel light after those.