hired help

[cris]

I am looking for good hired help for a grain operation. The question of the day is "what does good help cost?" Poor help is plentiful, and costs much more than wages. Just wondering

[per]

Tough one. I am paying $18.50 for poor help. Wish I could help but all I can say is the best employees here have been high school dropouts or pensioners.

[Hopperbin]

Not sure you could buy hired help around my area. I just paid a 5 dollar bonus for the years work to bring all workers up to 30 dollars per hour. All temporary and part time workers, in the end got the job done so all got the paid as worked as one.

[cris]

For 30 bucks what do you get? do the employees have any expertise? Welder, Mechanic, etc. have you or do you contract the labor. I know that some markets are really tight for labour and in some places living expenses are much higher than others as well.

[Hopperbin]

Labour is hard to find here.
For one I do not work by the hour.
My wife also works with a monthly wage.
One employee who did not get the bonus but was paid 25 dollars per hour quit one week before swathing started this year, he got a promotion at his full time job, plus took on extra work with his full time employer.
I have two other female employees, don't do much mechanical but can change a swather knife and guard and fuel up and grease up. They have been very good at operating. And there when I need them.
Another retired farmer good with mechanical but cannot handle any dust does not want to work full time say not for the full harvest but has been there when I needed him.
I get run ragged doing repairs.
The latter 3 got the 30, still debating weather I should mail the guy that quit a check also. ON the grounds that he may be back next year as he does work in the pork feed hauling industry and they have been slowing down lately. Plus of his quality of work and ability to fix most anything, unlike the others. He used to farm near here and is still mid 40's.
We were able to hire a live in baby sitter so the wife could keep working at harvest.
We just had the best year ever. Last year the wages came to 25 with the bonus.
No labour as contract work, just pay the wages with deductions.
I had to hire a contract sprayer to do the preseed burnoff and the after harvest spraying.
I am farming 4500 acres and could not do it without the hired help. When I look at the actual hired help wages not including mine and my wifes, it is still small in comparison to most other expenses. And I am not paying wages when say it is raining and the hired help is not working.