Anyone involved in running a business will be familiar with the hard work and long hours required, but there are only so many hours in a day, so all options should be explored when trying to minimise working hours: clever tricks, clever people, and clever technology!
Farmers are no different to other business owners, but yet they endure some of the highest weekly working hours in the world. Why is that, and what can they do about it?
One reason the long working hours is the abolition of milk quotas, which is putting even more pressure on labour resources as dairy farmers expand their herds, as shown by a survey recently published by the Irish Examiner (Source: http://tinyurl.com/pdkne6h).
The survey was completed by 12 dairy discussion groups representing 500 farmers, and found that the total daily workload (incuding weekends) was over 9 hours for the farmer alone, excluding family help and employed labour.
The survey also asked farmers what they would deem an acceptable working time per week, and the average answer was 59 hours. With a current average of 64 hours, this leaves a gap of 5 hours, how can farmers bridge that gap and save 5 hours a week, or more?
Some have taken simple but effective steps, for example by starting the evening milking one hour earlier. However this “clever trick” may not be practical for every farmer, and other tasks will have to be squeezed into fewer hours before the evening milking starts.
Another option is to employ more labour on the farm, but this is often seen as a costly option, and it can be difficult to find the right people.
However, it may not be as costly or as hard as you think! Farm Solutions has been providing farm labour for over 35 years.
Why not give them a call and see if they can help put a cost-effective solution in place to save a few hours a week.
To contact your nearest Farm Solutions office, visithttp://www.farmsolutions.ie/contact-farm-solutions.php
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