How much do you pay your help?

[Nowland Farms]

For those of you who occasionally hire local help how much per hour do you pay them?

I hired the 16 y.o. son of a friend to take the old field fence and cut the fence up in 10' lengths. I paid him $7 an hour which both I and the kid felt was fair. The wife thought I should have paid more. I explained that the $7 was $1.55 more than miniumn wage.

Just currious what others are paying their young help.

 

[mitch2]

It varies, depending on the worker... some will make a 2 hour job last 8.

 

[cowboy44]

That sounds like a fair wage to me. In this area you can not get young help every one wants to charge as if they were a professional. No one wants to do manuel labor anymore. They think Manuel Labor swam the Rio Grande River

 

[Hippie Rancher]

Trade cattle. Got a guy doing some fence/corral work and gathering some big rank stuff right now - trading him some heifers.

Have paid occasionally - 8 to 10/hr, depending on work etc. (loading hay, cut brush/fence work etc)

Usually it is just us.

 

[L.A.]

Would you do it for that?
I try to pay by the job not by the hour.
I kinda think it's low, but depends on location. Here Walmart & fast food is starting at $13.00/hour.

 

[Gate Opener]

If he thought it was a fair wage and you did too then stick with it. If it turns out he does a bang up job you could always give him a raise.

If it were a man who had experience, a good worker and had a family and bills I could see where you would want to pay more.

 

[Jim62]

If I hired a high school kid to take down fence for $7 an hour and he did it right and in good time, I'd probably tip him an extra $2 an hour after the job was done.

Around here, high school kids that are willing to work are few and far between, and I make an effort to make sure they are well rewarded for it.

$7 or$8 per hour sounds pretty right around here.

 

[Crowderfarms]

I pay good square bale help 10.00 per hour, and pay 7.00 an hour for general farm work.

 

[Nebraska Sandhills]

Most help around here is from $75-$100/day, lunch provided. Roughly a ten hour day, so from $7.50-$10.00 hour. I'd say you paid him alright.

 

[Jogeephus]

Most help around here is from $75-$100/day, lunch provided. Roughly a ten hour day, so from $7.50-$10.00 hour. I'd say you paid him alright.

That's probably my average but my range has been from $6 -$15 depending on how menial or hard the work is.

 

[Susie David]

I give mine the privledge of eating....
Being family makes it essier...from timee to time I have to let the youngest know that the d@#$ cows have paid for his college and vehicle. Usually gets him motovated for a few more weeks.
DMc

 

[sidney411]

We haven't hired out general help before but we are going to trade some help with a guy who is going to rent a house from us for part of the monthly rent. We are going to "pay" $7.00 per hour.

 

[denoginnizer]

I generally pay about 8.00 per hour. What do yall do about taxes? I mean do you just pay cash?

 

[Nowland Farms]

Here in Alabama, you can pay someone up to $599 per year without needing to give a 1099. If you pay them $600 or more during the course of the year you must give them a 1099 tax form and they must report it as income and pay taxes.

 

[FarmGirl10]

My dad has always paid $7 an hour w/ meals and snacks incuded mupltiple times per day for baling. As soon as you stepped foot out of your truck/car you were getting paid, so the faster you worked, the longer breaks between loads of hay, which means some of the time you get paid to do nothing, lol. And of course its all cash, so there are no taxes on it.

 

[branDcalf]

We pay $7/hr for general labor, and $10/hr for more skilled. More skilled would be someone I can trust to rope and doctor, or who can run machinery independently and do basic maintenance on it.

I don't need full time help, so this works okay for the occasional 6 hour day.

 

[MistyMorning]

I pay $10.00 per hour, cash, for help around here.

 

[bigbull338]

i pay $7 an hour for farm help.when i need the help.an its cash.but with the min wage going up to $7 an hr in 2yrs.ill prolly pay the farm help $8 or $9 an hour.i never let hired help work alone.im working there with them.