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Paying Hay Help

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Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Was wondering what people are paying hay help this year. Neighbor kids will be helping me unload wagons, probably 2 on the wagon and 1 in the mow helping me stack. They are good workers,used to working hard for their parents for free, just like when I was their age. Don't expect them to work for free for me. What would be fair?
 
Stacking hay is hard work so pay accordingly. Kids around town talk and you do not want to be know as a tight wad. You might want help again sometime. Had a business for 23 years and had at least three high school kids on the payroll all the time. Always had kids wanting to work for us. Nothing makes a kid feel any better then if he has his own money to spend. Makes you feel good when you met one today and they tell you how they liked working for you.
 
I figure it's worth $0.50 per bale to get it from the wagon to well stacked in the barn! (consiencous workers could make a good thing of that rate!) That said, I do "barter" with my brother, so no money changes hands!
 
Many years ago I paid $5/hour when it was pretty good money plus lunch and root beer floats at the end of the day. The other farmers were mad at me for "driving up costs" but it was work I needed done right now and on call when the weather was right. I needed enthusiastic help. I'd say no less than $10 probably $15 and hour. I also paid in cash at the end of the day most of the time.
 
I have a kid that I hire to haul my square bales.I pay him .60 per bale and he supplies a truck trailer and 2 helpers.
 
Are you serious?!!!! $10-15.00 an hour? $.50-60 a bale? Half of my county would jump at wages like that! Around here it might go as high as $5.00 an hour and you'd better be a worker at that. Most kids won't work at all so it's usually wasted effort to ask.
 
We still pay by the bale and they split the money. 50 cents a bale is still pretty good money split three ways when they don"t have to furnish anything. That includes loading the wagons and unloading in the barn.
 
Around here you dont have to worry about what to pay them because nobody is going to show up . They scatter like a covey of quail when you drive into town to be sure you cant ask them to help !!
 
As George Burns said in song, "I wish I were eighteen again."
When I was bucking bales we were paid $.75 an hour or a penny a bale. Of course a burger was a dime and gas was twenty cents a gallon.
 
I do virtually everything myself, but very occassionally I solicit help. Here in Middle Tennessee I have a hard time finding any kids who want to work so I usually end up with grown men who just want to pick up a few extra dollars. I pay $12.50 an hour plus lunch. A couple of good men tell me that they are always available whenever I want them.

Tom in TN
 
Where in the world are you? I was paying 5 bucks 25 years ago! I'm not surprised no one wants to work, for those wages. . .
 
don't know about hiring kids today, but as a kid I started working out for twenty five cents a hour! Don't sound like much, but it was the same work I was doing at home for no money, just room and board.
 
$10-12 per hour and hope you can get anyone. lunch and breaks furnished. here in NE; your just tickled to find anyone.
 
They make machines to do these jobs- check out Delta Red's stackhand. Farm kids live in the city cause of this, locals would rather get welfare than do this, illegals want $10-15, and where I used to farm, the Amish dad would 'hire out the kids' for $8 or 9. But you got a collection of self distructive pre teens who showed up when 'they' (the dad) wanted, and left -as quickly and quitely as... a thief in the night... this ain't a new problem you got! For this year, pay whoever whatever they want, a million years ago, you would tell the parents you will give them a savings bond for X $ at the end of summer. Nowdays that would chase away everyone! this is why square bales are going out.. it's a pain. good luck!
 
Back in about 1975, I worked for a local farmer and friend who provided us with new leather gloves, a huge supper with his family, and around $3 an hour, as I recall [minimum wage was around $3.35 an hour then].

According to the inflation calculator, from June 1975 to May 2011, the US rate of inflation is 321.57%...so that means that $3 an hour in 1975 is worth about $9.65 an hour today. So I think $10 an hour would be a fair rate of pay...especially if you're not going to have a huge spread with ham and fried chicken and real mashed potaoes and milk gravy and fresh vegetables like Bob and Evelyn did for us when we worked for him.
Inflation Calculator
 
I agree.

Back in 1975, I was working making hay for $3 an hour...adjusted for inflation [see my post above for inflation calculator], that would be around $9.65 an hour today. So by offering $5 an hour, you're telling your help that you really don't appreciate them.

I was at a rally about a year ago where Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, AZ was the speaker. When one of the guests spoke during the question-and-answer session at the end and said that "white people won't work," Sheriff Joe took exception. He said, "You don't HAVE to hire illegals to get someone who'll work; White people definitely WILL work...once you pay them what the job is worth."

So if you can't find people who will work for you...maybe you're not paying what the job is worth. Or maybe they don't like the guy who's hiring. I know that, if I was a teenager or twentysomething again and had the chance to work for my friend Bob making hay once more, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. But there's a new "rural" subdivision where Bob's farm used to be, so those days are gone for me.
 
Ya funny how times have changed over the years. Back when I live in NE it was easy to find help in the hay fields but that was back 40 plus years ago. Live in the great big (lol) town of Leigh if I remember right had a population of 500 at the time but did have a good IH dealer in town spent many hours at the dealer and sat on many a tractor there also
 
We pay $8 and hour, with drinks and lunch (sandwiches or hotdogs) furnished. The kids around here love it. Once May rolls around, they're all the time asking me when when we are going to bale hay. It is hard work, too, stacking 40-70 lb. bales all day long. To tell the truth, I think a few of them would work for free because they enjoy it, but that wouldn't be fair.

SF
 
I'd work for any of you guys paying $10-12/hour. I hauled hay for a buck an hour plus dinner back in the '60s. Those farm wives could sure cook and some of the daughters driving the wagon tractor weren't too hard to look at either. I'm 63 but bet I could still keep up with those youngsters.

Larry
 
I don't "do" hay,but used to use firewood help.
I payed by the load,and it worked good,if the help put out they made money,if they goofed off,pay would show that
I always stayed far enough ahead sawing so they had wood to split,and load so never had to lose time waiting.
Also paying by the load let me know what my labor cost was.
 
when i was doing that, the going rate was 3.00/hour, but one guy paid 4.00/hour, he said he never had to worry about help, and they seemed to work faster, because there was a waiting list to get to work for him, if some one didn't perform up to par, their name was taken off the list and someone else come on board.
 
Thanks for all the responses! Lots of good people on this site. Sounds like $10 is a good starting point. I'm well known for being "frugal" but paid $5 an hr 25 years ago. The kids working for me were only a couple years younger than me back then. They still comment on how they enjoyed working for me. I worked right alongside them and would let them drive the tractor atleast part of the time.
 
I haven't heard of anyone hiring high school age hay help around here for 20 years. We only put up 300 to 600 bales for our horses, but at 64 its just not as easy as it once was. That is why I was thrilled a couple of years ago to find a nice NH
1010 bale wagon. I know it will help my back last a lot longer.
 
Start at $5 and ask the person if they will work hard for it. Increase the amount until they say they will work hard. Show them what hard means, and have them help for one day. If they quit, no pay. If they work the next day, they get paid. Next, have them sign an agreement to work for that amount until such time as no longer needed. Have a copy for each of you, signed bu you as well. Sometimes that formality sets a tone that works. Jim
 
I guess I knew everyone I helped bale.I didn't really do it for the money, I just helped people cause they helped me or my family ,but if they had me sign a form about how I was going to preform for $5 an hour in 2011 I think I would have just left.
 
Who in the thunder would get off the couch for 5 bucks?? I got a buck in 1960 for throwing hay. Some have been known to pay for show on time money rather than than hour late. 10 buck is very entry level for temp farm help on just a phone call. Experienced machinery operators are looking at 20 bucks in Iowa.
 
Should probably add that 'entry level' equates to 'more or less awake'. Good help wants more... I think around here you'd be more likely to get an operator for 10 and a laborer for 20 doing that kind of work... We had been paying 12 for help with hay and couldn't rely on anyone. Friends would help us when they could, that type of thing.
Grab and accumulator is coming this year, hopefully next week. Had enough of bale slogging...

Rod
 
In 1954 I got 15 cents an hour. I run the baler, raked with a side delivery rake, stacked the wagon behind the baler, run the wagons to the barn, and worked in the mow. Kept track of my hours and got paid at the end of the season. The next year I got 25 cents.
 
When I was in the business, I paid my 2 helpers a buck a bale. They sometimes would get a couple of their buddies to help, so they split the money between the 4 of them, but that was in the late 80s, early 90s. It was beer money for them, but I baled 8 - 9000 bales a year. Went to round bales and paid one of them 7 bucks an hour to move them to the edge of the field.
 
Not hay but I got lucky on this I69 highway move. Have 2 really nice young men. The older is 17 took wood shop under apparently great teacher. This fellow can saw SAFELY and read a ruler. Listens to what I want. I make sure they know what I want done and leave them alone. I do not plan on buying them a shirt so I don't look down their neck all day. I pay $10.00/hr. Provide cold water and drinks, cut days short in 90 degree days. I have short term memory situation and they look out for me!!!
 
You mad another half day pay more than me

Buck a day + Dinner and Supper, and couldn't leave till evening milking was done .
 
I read through all the replies so far. By the bale is probably the best way to keep everyone honest.

I "hired" someone last year at $10 per hour using my pickup to haul about 150 small bales from temporary storage to "permanent" storage. That should have been 2 or 3 pickup loads, the way I load the truck it would have been two loads.

He brought two other men with him, which I did not OK. Took them 8 hours to haul the 150 bales 8 miles. What they stacked fell over two days later.

I could have hauled and properly stacked that small amount myself in half that time. I used to figure two bales per minute, but I am getting slower. At one bale per minute it would have been 300 bales handled (150 loaded, 150 stacked). At 1 per minute that should have been 5 man hours, not the 24 man hours they were expecting. Road time would have added about an hour, so 6 man hours.

Anyhow, at $12 per hour and 60 bales per hour that should equal 20 cents per bale each time the bale gets touched. 20 x 2 = 40 cents. So for racking and stacking 50 cents per bale should get some good fast help.

If the help understands the faster they get it done the more they make per hour it will work better for everyone. The young bucks should be able to get close to the 100 bales per hour that I used to do all the time. That would be $25.00 per hour rack and stack because the bales get handled twice.

If they take their time at 1 per minute that is still $12 per hour for both jobs.

This is assuming a one man crew, two should be able to more than double the hay handled.

Back in high school we had a 4 man crew that would have one on the rack behind the baler, one unloading the rack to the two stacking. Stacking crew was always ready for the next full rack before it got there. That was in the 70's, we got 10 cents a bale for all handling. But at 200 plus bales per hour that was $20 per hour divided 4 ways, or $5.00 per hour each. Not bad money for a few hours work when minimum wage back then was around $2.10 per hour. DOUG
 
In the late 70's me and my buddies used to pick it out of the field and haul it on Dad's f-750 then stack it any way you wanted it for 5 cents a bale. Only had 1 guy ever take us for a ride. AFTER it was all stacked he started heming and hawing about how much money that was and it REALLY wasn't worth all that money. Paid us about a fourth of what he owed. Next year he asked us to haul his hay again, I told him 10 cents a bale and he paid us BEFORE we unloaded the truck. When I got home that evening he had called my Dad and said I was rude to him. (If he only knew what I wanted to say!) Told Pop the story and he went with me to the gentleman's house, I stood by quietly while Dad explained that theives and cheats paid a higher rate than honest folks and that his truck wouldn't go through a crooked mans gate, all without raising his voice. Wish I would've learned that demeanor, but unfortunately I have a temper! Pay what it's worth and you'll have people waiting in line to help.
 
I like how you say they are used to working for free for their Parents. By this statement you imply that you think that they should then be happy with whatever you want to pay them. Because their labor is "free" at home. Might not have meant it that way but it reads that way.

As to hay wages I have been paying $10-12 per hour for experienced hay help. I try to always pay a little better than the farmers around me. It makes me be able to get help and I usually have good help too.

I am all for saving money but poor pay will make poor help. Unless you are putting up a lot of hay then the labor bill will not be that high. What I mean is the difference between low market and high market would not be that much.

Example: 4 young men working for two days in hay. 8 hours each day. 4 x 2 x 8= 64 So they would have worked 64 man hours. At $8 per hour that would be $512. At $10 dollars per hour, $640. The difference is only $128. I am willing to bet that you can save that amount some where else that is not as critical.

Reasoning: if you pay them very well then you will be more likely to get your hay help when you really need it. If you low ball them then your might not get the help needed to do it in a timely manner. It would only take a loss of less than a ton of hay to pay the difference.

I used to help a older farmer with all kinds of things. He always paid me well. At the end of each season he would give us boys that helped all year a bonus. It was a $50 one time.
Another young Farmer always paid us a little lower than everyone else( he had the money too. rich farmer"s son). He also figured our pay down to the minute. He would watch the last bale hit the barn loft and stop the time right then. We would climb out on "our" time not his.

The younger guy always was complaining how he had trouble getting any good help. Do you think any of us better hands would tell any other good hands to go work for him??? So his low balling us got him all of the lazy or inexperienced guys. The older guy alway had more help wanting to work than he needed. He could chose.
 
No, I didnt mean it that way. Quite the opposite in fact. I know full well what its like to work hard and feel unappreciated at the end of the day. These kids are hard workers, something we seem to see less of all the time, I want them to know hard work will be rewarded.
 
When I made hay in late '70's and early 80's, had the best deal ever. Local football coach was also a farmer. The football team members had to spend so many hours a week in the weight room at school- or show pay slips for working in the hay. So guys were lined up wanting to work, and because there was so much competition for jobs, you could be sure they'd bust their tails, too.

Now, we just buy a little for the ever dwindling horse herd, and its down to where wife, three grown kids and I can knock it out in one evening.

I worked for a neighbor in the '60's- all phases of haying. Started when I was 12, did 4 summers for him. $1.25 an hour plus lunch. Great guy to work for. He encouraged me to take out some of my pay by buying registered Angus heifers from him- he sold me pick of the herd for local auction sale price (even had the sale report out at the corral when we were going through them). I bought 1 or 2 a year, had 10 head by the time I graduated. Them, and summer work, put me through college. He was one in a million.
 
I agree that hard work should be encouraged. There is a neighbor kid (man now) that had no experience. He would come over and bust his butt trying. Even though he messed up some things he always owned up to it. HE was always earlier than when I said to get here and never missed if he said he was going to come. I always paid him just the same as the others. He deserved it for the effort he was putting into learning the job.

He now is thirty-five five years old. He turned into one heck of a good young man. He worked his way through college and is now going up in rank at the JD plant in Dubuque. HE now brings his sons out to help and teach them things. Hard work is still the grease to make success more likely. I don"t know any lazy successful people.
 
My apologies to anyone that I offended or am about to offend, but I don't see how anyone can possibly justify paying $10-15.00 a hour for "Toby" work handling hay. It's not rocket science, it's manual labor suitable for strong backs and weak minds. Lift and stack, lift and stack, lift and stack. I have family locally with college degrees that don;t make $15.00, some don;t make $10.00. My oldest boy work at a mine shoveling rock all day and busting his butt for $8.85 an hour and you guys say $15.00 is fair?

I think I see why our economy is in the pits.
 
we used to get paid by the bale years ago,.05 a bale I think was the most i ever made.I always paid that way because if you paid by the hour some guys would lay down on you.getting paid by the piece they would generally get done sooner.
 
these days I just get a crew out thats not working on a construction job if they arent busy.pay regular wages that average about 18+ $ hr.keeps them busy around places building fence and things.pay them anyway so i may as well get something.two highschool boys a while back needed money for prom,drove 250 or so fence posts in that old hard dry ground in two days...they have jobs now and are making hands on a crew!girls have a way of motivating them for some reason.....
 
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