The auction thread.

Ozzy Scott said:
As a publican said to me years ago, never take a bollix with you anywhere, as they are the first man you will meet when you get there. Some lads are not worth working for
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Yes and no, I have often worked for contrary people who would send a cheque by return of post when they got the bill, and people who would be as nice as pie and pay you for last year's baling the week before they wanted this year's done. A farmer will always find somewhere to sell his produce, but a contractor is nothing without customers, I think maybe the former doesn't always see the world through the eyes of the latter. If any business person set out to only deal with people whom they liked, and who paid promptly, they wouldn't stay in business very long, as customers would be scarce.
 
Seedsower said:
Couple of things I notice around here are larger farmers mowing their own silage with plain disc mowers to reduce the bill, possibly reducing labour pressure for the contractor but also reducing his cheque a lot.
If tedding out it makes sense.
Also some if theese farms are taking on more permanent staff as they can't get them in spring unless they have full time job so they are buying more machinery of their own to keep these employees busy at other times rather than pay wages plus a contractor bill.
Younger generation are educated about their health and work life balance etc plus have opportunities elsewhere.
As to gathering a deposit for a house,I haven't seen it happen with anyone I know of working
For a contractor.
A fella I know does a good imitation of a local contractor when young fellas would ask for money towards the weekend
"What do you want that for?"
Maybe things are improving but I hear lots of stories of wages being very slow coming
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There must be funny contractors up your with no shortage of drivers if they cant pay their drivers the going rate which may not seem great but are comparable to truck driver etc . with extra hours over 40 hours/week paid at higher rate .Local lad gives 12 euro per hour into the hand after deductions and overtime tħen is paid 12 cash as some small farm jobs are still paid cash which suits the contractor and he never would turn down handy job of baling 10 bales for cash etc or cutting garden hedge
 
Arthur said:
Farmers with non conditioner mowers, trample the life out of the headlands, open crooked sets, ignore stones, wonder why the grass cant be picked cleanly when they have run a wheel down the length of every swath, expect to be allowed a fifth of the cost of the job and expect the other 4/5ths to cover raking, harvester, 4 tractor and trailer combinations and a loading shovel and get pit covering thrown in, any wonder some have had enough. Oh, just to add cut the grass when told you hadn't a hope of being there on the day and make a fcuk up of what you had promised to other customers.
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Deep breaths Arthur,
Your having flashbacks 🤣😂🤣
Just visualise a hazy sunny day in June , straight swaths as far as the eye can see , dust flying from the trailer wheels coming in the 30' gap , machinery humming away nicely.
 
can't be all bad ,my piping man was pumping on the farm the other side of us on Monday and he was saying there is 3 new pipe outfits on the road this year just across the border
 
Bencroy said:
can't be all bad ,my piping man was pumping on the farm the other side of us on Monday and he was saying there is 3 new pipe outfits on the road this year just across the border
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My contractor has started piping this year aswell, don't know wether he done it because he was losing that capital of regular customers getting other piping contractors or if it was his driven nephew who promoted the change.
Either way they done a great job for first year at it.
 
Farmer Phil was the first man coming to our are with pipes,15 or so years ago
About 7 years ago one local contractor bought pipes so the other four outfits who work around here all bought them shortly after to avoid losing work to anyone else.
Drawing slurry to pipes with lorries and or tankers seems to be getting more popular
Fine bill after all them machines on the go for a day but nothing is a problem for some it seems
 
Seedsower said:
Fine bill after all them machines on the go for a day but nothing is a problem for some it seems
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No Dairyman would give €500 an hour for pumping and shifting slurry. They think hard of widening the gap for the milk lorry let alone making decent access on the €500 an acre dry export farm.
The slurry export situation is like Ireland being used to process the profits of multinationals .
 
Had a couple of pints with my local silage contractor last night and he said that the time pressure in the last few years, especially with younger dairy farmers, is an issue.Its all now now now.
This lad bought his first outfit in 1968 and is collecting a brand new one shortly so not a fly by night outfit.
Gave a good many years hauling grass for him but it's a vastly different game to the 80's or 90's.
At that time most contractors had at least one permanent worker and in many cases a number of them Nowadays around here it's all temporary lads .Mainly young lads who are mad for tar, easily paid and willing to do stupid hours for stupid money.
 
paddysdream said:
Nowadays around here it's all temporary lads .Mainly young lads who are mad for tar, easily paid and willing to do stupid hours for stupid money.
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I’m not sure if those lads are too plentiful anymore either,local guy had a good chunk of grass on the ground for pit and bales last August bank holiday weekend when a half dozen of those young lads walked off the job on the Friday evening and told him they’d be back Tuesday morning,they were all heading to a festival in town.
He ended up doing a couple of pit jobs with just one trailer.
Nobody gives a shite anymore imo.
 
jpt said:
I’m not sure if those lads are too plentiful anymore either,local guy had a good chunk of grass on the ground for pit and bales last August bank holiday weekend when a half dozen of those young lads walked off the job on the Friday evening and told him they’d be back Tuesday morning,they were all heading to a festival in town.
He ended up doing a couple of pit jobs with just one trailer.
Nobody gives a shite anymore imo.
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What I find is that some people expect to just click their fingers and lads will run to them.
I know weather etc will affect when you are working but no one is going to hang around all weekend in the hope of a few hours work either.Those days are long gone.
Do an odd day every year if someone is stuck but charge accordingly. Like someone posted earlier on demand work is normally a much higher rate.
Will admit I made decent money years ago hauling grass but then again I used to leave collecting it till then end of the season.Some in cash and the rest in 3rd party cheques made it worthwhile.
Biggest killer was starting something at home and getting a call to go draw at noon.Mobile phones were no help when they arrived as before that all you had to do was avoid him when he drove into the yard looking for you !!!
 
jpt said:
I’m not sure if those lads are too plentiful anymore either,local guy had a good chunk of grass on the ground for pit and bales last August bank holiday weekend when a half dozen of those young lads walked off the job on the Friday evening and told him they’d be back Tuesday morning,they were all heading to a festival in town.
He ended up doing a couple of pit jobs with just one trailer.
Nobody gives a shite anymore imo.
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Few years back we had the local contractor out with the umbilical, first day open after the ban, his man for the pump never showed up, and he was a full timer of two years, no answering the phone and no sign at the house, turned up the following day, was his birthday the day before and he decided to go on a bender without saying anything or even mentioning his birthday, he would’ve been given whatever days he wanted off had he said it, didn’t last until that silage season, replacement fella had a habit of showing up late, he was another full timer that had come from another contractor, he decided the end of august he was finished and never showed up again, neither of these lads were young, 29 at the youngest, and neither were asked to work later than ten even in the busiest times of the year, the boss would stay out and bale all night to make sure they had the chance to get home
 
jpt said:
I’m not sure if those lads are too plentiful anymore either,local guy had a good chunk of grass on the ground for pit and bales last August bank holiday weekend when a half dozen of those young lads walked off the job on the Friday evening and told him they’d be back Tuesday morning,they were all heading to a festival in town.
He ended up doing a couple of pit jobs with just one trailer.
Nobody gives a shite anymore imo.
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It's hard to know who was right.
If the weather was broken before that and the bank holiday weekend was the only dry days that's one thing but generally there isn't that much silage work around that time.
Work is only work,it should not be the most important thing in life
If the young lads had asked for the weekend off they probably would have been refused so they did it their own way
I've had to deal with variations of that problem myself with drivers.
It's a helpless situation to be in but you can't fight the war without soldiers.
Young lads aren't as reliable as older people but what can you do when that's all you can get/afford
 
jpt said:
I’m not sure if those lads are too plentiful anymore either,local guy had a good chunk of grass on the ground for pit and bales last August bank holiday weekend when a half dozen of those young lads walked off the job on the Friday evening and told him they’d be back Tuesday morning,they were all heading to a festival in town.
He ended up doing a couple of pit jobs with just one trailer.
Nobody gives a shite anymore imo.
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Reminds me of a thing happened about 5 years ago ,local contractor ,his brother used drive the harvester. Anyway June bank holiday , a few hundred acres down and the brother decides he's going to a 21st to meet some bird ,harvester arrives back into the yard in a cloud of dust at 8 o clock on the Friday evening and my man straight into the shower and off to the pub!
There was some murder that evening and he didn't even get the leg over in the end!!
 
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