How much more labor did big herds hire?
Besides
Besides employee
employee practices,
practices, reasons
reasons for
for expansion
expansion also
also cited.
cited.
by Roger W. Palmer and Jeffrey M. Bewley
A
S HERD size grew so did outside labor use.
Our survey revealed the number of fulltime and part-time hired employees grew
with herd size; see Table 1. However, there was little difference between herds concerning hours
worked per week per person. The range was 46 to
52 hours.
Farms with larger herds appear to be achieving
better labor efficiency since yearly hours per cow
drops from 111 for smaller herds to 56 for their
larger counterparts, and cows per full-time equiv-
This is the fifth in a six-part series. The
final article will share lessons producers learned in the expansion process.
alent rose from 27 to 51. Herds in the largest two
categories had noticeably more cows per full-time
worker equivalent (FTE) and lower yearly hours
per cow than other size groups.
Certainly, some difference in the overall labor
efficiency is due to the amount of cropping done.
The average acres per cow for each group was
much less per cow for larger herds. Although this
is a factor in the difference in overall labor efficiency, it is doubtful that it explains the large
difference.
After reviewing the producer satisfaction question, we found larger herds felt they spent less
time doing farm work and more time hiring, training, and managing employees. Larger herds were
more satisfied with their ability to find good farm
employees, as well as training, and supervising
them. They were also happier with their ability
to get the necessary farm work done.
Wages paid to employees are reported in Table
2. Full-time managers were the highest paid employees. For employees paid on a monthly basis,
full-time nonmilkers were the next highest paid
followed by full-time milkers, other part-time
workers, and part-time milkers.
For employees paid on an hourly basis, fulltime milkers were the second highest paid followed by full-time nonmilkers, part-time milkers, and other part-time employees. Managers
tended to be paid monthly salaries, rather than
hourly wages like other job classifications. As ex-
Table 1. Employees compared by herd size; hours worked per person fairly consistent
Labor related factors
60 to 105
Herd size — based on cow numbers
106 to 145
146 to 220
221 to 360
Number family members (herds)
Number full-time employees (herds)
Number part-time employees (herds)
Total hours per person per week
Yearly hours per cow
Cows per full-time equivalent
Acres per cow
2.93 (61)
1.29 (7)
1.48 (23)
52
111
27
3.3
3.10 (62)
1.38 (29)
1.84 (38)
48
84
34
3.3
3.20 (59)
2.03 (36)
2.91 (40)
46
72
40
2.6
> 360
3.28 (60)
2.62 (47)
3.18 (50)
46
60
49
2.6
3.52 (58)
6.89 (5)
4.85 (47)
48
56
51
2.3
Table 2. Average wages paid was greater for veteran staffers
New employees
Dollars
per hour
Managers (full-time)
Nonmilkers (full-time)
Milkers (full-time)
Milkers (part-time)
Other (part-time)
$8.48
$7.18
$7.32
$6.80
$6.37
Established employees
Dollars
per month
$2,275
$1,762
$1,596
$750
$963
Dollars
per hour
$10.58
$8.53
$8.87
$7.96
$7.59
Dollars
per month
$2,307
$2,019
$1,779
$984
$950
pected, esTable 4. Reasons for expansion listed
tablished
Number
employees
Why did you expand
of herds Percent
received
To increase farm’s profitability
265
89
higher wages
To improve labor efficiency
217
73
than
new
To improve physical working conditions 207
69
employees.
To get time away from the farm
181
61
Benefits
To allow a family member
to join the operation
103
34
are imporOther
52
17
tant parts of
employee
pay (Table 3).
The
most
common benefits are paid
vacations
and health
insurance.
Those two
benefits were
followed by
meat or milk,
and housing.
After reviewing all these choices made by proPalmer is an assistant professor in the Dairy Science Department
Table 3. Paid vacation top employee benefit*
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of the UWducers, we finally asked what was the most imExtension Dairy Team while Bewley was a graduate student at the Uniportant reason for expansion. The most frequent
Benefits provided to
Number
versity of Wisconsin-Madison when this survey was conducted. He
full-time employees
of herds
response was to increase their farm’s profis now at the University of Kentucky.
itability. The other responses are
Paid vacation time
144
listed in Table 4. It is interestHealth insurance
143
ing that 34 percent of the herds
Milk or meat
107
expanded to allow a family memHousing
89
Other
38
ber to join the operation. This is
Profit-sharing
24
a large percentage considering
Allow employee-owned
the fact that many families do
animals in herd
20
not have family members at a caRetirement plan
19
Share of calves born
7
reer decision age.
A final question was posed to
*Based on 302 farms
respondents — it went like this
. . . “if another producer asked
Table 5. Satisfaction with expansion is high
you about your expansion project
knowing what you know now,
“Knowing what you know
Number
Percent of
would you do it again?” The renow, would you do it again?”
of herds
herds
sponse was overwhelming. All
but 6 percent of herd owners
Yes, the same way
148
51
Yes, only quicker
84
29
would do it again. Of them, 66
Yes, only bigger
66
23
percent would do it the same
HERD MANAGERS TOPPED THE PAY SCALE averaging some $2,300 per month.
Yes, but slower
17
6
For employees paid on a monthly basis, full-time nonmillkers were the next highest way, and over half would do it
No
16
6
quicker or bigger.
paid, followed by full-time milkers, other part-time workers, and part-time milkers.
May 10, 2001
329