Are you a multi tasker

red bull

It annoys me listening to radio these days, people asking who will do this / that. As a farmer I find I have to be a plummer, mechanic, electrician, blocklayer, etc.
Maybe I come from an older generation, but are people that helpless :rolleyes:

whelan1

ye i have to laugh at watching some people do simple tasks , like getting the aa out to jump start their car ffs:D

pakalasa

I worked with a guy once and everytime he picked up a wrench, he had to go - 'Righty tighty, lefty loosey' to remember which way to open or tighten a nut on a bolt.

bbam

pakalasa wrote: »

I worked with a guy once and everytime he picked up a wrench, he had to go - 'Righty tighty, lefty loosey' to remember which way to open or tighten a nut on a bolt.

Indeed, I was interviewing an electrician who had done his trade in the navy, half way through I handed him a multimeter from under the desk and he hadn't a clue how to use it...... Next Please:rolleyes:

Muckit

I agree. Some people 'haven't a hand to wipe their a*se' :rolleyes::D

I think it comes with the farming territory that you have to be 'handy'. Thre is so little out of it now that if you had to be getting someone in to do odd jobs, you wouldn't have a penny.

djmc

I would have a go at anything myself be it rip up an engine or gear box
electrical plumbing welding enginering whatever and things mostly work out in the end if they dont and it gets too complex I then look for help.
As my dad used to say the jack of all trades but the master of none.
I never did a course for anything and have driving everything bar a helecopter
and a tank but Id have a go if I got into them.:D

blue5000

yeah I'v seen ppl graduate from college and they wouldn't even know how to change a wheel.

I think as farmers we have a very broad range of skills and we just take it for granted. I admit I am a bit of a 'jack of all trades and master of none' too.

Maybe its the whole health and safety nanny state attitude that has everyone afraid to pick up a screwdriver?

tommylimerick

ya to be a farmer you need to be a jack of all trades
i don t think the rest of my family would hardly know how to
wire a plug
as a friend said to me before farmers are usually doers not philosophers

Username John

I'd be 'half-handy' I suppose.

I'd have a go at plumbing, electrics, prob not too much as mechanic-ing as I'd like, as I dont know a whole pile, but I try a few more things every time I go at the tractor, as i learn a bit more

But at the same time - as I only farm part time, I have found that time is my biggest issue. I have found that often, I say "I'll do that myself" and ages later, its still the same way.
If something can be done easily and quicker by someone else, then it makes sense for them to do it - be that blocklaying, driving stakes, etc...

So - yes, farmers need to be able to do a bit of everything. But sometimes its not always best to do everything yerself... (I think)

bbam

We've been upgrading lots of stuff in our yard, re-roofing sheds, plumbing, simple electrics nothing I'd consider too fancy, but this thread did make me think what it would cost to have someone in to do it... it just couldn't be justified on our scale...

Interesting the brother (also an engineer) keeps asking me "so why don't the birds get electrocuted sitting on the wires"... We keep him to the plumbing and not so much of the electrics;)

Sam Kade

I have done a lot of building milking parlour, cubicle shed, feed passage. Welding gates made a land leveler. I also do a lot of work on tractors.

Last year during the flood when the council were giving out water people arrived with their hands hanging to them thinking that they would give them containers as well :rolleyes: One man got two buckets and filled them with water as he was going back to his car a man asked him how was he taking the buckets home he said in the boot of my car :rolleyes: True story.

pakalasa

I know of of a guy who, as a favour for a relative, was putting in a new car stereo complete with door speakers. He put in the first on the driver's door but realised then that the window wouldn't wind down. So he moved it - window still wouldn't move. He was about to cut the third hole, when his cousin who was standing there, went - " Will you Stop?"

red_diesel

I'm a part time farmer myself. I don't like all this back slapping that we can do this, we can do that. The Health and Safety record on Irish farms is abysmal. We take risks, we do not use proper equipment, health and safety is rarely considered. Contrast the rigid safety requirements on a building site. Hard hats, safety harness's, safety wear, steel toe caps, goggles etc.

ihatetractors

'We'd give it a lash', but would know if a jobs too big. Let the professionals in, they'd do it faster and better generaly. Also saving you lots of stress imo

haybob

I'd be a similar position to a lot here bit of welding, bit of mechanics, bit of block laying, building stone walls (never understood the price lads paid for the stone masons) plumbing etc etc etc

Some lads will be handier at one thing than an other and people end up doing bits and pieces for each other very cost effective really

agrostar

Muckit wrote: »

I agree. Some people 'haven't a hand to wipe their a*se' :rolleyes::D

I think it comes with the farming territory that you have to be 'handy'. Thre is so little out of it now that if you had to be getting someone in to do odd jobs, you wouldn't have a penny.

I agree with this 100% to be a farmer in todays world you have to be a jack of all trades, There are some out there who cannot do anything for themselves, like one of my neighbours who is in his late fortys and cant even spread fertilizer or top a field all has to be done by contractor never mind anything like plumbing water, fencing or general farm maintaince:rolleyes::rolleyes:.
I agree several jobs around the farm are too big to take on yourself if you dont have all the necessary equipement and help to perform the job correctly and safely.
Some jobs are often best left to the professionals, but not all;););)

pakalasa

If you're a part-timer, next to impossible to get those odd jobs done either during the winter. Dark when going to work, dark when coming home.
Thank God for the long summer days!:D

whelan1

isnt it mad that alot of trades people haven't reduced their rates since the recession started , there is some difference in price , it pays to shop around

bbam

whelan1 wrote: »

isnt it mad that alot of trades people haven't reduced their rates since the recession started , there is some difference in price , it pays to shop around

I find it unbelivable how hard it is to get them to come out and do something small... I've been ringing a plumber all week to check out a probelm in a house I've rented and it was a pain to get him out...

I also wanted some work done at my own and couldn't get any local tradesmen to do it, cash in hand 2 days work, but they deemed it too small to be bothered with, ended doing it myself in the end..

Lots of these tradesmen still looking for the big job with great money and they need a reality check..

dicky82

bbam wrote: »

I find it unbelivable how hard it is to get them to come out and do something small... I've been ringing a plumber all week to check out a probelm in a house I've rented and it was a pain to get him out...

I also wanted some work done at my own and couldn't get any local tradesmen to do it, cash in hand 2 days work, but they deemed it too small to be bothered with, ended doing it myself in the end..

Lots of these tradesmen still looking for the big job with great money and they need a reality check..

jesus you must be ringing the wrong lads. my rates have come right down and i never refuse a job. if a job is 'too small' i do it and my price is deemed by that job.
ive had countless big jobs that i got from or through people that i did 'small' jobs for.
if you do a good job for someone ten people will hear about it, if you do a bad job 100 people will hear about it. as a trades man its a no brainer.