what experience do u need to work for a contractor?

farmer12893

Im asking this question as i would love to draw silage next year for a contractor!!

I was wondering though what experience do you need as i come from a small farm around 30 acres and we use older tractors (case 585 for example) . We also only do round bale silage so have i have never drawn loose chop before Do you think i should get experience working on another farm or are new tractors easy to get your head around like once your shown the controls its just like driving any other tractor (except for the size)

Thanks for reading and i hope this makes sense

redzerologhlen

farmer12893 wrote: »

Im asking this question as i would love to draw silage next year for a contractor!!

I was wondering though what experience do you need as i come from a small farm around 30 acres and we use older tractors (case 585 for example) . We also only do round bale silage so have i have never drawn loose chop before Do you think i should get experience working on another farm or are new tractors easy to get your head around like once your shown the controls its just like driving any other tractor (except for the size)

Thanks for reading and i hope this makes sense

Experience in working day and night, going on hunger strike, getting called last minute and getting paid feck all with a lot of lads. Most lads probably knew the contractor before they asked for a job. It's not all as pretty as it looks on YouTube.

bbam

Even in the driest summer you need to be able to find the only soft spot in a field, then get a full tank of slurry bogged in it 😊 (sorry couldn't resist).

Since your experience is with baling you could look to a contractor who does lots of baling to start with.

Maybe give a hand on a farm where they make their own bales.

td5man

bbam wrote: »

Even in the driest summer you need to be able to find the only soft spot in a field, then get a full tank of slurry bogged in it 😊 (sorry couldn't resist).

Since your experience is with baling you could look to a contractor who does lots of baling to start with.

Maybe give a hand on a farm where they make their own bales.

You need to be able to "drive her like you stole her", work day and night,no meals and work for nothing. You also need a thick skin.

reilig

A few years ago a young lad came to a neighbour with a tractor and milk tanker to collect the bulk tank on his first day. It was tight enough of a swing by the house and into the dairy. He misjudged it because of the weights on the front carrier and ended up knocking down a corner wall of a brand new extension of the house. He pulled out from it at an angle and brought one of the side walls and the whole roof fell in.

Expensive training!!

MidlandsM

...the ability to BREAK STUFF is a must........

Black Smoke

You need to be deaf, so you dont hear any suspicious noises coming from the mower, when you hit the roller the farmer left in the field:eek: Impotant to be able to drive on regardless, and get s good clean cut with one bent flail:cool:

Manoffeeling

Black Smoke wrote: »

You need to be deaf, so you dont hear any suspicious noises coming from the mower, when you hit the roller the farmer left in the field:eek: Impotant to be able to drive on regardless, and get s good clean cut with one bent flail:cool:

?

Hay_man

Black Smoke wrote: »

You need to be deaf, so you dont hear any suspicious noises coming from the mower, when you hit the roller the farmer left in the field:eek: Impotant to be able to drive on regardless, and get s good clean cut with one bent flail:cool:

Tora Bora is that you ? :-)

Manoffeeling

Hay_man wrote: »

Tora Bora is that you ? :-)

Dry

bbam

I'd be guessing we've all had "experiences" with contractor employees ability to get a job done.

In their defence there are some great lads out there who have a genuine interest and ability to get the job done.

We use a family outfit to bale silage and they are great. Father, son and daughter outfit, treat the farm like they owned it rather than something to be driven to ****e just to get on to the next job.

farmer12893

WOW!! thanks for the replys!!
haha to blacksmoke you get the funniest comment award!!

But yea i think experience on another farm would be better

haha what are all these wrecking stories about im not for that but i suppose accidents can happen and i hope it never happens to me :eek:

20silkcut

I drew silage for the first and only time back in 1999 with zero experience started on a Thursday by the Saturday evening I had my first trailer on it's side.
Harvester chute used to get blocked at least once per load. Two of us standing under it letting it down and putting it back up had muscles like katie Taylor after it.
20 pounds a day stuck it for a month and a half and realised life is too short.
Didn't turn up for the second cut.

farmer12893

yea i heard people tipping trailors was pretty common the men in charge must have seen some stuff haha even so at least you can say u experienced it even if it was bad

redzerologhlen

farmer12893 wrote: »

yea i heard people tipping trailors was pretty common the men in charge must have seen some stuff haha even so at least you can say u experienced it even if it was bad

6 summers experience told me its not all it was cracked up to be. All I broke it the six years was a door and a mirror. I was 16 when I started at it and thought it looked like great crack when I was a young lad. I did 100 hours in my first week at silage back then and there was no novelty in it after that I can assure you!!

rs8

if you wanted to do it try get a job next year doing the rapping after the baler, not to hard

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

working for a contractor for the most part is slave labour. Most large contractors that make pit silage wont give you a job hauling silage unless you have driven big machinery before, and rightly so considering the cost of a modern silage outfit, and how dangerous it can be. you need to be very good at reversing large trailers only using your mirrors, i know some places in tight yards, the trailer has to be backed in from a main road into the yard.
Wrapping behind a bailer is a lot easier driving wise, but the hours are still crazy.

If you really want to do it, then go for it. If you are looking to get behind the wheel of big machines, apply to bord na mona. you need literally no experiece there, they train you up.

lakill Farm

I picked up off a self propelled for a summer. 3 tractors drawing with 18fts. serious pressure because a load is filled every 3-4 mins

the following summer i drew in off a jf900 been 1 of 2 tractors and it wasnt near as bad as it takes 10 mins to fill a 18ft.

I got sence then and went back working with a farmer the following few summers. in a field at 7am and not home till 1am is madness and to be honest the money is crap. and then you sometimes have to cover pits

My advice is stay away from pit silage.

farmer12893

Jerome Substantial Cove wrote: »

working for a contractor for the most part is slave labour. Most large contractors that make pit silage wont give you a job hauling silage unless you have driven big machinery before, and rightly so considering the cost of a modern silage outfit, and how dangerous it can be. you need to be very good at reversing large trailers only using your mirrors, i know some places in tight yards, the trailer has to be backed in from a main road into the yard.
Wrapping behind a bailer is a lot easier driving wise, but the hours are still crazy.

If you really want to do it, then go for it. If you are looking to get behind the wheel of big machines, apply to bord na mona. you need literally no experiece there, they train you up.

Yea ano i think getting experience on the big stuff is the best thing to do first i wouldnt want to wreck a £80,000 tractor on my first week

thanks for all the advice everyone keep the contracting stories coming love hearing them haha

Sam Kade

rs8 wrote: »

if you wanted to do it try get a job next year doing the rapping after the baler, not to hard

What will he be doing? a rap song behind the baler all season

farmer12893

Sam Kade wrote: »

What will he be doing? a rap song behind the baler all season

^^
haha didnt even notice that lol funny guy lol:D:D

pajero12

Did you actually ask any contractors about getting work?

Black Smoke

If you advertised your services as a "ragwort puller", you should have no bother getting work. Don't have to worry about big machines, or narrow gates:D

farmer12893

Black Smoke wrote: »

If you advertised your services as a "ragwort puller", you should have no bother getting work. Don't have to worry about big machines, or narrow gates:D

do people actually pay to get that done!!! we pull all our ones out by hand

And no i havnt rang up any contractors and i think i need experience on bigger machines for a while anyway

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

farmer12893 wrote: »

And no i havnt rang up any contractors and i think i need experience on bigger machines for a while anyway

do you live near a contractor? if so say it to them now, they might bring you at slurry or other work when the pressure isnt full on. best way to learn.

redzerologhlen

Jerome Substantial Cove wrote: »

working for a contractor for the most part is slave labour. Most large contractors that make pit silage wont give you a job hauling silage unless you have driven big machinery before, and rightly so considering the cost of a modern silage outfit, and how dangerous it can be. you need to be very good at reversing large trailers only using your mirrors, i know some places in tight yards, the trailer has to be backed in from a main road into the yard.
Wrapping behind a bailer is a lot easier driving wise, but the hours are still crazy.

If you really want to do it, then go for it. If you are looking to get behind the wheel of big machines, apply to bord na mona. you need literally no experiece there, they train you up.

Jeez, if you arent able to reverse using only the mirrors I dont think you have any business working for any kind of a contractor. I have never pulled a silage trailer but have drawn a lot of bales with a 24ft single axle bale trailer and a lowloader which would be just as awkward but the hardest machine to bring on the road by far is the rake.

trepasers

Just wondering what is a typical wage for a lad driving for the week ??

Hay_man

trepasers wrote: »

Just wondering what is a typical wage for a lad driving for the week ??

I've a friend who is 23, he's been driving for the same contractor for the last 7 years, he is on €9 a hour

Black Smoke

Hay_man wrote: »

trepasers wrote: »

Just wondering what is a typical wage for a lad driving for the week ??

I've a friend who is 23, he's been driving for the same contractor for the last 7 years, he is on €9 a hour

Cash????

Hay_man

Black Smoke wrote: »

Cash????

No through the books.