labour and time efficiency

keep going

What have ye found has helped the most in improving labour efficiency. Thinking in terms of different strategy s and ways of doing things rather than shiney new kit or buildings

Kevhog1988

keep going wrote: »

What have ye found has helped the most in improving labour efficiency. Thinking in terms of different strategy s and ways of doing things rather than shiney new kit or buildings

making lists!! and not leaving a job until its done!!

with regards to here in work i find morale has a lot to do with productivity. id often buy the lads coffees when coming to site or at the end of every large job i take them for a meal and get them a few beers.
knowing when to get an expert in is always a good thing too. id rather get a mechanic in to fix something now than spend hours trying to fix it myself.

patsy_mccabe

When it comes to dealing with cattle, a sick animal takes up more time than 100 healthy ones. So looking after them with dosing, vaccines etc goes a long way.

Mad4simmental

Handling facility's. Be it a crush, calving pens, winter facility's ect. Do it right, do it once. Make it big, safe, and sound. Galv everything and it'll be there when I go into the ground.

The cost of getting in a good lad to size up gates ect correct and make them is only a few bob more than knacker gates ect.

It makes allot of jobs quicker and safer on man and beast.

ganmo

Less grazing groups
Dad used to have groups of sheep everywhere, took an age to check and or feed not to talk about getting them in for dosing etc.
We could have less now( 3 groups of ewes 2 of lambs and 1 of rams and special cases) but baby steps

raypallas

Mains fence around every ditch in the place and double strand on the passages. Have put in a lot of roadways in the last few years usdd to take 3 or 4 lads to move 40 or so sucklers now 1 lad can do it on his own.

Muckit

I've dramatically cut my workload by switching from sucklers to drystock. The stockmanship time and effort are like chalk and cheese. No watching for heats and calvings. No watching for tetany, mastitis. No taggings (save 1 or2 replacements) no debudding.

The time needed to herd is reduced. I've cut down to once a day max. Sometimes if I know they've enough grass, a group might get seen every 2 days.

Hours topping radically reduced by taking out paddocks as bales. Having decent cattle handling and well minded machinery ensures jobs get done quickly, safely and efficiently.

I would agree also with having good contractors be they agri or construction to get jobs done quickly and efficiently.

Having a child this year has really opened my eyes to time efficiency. I really don't know what l was doing before faffing for hours !!!

larthehar

A good setup handling stock wil save unreal time... and I.m not taking about span new facilities... simple things like a swinging gate leading into the back of a crush... stops stock running in circles.. tieing gates in the corner of a pen at 45 degrees to stop stock wedging into the corner... if you have trouble getting them in a place because of what they can see, sheet down the gate.. loading stock out of the end of a crush that aren't used to a trailer...
I have found over the years that if stock are making an ejit out of ya it is because the system allows them too.. all small things like above.. reduces stress on man and beast...

keep going

Some of my own are wood chip bedding calves-you can get 6 weeks or more out of it.having the right number of cattle for a block of ground, some places run nicely at certain levels but there is alot more work if youhaveless /more.minimising groups of cattle

Sam Kade

Hoping to extend parlour to 11 units to only have 4-5 rows to milk, the days of milking 10-12 rows should be long gone.

blue5000

One I've started doing on long narrow paddocks is leave 2 fences up across two or 3 permanent paddocks the whole summer so 3 paddocks is now divided into 9 using just 2 reels and about 10 pigtails. 2 extra water troughs were needed as well, just move the temporary fence over and back across the water trough to give cattle access.

If grass got got strong it was easy to bale a whole paddock or 1/3 or 2/3 of a paddock usually just by winding a reel up at one end or just dropping the temporary wires down to drive in over them.

Farmer Pudsey

Handling facilities is a big one. Water troughs in middle of paddock/field rather than in a corner. It is easy to spit a paddock/field rather than strip grazing. I still have one or two to sort out. Choose right on what jobs to contract out and what to do your self. Everything dose not have to be perfect. Good fences make good neighbours and you are not chasing your cattle all over the place. Cattle used to an electric fence can be moved by making a roadway ouy of pigtails and string fence. You can even get them into a crush/shed using them.

Blue barrels cut length ways to feed meal easy to move after by using car trailer or fertlizer spreader. Slatted rather than straw bedded sheds as much as possible and use rubber mats if you need them for specific stock( a pen for older cows)

patsy_mccabe

If you can stay out of marts, do!:) I used to buy a lot in marts until I switched to sucklers. Often spent 2 to 3 days a week in the Autumn standing all day long and still might go home with nothing. Having to take time off work adds further to the pain.

For me it's not so much reducing the time I spend on the farm but more reducing the stressful time, like when cattle break out or cattle get sick.

L1985

Easiest and best thing we ever did as suckler farmers was to train all the animals to follow a whistle.it use to take 3/4 of us to bring then in for a test or move fields now I can do it on my own. Just started binging then in once a week or so giving them some nuts then letting them off again. Even when they have broken out they will now follow us and the bucket. Such a simple thing but when I think of all the hours running aroun the fields swearing and killing myself....

Bullocks

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

If you can stay out of marts, do!:) I used to buy a lot in marts until I switched to sucklers. Often spent 2 to 3 days a week in the Autumn standing all day long and still might go home with nothing. Having to take time off work adds further to the pain.

For me it's not so much reducing the time I spend on the farm but more reducing the stressful time, like when cattle break out or cattle get sick.

Good point .
I think fencing and roadways to be able to move stock on my own is the handiest thing to for me .
We have 3 out farms and gathering cattle used to be a nightmare with help always needed but a few rough pens and get the cattle used to following the bucket means i can motor away on my own now .

Miname

The More of these labour saving Schemes I implement the more work I seem to find.

Figerty

work expands to fill time!