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Tractor Talk Discussion Forum

What do you pay a farm manager?

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3 cyl

06-12-2005 06:45:05




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Thinking about hireing a retired man to manage the family farm untill I can retire and do it myself. He will provide labor and expertise. We will provide everything else. I would like to pay him a percentage of gross income. What would be a fair cut for him and us? It is a 365 acre hill/valley farm with 100 acres of pasture and 265 acres of woods. We have a 30 cow/calf operation. We have pretty well sold off all the currently marketable timber. I have been selling about 25 ranks of firewood per year. His job would be to manage and expand the cow/calf operation, gather the hay, market the remaining timber, and mainly clean the place up. He could take over the firewood operation if he wanted. Any experience/advise you have is appreciated.

3 cyl

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HaySam

06-13-2005 10:58:08




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to 3 cyl, 06-12-2005 06:45:05  
Seams like it Would be best to rent it out!!



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3 cyl

06-14-2005 05:24:11




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to HaySam, 06-13-2005 10:58:08  
Tried that. At the time, the place was in such bad shape nobody would rent it. Lots of cleanup needed.
3 cyl



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Ron in AR

06-12-2005 17:34:41




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to 3 cyl, 06-12-2005 06:45:05  
Don't know if this will help you any, but here goes. I work as a farm manager (among other things), but I know that I have a very unique situation. I also do all the handy work, pool mantainence, lawns (about 10 acres), gardens, mechanic, haying, hay delivery, hay sales, field mantainence, rental property managment, mantain a 350 gallon aquarium, mantain 6 computers with networking, and all round do-it-all (I know that the actual list would be too long to put here!). About 200 total acres, 3 houses, 4 barns, and about 125 acres of hay fields. No animals except for the dogs and cats. I provide labor, knowledge, planning, driving, and so on. Provide some of my own tools. For all this, here's what I make. $320.00 a week before taxes, paid housing (beautiful 2 bedroom house), and 80% of the hay sales profit. The owner currently helps me with some of the haying because he enjoys it. But, the owners are in thier mid 80's, and provided I stay till they are both gone, I will get all the equipment, a 50 year lease on the hay fields at $1.00 a year, and continue on as the caretaker of what will become the "kids summer home", including the paid position and housing. All in all, I am a very happy man. And I have a future to look forward to the I really do want! My boss just wants to see "the best hay in the county" before he is called home. And I'm going to do my best to make that come true. I feel very lucky!

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3 cyl

06-13-2005 05:15:25




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to Ron in AR, 06-12-2005 17:34:41  
Ron,
Your situation sounds like it is very similar to our situation. Any idea what your hay profit per acre is, and does the place generate enough income to pay your weekly salary or does the family pay that out of their pocket?
3 cyl



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Ron in AR

06-13-2005 16:02:10




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to 3 cyl, 06-13-2005 05:15:25  
The family pays my wages out of pocket. This was the original arrangement when I began working as the "caretaker". This involved taking care of thier home and personal grounds. They later asked me if I wanted to manage and share the profits on some rentals they own near by. The haying and other ranch work came later and is where the hay profits come into play. For the past couple of years, I have seen about $64.00 per acre profit. But we have been doing a lot of work on the fields and putting a lot of the money back into improvements and upgrading the equipment. We hope to see this raise to around $70.00 this year and continue an upward trend for the next 3 or 4 years. Our target is around $160.00 an acre for my profit. Also plan to add another 20+ acres that we are going to clear this Winter. More could be added at a later date. My boss owns a manufactering plant and the farm thing is more of a hobby for him. He likes the idea of his ranch being an actual operating entity. Hence, his goal of "the best hay in the county". He comes out when it's time to do the haying and helps me mow. Then he does the raking while I bale. Most all of the remaining work, I do. He also lends a hand now and then when I need more than the two I have (like holding something in place while I tighten a bolt, that sort of thing). He is "offically" retired from his manufacturing plant, but still goes in several days a week. Not the kind of person to just sit still for very long. So helping me with the haying gives him something to do that he likes to do. If I can be of any further assistance, I'll be glad to tell you what I can. My email is Stoneoak at direcway dot com. Ron

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37 chief

06-12-2005 19:29:46




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to Ron in AR, 06-12-2005 17:34:41  
I hope you have all this in a contract. When the old folks are gone and the kids take over things may change.



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Ron in AR

06-12-2005 19:48:58




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to 37 chief, 06-12-2005 19:29:46  
All in writing. Been here for awhile now and these folks treat us very well. Good relationship with the kids too. They want us to remain and look after things so they don't have to worry about it. None of them have any interest in farming or country life, but they want to be able to come out now and then during the summer months. Take advantage of the pool, tennis court, and so on. Grandkids like having a place to ride thier bikes too. The place will be put into a some kind of a trust that will provide for the upkeep and so on. The equipment is in the wills for me, and the hay field lease is already written. That alone is worth it to me. I feel pretty comfortable with the whole arrangement. But thanks for your concern!

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Nebraska Cowman

06-12-2005 15:26:22




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to 3 cyl, 06-12-2005 06:45:05  
I'd say about 40% of the calf crop if he owned his own machinery and paid all his own expences. But there ain't no way you're gonna get a man to do that.If you gave him all the calves and paid all the expences you might find an old retired guy to do it. That is considering he could live on the place for free and keep all the old tractors around that he wanted.



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3 cyl

06-12-2005 17:16:12




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to Nebraska Cowman, 06-12-2005 15:26:22  
We will provide all the equipment, materials, fert. etc. He can live in our modular home for free and have as many toys as he wants.



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Midwest redneck

06-12-2005 13:00:13




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to 3 cyl, 06-12-2005 06:45:05  
I dont know squat about cow/calf operations. But you may appriciate my 2cents. 1. anything that you do with the manager, get it all in writing and have an exit out for when it his time to go. 2. The firewood/timber question, Who does the tree work now, young guys or will the old timer be doing it, I see a liability issue with an old guy cutting up logs. In my area firewood goes for $50 per face cord and I see alot more wood stoves for sale in my area of Michigan because of the high cost of Propane.

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3 cyl

06-12-2005 17:21:42




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to Midwest redneck, 06-12-2005 13:00:13  
We'll have everything in writing. Your exit clause is a good idea! He's 44 yrs old and experienced with tree work so I'm comfortable with him doing the firewood (we get $50 per rank also), although I don't think he will be interested in firewood because of the labor involved.
3 cyl.



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RickB

06-12-2005 12:46:54




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to 3 cyl, 06-12-2005 06:45:05  
If your expectations are that is a fulltime or nearly fulltime job, you need to provide a decent living wage for your locale no matter how you determine it. Don't depend on his retirement/investments/Social Security to make up for poor compensation for duties performed.



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3 cyl

06-12-2005 17:26:46




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to RickB, 06-12-2005 12:46:54  
He has worked for a major oil company for 20 yrs. and his division has been sold, so he is pretty much gonna be out of a job in one year. He is thinking of trying to make it on the retirement he has acquired and dabbling in real estate. I don't know how much income the farm can produce, that's why I was interested in a percentage. He'll do the books. I'll oversee them.
3 cyl



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Old Pokey

06-12-2005 07:16:35




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to 3 cyl, 06-12-2005 06:45:05  
My dad used to have a farm manager for our distant cattle operation. He would pay a living salary plus housing. Then for bonus and perks, he would pay a very small percentage on the gross, but would give him everything over a 90% calf crop. 90% is a low expectation, I know, But it was good for the manager as he consistantly had 97-99% success rate. To get that you had to put forth a good effort and dad figured that was worth it. (thats for a 275 cow ranch) Plus it kept that same manager around till the end. Because it ended, I'm in a similar but different situation now. I've been here for 17 years now and allthough I dont do books, I pretty much run the operation from the practical standpoint. I chose to not do the percentage thing because I dont do the books. If I have no access or control over that aspect, I choose to not participate in relying on it for wage. Instead I do straight salary, but my bonuses are in shop use for my own projects. In other words, the more efficiently I get something done, the more time I can spend in the shop on my own stuff. Thats just my 2 cents.

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3 cyl

06-14-2005 05:28:56




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 Re: What do you pay a farm manager? in reply to Old Pokey, 06-12-2005 07:16:35  
Thanks for your input everybody, especially Ron -I may give you a holler some time.

3 cyl.



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