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| I understand what you're talking about they can definitely be both. After reading all the comments I think you have edited your ad sense original post. One thing I have thought that nobody has mentioned you want a welder and a machine operator I understand the need for a welder for a quick repair but are you a fabrication shop to? Don't you know how to weld if you don't hiring a local guy that welds for a living for breakdowns might be a way to attract more candidates. The GPS aspect was mentioned also you might be asking for more skills than what you really need and scaring people off. Anybody with a smartphone can be trained how to use GPS in a hour. Looking at your acres do you need a sprayer operator or can you get by with somebody tending water to you? Would a bigger sprayer help this situation?
I thought KS T1 made a good point about training somebody up to the love will you need. I have seen neighboring farmers do this and seem to be able to keep full time guys on a lot less acres. I think they do it by finding young people who like to farm on own but don't have opportunity and treating them well. Something that the everybody makes 6 figures crowd doesn't realize is holding a steering wheel, with a livable wage, working outside, with little jacka$$ Bill Lumberg style management, is a dream job for a lot of people who don't like the idea of getting a MBA and trying work up the corporate office ladder to executive row. How many post are on this website from some young guy who has almost 0 chance of making it, asking for advice on how to farm. Probly a lot of guys would do that for even less than your paying, but it's gonna be a challenge to find them.
This part should maybe be a separate post but it is going add on to flyboys point I think. At 2500 acres of dry land per year If you have to pay somebody 6 figures I would assume you would want to make 6 figures yourself and I don't know about what kind of part time help you have and I'm thinking dryland wheat acre margins are not huge but if you have $200000 annual labor cost that's $80 an acre. Now granted this doesn't include custom spraying business contributions to labor but it still seems high and not sustainable. Which makes me wonder how many guys that have to pay 6 figures to every steering wheel holder to get decent help would be better off farming less and just using family and part time help? If every steering wheel holder is worth 6 figures that means at a net margin of $20 per acre you need 5000 acres to pay for each employee, don't see that when working out. So let's try $50/ acre margin that means you need to 2000 acres to pay for each employee, I think that's still kind of rough.
And here's the mic drop The state and county hire a lot of guys to run bushhogs and drive snowplow trucks and work them a lot of hours during snowstorms and they don't pay them 6 figures they pay them good but not 6 figures. I have found better to hire young guys and to train them the way I want or Or use older part time help that have equipment experience, like extra money, and a excuse to get away from wife and kids part time. Don't forget about the retired guys that want to get out of coffee shop and want to get away from wives. I have found inexperienced cautious operators can be very good if you spend some training, cocky super wanna be farmer steering wheel holders not so much.
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Employees...Asset or PITA
