FARMERS’ HOURS OF WORK

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 61, 1 August 1947, Page 7

FARMERS’ HOURS OF WORK

. SOUTH INLAND STATEMENT REFUTED 40-HOUR WEEK SHEER STUPIDITY “No farmer worthy of the name works less than 5(1 hours a week,” said the acting-Dominion president of Federated Farmers, Mr H. E. Blyde, Lepperton, when a South Island statement that many farmers worked less than 40 hours a week was referred to him. Mr Blyde’s estimate of 50 hours was conservative when compared with estimates by other farmers and representatives of related industries. A Waikato stock agent placed the figures at 70 hours a week. Not one . in 50 farmers could run their farms on a 40-hour week, he said, and it would be stupid to say it was possible. The average commenced work not later than 6 o’clock in the morning and continued until after 6 at night, making an 11-hour day. It was often more in the summer season, but it was not necessary to work such long hours in the winter. Confirmation of the latter view was forthcoming from a prominent Waikato farmer, who said he worked in the milking shed daily, and for most of the milking season he was “half-way through the herd” by 6 o’clock. He explained that he had a break for breakfast, but that it was seldom longer than 30 minutes; the same at midday and often he was busy until dusk. Some days it is a little easier, and then allowance had to be made for the occasional visit to the town. “I always go to town on Tuesdays, and claim that the hours of absence from the farm are about fiftyfifty work and leisure, for they include paying bills, arranging for supplies, watching the stock markt and being interviewed by the banker.”

Figure Easily Exceeded

Mr Blyde’s remark that the statement that many farmers worked fewer than 40 hours a week, certainly did not apply to Taranaki, had an echo in the Waikato. A• Te Awamutu farmer said that though it was possible to pick out one $r two farmers who could not qualify for 40 hours a week, the general run of farmers, particularly dairymen, easily exceeded that figure. “The men who do not do 40 hours a week are those fortunate ones who have no mortgages to worry over, have good employees, or have members in their family able to help on the farm,” he said. Another man said it was difficult to assess a fanner’s hours, but he thought the average of the ordinary farmer would be about 50 hours a week, and sometimes longer, but rarely shorter.

After a careful calculation of all factors involved, Mr L. D. Hickford, Okato, estimated the average working week of a Taranaki dairy farmer at 67 hours a week. It would vary according to the type of farm, the energy of the farmer and whether he supplied a cheese factory or a butter factory, he said. On a small farm the margin of time worked was probably not so great, while a farmer supplying a cheese factory often had some distance to cart his milk, and that increased his hours.

Deductions Allowed. For

In his calculations he had not deducted annual Holiday's, -Mr Hickford said, but he did take into account the days when a farifier might leave his farm between milkings to visit a town.

What made it possible to work such long hours was the variety of the work and that it was done in the open air. It would not be possible for persons in other occupations to work similar hours, Mr Hickford contended. t Another point that he made was that the farmer was on the job all the time, while the town worker often had to travel long distances to his place of employment. A farmer could calculate his hours from the time he left his house in the morning, Mr Hickford said. Those who considered that they work 16 hours a day estimated from the time they left their beds until they returned to them. “We certainly work more than 40 hours a week on our farm,” a farmer’s wife said. She added that there was not much chance of working a 40-hour week on her own job.”