Structure makes weekend workable

Photo / Christine Cornege

I've had questions put to me like, "Why don't dairy farm workers work five days just like everyone else?"

It is true dairy farms operate seven days a week and some farms, my own included, are starting to run "five on, two off" rosters. Previously, we'd run the common "11 on, three off" roster.

Though that may seem Victorian, it was only the essentials like milking and feeding that were done on weekends. You may be interested in my experiences in the first season I've run them.

To do my role as Federated Farmers' Dairy chair justice, I need a good team to take care of the farm. This means better-than-average staff so "five on, two off" rosters seemed to be a way to make our farm attractive to the staff I both want and need.

With our oldest girl starting school, it means Saturday morning sports aren't that far off. Coming up with a roster where I will actually be able to go and see the kids play each week is another bonus. It also enables me to offer the same for our farm manager, who also has a young child. Finally, just maybe, I might be able to carve out some "me time" at the rifle range putting my target rifle to good use.

That's the theory - what was the reality?

First, the good. Since our weekly hours were roughly the same we didn't lose any productivity. That also underscores that our "old" roster in terms of hours worked and wasn't as Victorian as it may at first sound. By making Saturday and Sunday regular working days, it also meant those non-essential but important daily jobs got done.

The not-so good points were that for most of the week, we operated at minimum staffing levels. In theory that's fine because in our weekly roster all the jobs should still get done and we should still have time up our sleeves for the unexpected. In reality, we found the lost flexibility of an additional person hit us when things went pear-shaped.

There were probably periods where we ended up working longer hours than we would have under the old roster. Admittedly, if it wasn't for the fact that I was busy off-farm and if I had been a "full-time labour unit" rather than just half of one, then I could have scheduled things to help overcome that. For next spring, we'll get a temporary staffer in just to cover the busy spring period.

The next issue we have all struggled to get our heads around is the fact that Saturday and Sunday are now full work days. If you're rostered on you are working -- and not doing just the essentials. My gut tells me we were initially not as productive on weekends, myself included. That said, this is new, so like adjusting to shift work, we are still getting used to it.

In terms of differentiating my farm, I am currently advertising for a new staff member. Rather than being inundated by applications attracted by "five on, two off", it is surprisingly quiet. It could be the time of the year and it could be that the "weekend" for this role is Thursday and Friday; potential applicants may prefer the traditional Saturday and Sunday, at least, every second week.

We have a few lessons to take from this spring and I hope to reduce the negatives and increase the positives. My key message is that "five on, two off" is doable but you need to have good plans in place to ensure it works.

• Andrew Hoggard is Federated Farmers Dairy chairperson.