You didn’t get into farming to work a desk job, but it seems like most farmers spend far more time at a desk or on their phone than desired. For every task that keeps you indoors and tied up in paperwork or looking for information, you’re pulled away from the endless work building up outside.
Delegate busy work with no training needed
Outsourcing this work becomes a double-edged sword, too–if you hire someone who doesn’t have an extensive agricultural background, you’re left double checking everything and wading through differences in language (there’s a learning curve to “talking the talk” in the ag world). They may not know what everything means or be able to prioritize what’s important versus what’s filler. You may find yourself answering more questions to get someone trained and up to speed than the time and effort it would’ve taken to do it yourself in the first place.
Farming seems to be a profession full of people with the mindset of, “If you want it done right, do it yourself.” An admirable trait, but also one that leads to overworking and burnout. It’s not just a stubborn streak that leads farmers to feel this way–every operation is different and requires its own very niche set of knowledge, which farmers have likely spent years perfecting and learning themselves. Anything that throws a wrench in the system has a ripple effect that can derail an entire day’s worth of work.
Get hay tests that no one questions
I saw this often in my time as a hay broker. I’d have a customer interested in a batch of hay, but they wanted updated photos or a test. I’d call the farmer to see if that was doable, and over the phone I’d hear the mental calculations of if they had time that day to run back by the stack, get updated pictures, remember to send them to me once they were back in phone signal, pull a test, run to town to mail it…and then the second set of calculations to see if it was worth all of that to sell a few extra loads. We might even consider a third set of calculations in which the farmer goes to that extra effort (at the expense of other things they already had scheduled that day) only for the customer to question whether the pictures and test are accurate and even match up with the stack they were interested in. Rinse and repeat.
In this system, I can’t blame farmers for not wanting to send pictures or tests. Why spend the time to dig through photos or go back to the stack to get new ones if the customer is just going to question them anyway, or complain that they’re not the right types of photos?
Part of the service Square Deal offers is a solution to this back-and-forth. Your tests are from an unbiased third-party source and are connected in a spreadsheet to exact drop pins and photos, so there’s no questioning which tests go with which stack or when they are from. Because I’ve owned horses most of my life and spent four years as a hay broker, I’ve seen it all when it comes to types of photos people ask for, and I can deliver on that front. If you have a customer calling and asking for pictures, you can even reach out to me and I can send them the tests and photos since I store all of your information for you–no need to wait until you have enough phone signal, and no more digging through your inbox to find a certain test.
Access hay test & photo records you don’t have to dig for
Square Deal isn’t just a service that pulls your hay samples and you never hear from again. Your information will be securely stored, and I can re-format or re-send you any pieces of it at any time you need, via text, email, or snail mail. Want your spreadsheet back at the top of your inbox? Done. Need the photos of Stack A texted to a potential buyer while you’re out on a tractor? Done. Want me to pull records of what Stack B’s first cut tested last year and what your bale count was? Done.
For the farmers who want to spend more time growing and harvesting their hay than sitting at a desk trying to sell it, give Square Deal a call.