Wow! Thank you all for the responses. I did not expect to get so much feedback.
My boss did hire me a helper, thats exactly what they told me he was. He was about 10 years older than me, had been in agriculture most his whole life, but jumps around farm to farm every couple years. My boss never made my job title clear to him, and he did things he wanted to do it and not follow protocols that the farm and I came up with as a team. He didnt want to listen to someone younger than him. Consistency is extremely crucial on a dairy farm. Time went on, and I realized my helper got to make his own schedule. Got to work 4 hours later than me, left sometimes 1 hour earlier than me or at the same time as I did. I found out he received the same pay and thats when I confronted my boss. His response....well you have housing. I told him I was looking around for a new job and the following week I had a pretty decent pay raise.
We employ 5 milking employees who work 30 hours less a week than I do. Their take home pay is $200 less than my take home pay. Their job is to simply milk the cows, keep milking area clean, go home. They share a big house together paid by the farm.
I earn $1,100 a week. If it were 80 hours a week, thats $13.75/hr. They rent my house for me at $900/month so theres another $2.81/hr on top for a total of $16.75/hour. Plus the house and heat for the house. Simple IRA. After taxes, my check comes down to around $820 a week, and thats the figure I use to get my 50% savings a year. I track every dollar I spend and I will admit, food is my biggest expense. Quick and convenient....but that comes with a cost. I need to work on that. My next two expenses are gas and health insurance. I have very little "pleasure" expense.
Sure, I could find a higher hourly rate job, but less hours equals less annual pay. Not all jobs offer overtime, and I would depend on that to make up for that loss of money.
The hours wouldnt bother me as much if I were an owner. I have committed 6 years to these guys and not once have they offered partnership. Ive been to a couple larger farms looking at employment and they told me right off after a couple years I could buy in if I proved myself. I have no doubt proven myself here.
My special skill here that no one else knows how to do is artificially inseminate cows. Accurately identifying cows in estrus and inseminating them at the right time. I had 3 years experience before coming here. I can call a company to cover for me on my day off, its just more difficult for them since they do not know the cows as well. My stubborn-ness I suppose, I could just let them come.
I would love to go into my own business. I could be an independent traveling inseminator. Many farms use it, there are 3 big companies in my area. I have reputation in the area so being an independent I know I could pick up clients. The problem that worries me is getting paid. Times are hard right now, and the breeding bill is typically the last bill farmers pay.
Lastly, if I worked out something for less hours it would be ideal to build on land here. A friend of mine just built a house similar to what my girlfriend and I want on gifted land, and he paid about $150,000. I could save money by my boss doing all the excavation. In 10 years I could have the land paid for by their agreement as well as my mortgage paid off. But I need to be able to live that long to get that benefit... haha.
Thanks again for the responses