Farm roster
A farm roster for the 5 am milking and everything after
Cows get milked twice a day whether it’s Christmas or the footy grand final. FairTurns shares the milkings, calf feeds and weekends across family and staff, so everyone knows their days off long before they need them.
Free, with no limit on people or dates. No card.
Twice a day, 365 days a year, and somebody wants a weekend off
Tallowood milks 280 cows in a 20-a-side herringbone. Megan and Brendan own it, Siosaia and Raj work full time, and Megan’s dad Jock still does the calves when his back allows. The roster was a whiteboard in the dairy office, and it worked until somebody needed a weekend in Brisbane for a wedding and found out at the last minute that nobody had written down who was relieving.
On a farm the roster is really about days off. Everyone works hard; what people remember is whether they got their two weekends a month, and whether the owners took more than their share. When the milkings are handed out by turns, written down months ahead and visible to the whole farm, those weekends get planned instead of argued about.
Farms also run on people who aren’t online much. A roster that prints cleanly and still works on one bar of signal in the shed matters more than anything clever.
How Tallowood runs its milking roster
Both milkings, one person
Each day has two milking dates, 5:00 and 3:00. With Same person all day on, one milker does both; if they can’t do the afternoon, only that milking goes to someone else.
Turns counted through the year
Fill gives each milking day to whoever has had the fewest. The Turns booked chart settles any question about who has done more.
Owners on or off the list
Megan and Brendan are on the roster like anyone else, or unticked as reserves who step in by hand.
Days off as away days
A weekend away is marked as Away for a stretch; Jock’s physio on the first Tuesday of each month is a regular rule. Fill leaves people off those days.
Relief milkers by name
A relief milker with no email can be added by name only and rostered and printed like anyone else.
Calving season
Add extra calf-feeding dates for the calving months as their own team, and cancel them when the calves are weaned.
Set it up
- 01
Create the farm
Make an organisation and teams for Milking and Calves.
- 02
Set the milkings
Click Monday, add 5:00 till 8:00 and 3:00 till 6:00, and choose “Every week on Monday”; do the same for each day.
- 03
One milker per time
Give Milking one position, Milker, with a headcount of 1, and switch on Same person all day.
- 04
Add everyone
Add family and staff, by email or by name only for anyone who prefers paper.
- 05
Fill six months
Press Fill for the next 6 months, print the month for the dairy, and share the link.
When you want it to run itself
Pro emails each milker a reminder before their day and the month’s roster on the day you choose. If someone falls ill, they reply “I can’t make it” from the email, Megan is told as the team’s moderator, and the next person in line is put on and asked. How often lets a family member who mostly does the books be set to Now and then.
A$1 a month per organisation, paid 1 to 5 years at a time. See Pro and pricing
Good to know
- Roster six months ahead on a dairy. Weekends off are planned long before they happen, and Fill never moves anyone already on.
- Milkers don’t pick their own days; the roster puts them on, and they mark the days they’re away.
- Repeats are weekly, every second week or monthly. A nine-day or “four on, two off” cycle isn’t a repeat option, so those dates go on by hand.
- Away days are whole days. If someone can only do mornings on a day, put them on by hand rather than marking it.
Questions
Can the same person do the morning and afternoon milking?
Yes. Add both milkings as dates on each day and switch on Same person all day on the Fill page. If they can’t do one of the times, only that one goes to somebody else.
How do we make sure weekends off go round?
Fill hands out the Saturday and Sunday milkings by turns, so they move around the milkers rather than landing on the same people. To give someone a whole weekend off, they mark it as away before you fill, and you can check the result in the Turns booked chart.
Can relief milkers without email be on it?
Yes. Add them by name only. They appear on the roster and the printed page, and get no emails.
Does it work with bad reception in the shed?
Yes. It is a plain website that loads on a weak connection and on older phones, and the month can be printed for the dairy wall.
What does a farm roster cost?
It is free for any number of people and dates. Pro is A$1 a month for the farm, paid 1 to 5 years at a time.
Free templates and guides
Monthly roster template
A whole month on one sheet: every date, the job and who’s on, for groups that meet weekly or less.
Repeating dates
Every Saturday, every second Tuesday, the last Sunday of the month: set it once, kept ahead.
Rotating roster explained
What a rotating roster is, the two kinds of rotation, and the weekly, fortnightly and monthly patterns most groups use.
Similar rosters
Small business roster
A free, simple staff roster for a small business: who’s on, when, shared with the team on one link.
Duty rosters
Rotating duties like duty officer, lock-up or first aid, handed out by turns and visible to the whole office.
Family care roster
Visits, shopping and appointments for an ageing parent, shared between brothers, sisters and helpers.