diff --git a/roles/postgresql_server/files/backup-database b/roles/postgresql_server/files/backup-database
index 60dc1fd32e..2e14cf294d 100644
--- a/roles/postgresql_server/files/backup-database
+++ b/roles/postgresql_server/files/backup-database
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # Backup a database *locally* to /backups/.
 
+# Sleep a bit so we do not have a thundering herd on db hosts
+sleep $[ ( $RANDOM % 3600 )  + 1 ]s
+
 DB=$1
 
 # Make our latest backup