Do farmers take vacations?

[OKRuss]

I'd note that if you plan on a large garden, which sounds like you will, that alone will take up quite a bit of your time in early spring to early fall between watering, picking and weeding. Don't forget to add in flowers and such around your residence. My wife has many, many flowers in pots on the front and back patio which during the summer have to be watered every day. We have had to pay a neighbor kid to do watering and mowing when gone on a 2 week vacation. That's on 1.5 acres with a 8'x40' garden.

I hope you can find "crappy farmland" where you can hunt in your back yard. I've got no idea on costs of that kind of land but you gonna have to raise a LOT of goats to pay for 600 acres!

 

[Okie4570]

Farmers, yes. Ranchers, seldom usually never.

Farmers who ranch also, seldom usually never.

 

[Okie4570]

Is being a farmer a good living?

It seems as if it is just perpetual debt from the price of machine upkeep and fuel.

The banker doesn't allow perpetual debt to occur lol. Poof, and the farm is owned by someone else.

 

[Istandalone]

Farmers/Ranchers I know have good neighbors and they look out for each others property.

 

[OkieMoe]

I honestly think it sounds like a dumb question, but I’m curious. Those of you who farm/ranch, do you vacation regularly? What size is your operation? How do you manage to vacation?

I was talking with the wife about how we could pay for the land I want with a certain amount of productivity/livestock, and she hit me with the “how would we get away” question. Is it possible with a small operation?

My brother is a Farmer and yes. Him and his family will vacation like most of us do. Hired hands or neighbors will keep eyes on things.

 

[Okie4570]

A guy I used to drive a combine for always told me "I'll vacation anywhere in the world, as long as I can be back in my own bed that night".

 

[Hirschkopf]

I can speak for my in-laws. They have about 3,000 acres of crop land and about 150 milking Holsteins. In the last 50 years, they have taken 6 vacations. The two before I met them were to Mexico and Hawaii paid for by seed company bonuses. Family (their parents) and the milk-man watched the farm while they were gone. In the last 35 years, they have taken 4 vacations - trips to Hawaii, Germany, Maryland, and Arizona to see their daughter. Her sibliings and the milk-man took care of things while they were gone. As long as one can find somebody to take care of animals and its not harvest time, a farmer can take a vacation

 

[hunter966]

I’m kind of in the same boat as Retrieverman, my wife and I have been married close to 30 years.

I don’t farm, just raise hay and and cattle and we’ve not been on a vacation yet. We’ve been gone 3-4 days for maybe a funeral or a long-ish weekend trip.

We’re going on our 1st true vacation here in a couple weeks though, one of my buddies is going to check on things while we’re out and about.

 

[SoonerP226]

Farmers, yes. Ranchers, seldom usually never.

Farmers who ranch also, seldom usually never.

That's pretty much it. If you're just farming, there's always work to be done, but not all of it has to be done right now. If you're raising livestock, there's stuff that has to be done every day, so someone has to be there to do it. It doesn't necessarily have to be you, but it has to be someone reliable.

The type of livestock matters, too. If you're raising beef cattle you might get away with having a neighbor check the water and feed while you're gone, but dairy cows have to be milked every day, rain or shine, come hell or high water.

I'm probably a bad one to ask about vacations, though. In my 25 years on the job from which I retired, I took a single vacation that consisted of three days off of work. At my current job, my "vacation" consisted of working half days from my mom's kitchen while I was cutting, raking, and baling hay...

 

[THAT Gurl]

Farming is a lifestyle, not a job.

This. My maternal grandparents had a dairy outside of Muskogee (their address was in Okay) back in the day. My grandpa was also a carpenter by trade. One Saturday while we were visiting (daddy went up to vaccinate his herd for him and preg check all the girls) he cut 3 of his fingers off on a table saw. We drove him into town to the ER and I remember him telling doctor he had to be back home to milk before 6. Doc told him "No way -- you're gonna spend the night here if I can't trust you to keep that hand outta water for at least a couple days." My grandpa was a fine Christian man who did not have an crosswise bone in his body, but he was up off that table and headed for the door when Daddy told him we would stay and milk for him for a couple days, at least.

Grandpa was in the barn at 4 the next morning. I don't ever remember him or Grandma EVER going anywhere until they sold the dairy and moved onto our place ... Where they lived until they died.

We didn't technically farm but it's hard to take a vacation when you have a veterinary practice that boards ... And has sick animals that need to be cared for. We took a short trip once or twice a year. Usually day trips, but occasionally overnight. They didn't start taking trips longer than a day or two until after I had left home.