Do farmers take vacations?

[OkieJoe72]

If you have people around that you can truly depend on to take care of things, it’s possible to get away for a bit. The trick is finding folks that you can trust. Most of the time it will be family. My wife and I will get away for a couple days a few times each year, and we have a few family members that we can depend on to watch after things.

 

[cowadle]

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!

goats and hair sheep if properly managed can be very profitable per acre.

 

[Josh P]

Hard without hired hands, gotta get to know your neighbors. I won’t leave for longer than a week.

 

[Ready_fire_aim]

Sure it’s possible. Just a matter of having the right circumstances. The farmers that I know that are able to vacation or get away almost always have family nearby that farms with them. On top of a hired hand or two.

Majority of farmers I personally know rarely vacation.. but it’s not necessarily because they can’t afford it or because they can’t find help to cover for them. It’s just simply not their thing… instead of dumping $7k into a week long trip at a crowded tourist destination they’d rather put that money back into the farm, towards more land, or a lake house, etc.

Again, it’s really all just planning and personal preference/lifestyle. I applaud your desire to get out of the city own some land and be more self-sufficient. I wish more young guys had similar aspirations! Although be aware that the situation you described will be very hard to attain. Kind of a unicorn.

 

[Cowcatcher]

Well……..it’s literally a deep subject. How long you can be gone depends on your operation. What crop? What stage of the cattle business if you’re into cattle? Cow/calf producer? Stocker? What seasons do you target for sales, weaning, harvest, planting and etc.
If you are grazing animals then how heavily are you stocked per acre? That can be a huge factor. I will get back on here and post further later this evening. I don’t own this operation but I’ve worked/lived here on this ranch for getting close to 10years. There are two of us that live and work here. We manage 12,000 acres with 1,000 momma cows and we raise and bale all of our own hay. We each have 2 weeks paid vacation per year but often don’t use it all. This way of life gets in your blood and you just don’t feel right if you aren’t here.

 

[hunter966]

This way of life gets in your blood and you just don’t feel right if you aren’t here.

Amen brother!

 

[Snattlerake]

I grew up on a farm and occasionally we took a vacation. Our neighbors were also relatives so it was pretty easy.

What was disheartening to me in my young inexperienced years was our neighbor farmer had just as much land across the road from us, yet went on two week vacations every year. I would start my 160 acres tilling right after harvest and would be on that ground for a week. They would pull into their field with two John Deere 4X4 tractors with 10 bottom plows and plow their field in a week, go on a two week vacation, come back from vacation and I would still be going roundy round with my 190 XT and 20 foot Cook offset disk.

Like I said, damn disheartening.

I did learn a lesson though. Our equipment was paid for and theirs was new to a few years old and he eventually went under while we maintained.

 

[rickm]

Yeap old and debt free equipment is alot better than new and 20 years of debt

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Hasnt had a vac in 48 years to where i left home. I let the wife and kids go and i sit home to watch things its so peaceful and less stressful.

Exactly. I love this little place. It isn't fancy but it's home and I don't like being away from it because it's such a relaxing and stress-free place to be. I enjoy taking care of the animals, probably giving them more attention than I need to.

My wife goes down to Abilene once every 6 weeks or so to see the kids. I like staying home to take care of things.

 

[SoonerP226]

goats and hair sheep if properly managed can be very profitable per acre.

Pete from the Just a Few Acres Farm YouTube channel recently explained why he doesn't raise sheep or goats. His main issue was that there just isn't enough of a market for them where he lives, but he also related what he was told by his "neighbor" at the farmers market. He said they basically ran around and ate and pooped and then randomly keeled over dead for no apparent reason.

I told that to my brother (who raises goats and meat sheep); he laughed and said that sounded about right.