Going on holidays/weekends away when farming

7 posts
Tue, 06/21/2016 - 14:30 #1

Member for

8 years 4 months
belhamel
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 06/21/2016 - 14:05

Going on holidays/weekends away when farming

Hi everyone,

 

We are few months away from buying our first patch of land.

Our aim is to start small with some chickens and veggies and then goats.

Firstly to be more self sustainable and obviosluy learn new skills and then hopefully to make some profit down the line, esp with goats.

 

My biggest fear at the moment is, what do you do with your animals if you go away for the weekend or holidays?

We are a young(ish) family that love to go camping and seeing the country.

 

Surely people having farm animals, still get away from time to time?

 

Looking forward to some insights!

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Wed, 06/22/2016 - 19:38 #2
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi there,

Yes, you can go camping etc. no problems. Dogs and cats to the kennels (must have current vaxccination certificates). Chooks can be taken care of by purchasing an automatic feeder: you load the cylinder with the chook feed and as they eat it in the trough at the bottom, more falls down into the tray. You can also buy an automatic water dispenser for them too, at the local rural supplier.

 

Cattle are usually o.k. to be left on their own for a few days, sheep and goats are a different kettle of fish, so to speak, as there can be problems with either neighbours dogs or wild dogs. You can overcome this problem by getting a herd gardien such as a Marrema to guard them. Marrema need to be trained to guard animals or poultry that they are bonded with from puppy hood, so you just can't put a full grown Marrema in with stock if they have never been trained to guard that particular species. If you buy a Maremma, make sure that it is socialised with other humans and especially your children.

 

These are just a few ideas, perhaps some other folk may have more or better ones.

 

Enjoy your new lifestyle and cheers,

Barb

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Wed, 06/22/2016 - 16:38 #3
Goat woman
Last seen: 06/22/2016 - 16:37
Joined: 08/06/2012 - 13:54

Grey Nomads will farm sit if you are going away for an extended time.  

There are sites on the Internet you can register or look to see if someone has registered for this type of work & may be suitable for farm sitting. I feverently wish I had known about this when we went on a long service holiday recently.

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Wed, 06/22/2016 - 19:42 #4
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi again,

from one goat person to another, great idea Goat Lady, if you are going away for more than just the weekend, Grey nomad house sitters would be good. as long as they were used to dealing with live stock it could be a really handy solution- I hadn't thought of that.

cheers,

Barb

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Wed, 06/22/2016 - 20:37 #5
Kaz
Last seen: 07/06/2023 - 21:03
Joined: 04/05/2015 - 09:51
We have a neighbouring farmer who looks after our property while away, and we look after his when he goes away. We have also set up a series of 2way cameras around the property for security over gates and the farmhouse, and over the dam etc plus a few other hotspots.
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Thu, 06/23/2016 - 20:04 #6
belhamel
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 06/21/2016 - 14:05

Thanks for the answers!

 

I'm pretty sure the chooks will be fine, but I was hoping to get some goats for milk, but the daily commitment is a bit scary for a newcomer and I do not want to commit to something that might become a burden.

 

I have looked at some house sitting sites and some people do say they can look after farm animals, so might be worth a look.

 

Thanks again!

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Thu, 06/23/2016 - 20:22 #7
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi,

as Kaz has suggested, If you have good neighbours, they would be the way to go, as you never know with strangers...........

cheers,

Barb

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