So it's time to go to work at the farm. Something to keep in mind is, no day at the farm is the same, (you never can be certain what happen with livestock), but I am going to describe to you a typical day at the farm.
First, is feeding and watering the animals. At the farm I work at most of the animals get hay.
Goats- hay
Alpaca's -hay and grain
Sheep- hay
Pigs- grain or food scraps
Chicken's- grain
Then, of course every animal's water bucket needs to be refilled.
Second task, poop, poop and more poop. This is when it's time to grab my shovel and the wheelbarrow and shovel out some of the waste in the stalls. Not doing this regularly can cause harmful bacteria to erupt. It is not necessary to clean out the entire stall everyday, just the fresh waste. Then it's time to load all the waste into the compost pile, because believe it or not, poop makes great compost!
Third, it is to clean up the barn. I will sweep the barn of all the hay that gathers up during the day. It is important to sweep all the dirt, hay, etc to keep the barn healthy for the animals and people. Breathing in dirt and hay can be hazardous.
Now, if it is wintertime like it is currently, this is the time I would usually shovel around the farm, creating clear paths to get to the water pumps, the greenhouses and other entry's.
In summer or springtime planting is a big project. If you have already planted your seeds, you need to make sure they are being watered. You can also check on your harvest and take whatever is fully grown. Once you have harvested, cleaning the produce is critical to keep the food edible.
Depending on the time of year, is what you can work on. Obviously, you cannot plant lettuce in 30 degree weather.
That is a typical day for me when I work at the farm. (with the occasional distraction to take a selfie with a goat.)
With the copious amount of projects that are in action on a farm, I have found that there is always something to do.
Happy Farming!
-Jamie
I had to laugh when you termed the second farm task as "poop, poop, and more poop." While not a farmer per se, I have been something of a gentleman farmer in that I've raised pigs and chickens (for food) and currently have 13 hens and one rooster. So, I understand what you mean by "poop, poop, and more poop"!
ReplyDeleteI don't think a lot of people really know how much goes into farming and you only mentioned a fraction of everything you have to do! There is a lot of hard work that needs to be done to keep the Farm running! Thanks for sharing your experience so far!
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