I do you know your cut out to raise livestock

20kidsonhill said:

If they ask to learn about the farm and show up in high heals and dress clothes, I pretty much tell them this is not for them.

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I don't know about the dress clothes part...My dad is a lawyer who has gone with us, in his suite, to buy animals.

If they are grossed out by the poop or the smell.
Or ask how loud they'll be.
If they expect you to wrangle the animal for them

Those are some of the hints I would look for.

There are bathrooms at most businesses/churches/work places/ for changing into farm clothes.

Good point. I just meant some people may not have time and will bring others who are properly dressed.

I am kind of immune to the whole nice clothes thing. My sister and I herded sheep in heels and dresses after her graduation

I like to tell all my horror stories of births gone bad and talk about cleaning poop daily. Mentioning we never go on vacation because of animals. Mention the twice a day without fail milking. Just talking about what must be done daily. Mention the worming and shots.

Certainly complaining about barn smell would be a key. I've had people come very nicely dressed in their BMW's and say how much they love the barn smell and are very excited about the animals so how they are dressed doesn't always tell. Had one person pick up their goats and put them in the back of their brand new BMW SUV. Didn't care about the mess or anything.

I get the impression that a lot of folks asking questions on here have raised animals either when they were young or did it on a smaller scale at some time or in my case I'm looking at getting into a different type of stock. I have raised cows a long time ago but since I will be 64 when we start and I no longer want to contend with a 1500 lb or bigger critter we will have mostly goats and a few hair sheep and pr, we are moving from South Carolina city life to our little bit of heaven on our 20 acres here in Tennessee. I'm not sure how successful we will be but we aren't really concerned since there is such a good resource here to ask questions. We just got back to our farm this afternoon and chanced upon a good buy on a Massey Ferguson tractor just as we got into town.

Not sure if this answer will help but we do lots of farm visits...well not right now as we are sunk in mud and flooded

I have found that those that are serious ask a lot more questions and usually they are GREAT questions, which means they have done more than just "thought" about it. The ones that think everything is so cute and don't ask questions...I don't spend very much time with them.
More and more people are concerned about their food as well as their way of life. I think this is why we see so many wanting something different.
We do not do the scare stories as we don't really have any. We simply share info and try to help others formulate what it is that they are hoping to do and how to get there. Giving them info means also asking them the right things. We ask about their goals, purpose, family, life etc. Sharing options and giving them some things to think about so they can be better informed and start out with what is going to be the most suitable livestock for their needs. We try to explain health and husbandry.
Sharing about loss is always a big one. From chicks to kids to all livestock, it is a reality.
We have seen so many over the years that in the beginning thought "oh, I could never eat my chickens" after a year of lots of roosters, chicks popping up everywhere, hens having feathers ripped out... well guess who is putting those chickens in the freezer.
I think it is a growing process... if you have never farmed it is a big new world. It can be pretty scary too. I try to remind those starting out and newbies that there is NO SILLY question or dumb question... it's just a question and you don't know til ya know.

We have a philosophy here... if you did buy an animal off our farm we are there for you as support anytime. If you did not buy your animal off our farm we are there for you as support anytime. Doesn't mean we will have an answer but we can still have an ear or help them find the answer.
We have met the most wonderful people in small family farming and have found that those relationships are much closer than with those that don't farm.

Who else gets it when you say "it's raining again!"
or I need to go collect poop today? When you get a call in the middle of the night because a goat isn't presenting right and you need to walk someone through it. When a kid dies and you cry with each other. With the hardships there also comes great joy.
Many are seeking the farm life. I think it's just deep down in us.

So true Southern!!!!

I'd ask them if they have a gun and know how to use it. It's one of the most useful tools for keeping livestock in the event of an emergency~for predation and for ending the life of a suffering animal when the vet cannot be utilized.

If the answer is no, then I suggest they proceed to get familiar with firearms, accuracy and how to kill an animal effectively as to cause no needless wounding and suffering, but a quick end only.

Then I ask them if they could kill an animal that was suffering and in pain if need be or have someone reliable and on hand that can do so. If the answer is no, I tell them they have no business raising livestock.

At all. Never. Don't even consider it.

That usually will weed out those lacking in fortitude and common sense enough to effectively raise livestock and the hard tasks that come along with it, for of all the hard tasks related to keeping livestock, killing is number one.

I agree and 2nd that Beekissed.
Sometimes I do think they have to give that some thought though.