Part-time or full-time farmer?

[Baymule]

I think to sum it all up, we farm because we love it. We farm because we raise good, healthy vegetables, meat and milk for us and our families. We farm because we can, most of the time, cover the expenses of raising our own food, and sometimes we make a little money. We farm because what we raise is so much better quality than what we can buy at a grocery store. Many of us are organic or as close to it as we can because we don't want the poisons that are used in industrial agriculture. We farm because we are teaching our children and grand children where food REALLY comes from. We farm because we are sharing with our community. We farm because if a SHTF situation arises, we are producing food that can mean the difference between life and death for us, our families, friends and neighbors. We farm because it is as vitally important to us as is breathing. We farm because we must. And we work to support it all......

 

[misfitmorgan]

precisely

 

[goats4us]

Wow, thanks for all your thoughtful answers! I should be able to quit work in a year or two. My husband has a good job but we have a kid in college and are about to put in fencing, barn, etc., plus the old tractor is on its last leg, which is why I need to keep working a while longer. My husband was worried we really couldn't handle more than chickens unless one of us is home full-time, but obviously a lot of you do! I'm anxious to start our herd and you've given me the courage to go for it. Hard work we can do.

 

[Baymule]

Yes, you can do this. Keep us posted on how you are doing.

 

[misfitmorgan]

I wish you the best of luck and hope everything goes to plan!!

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome. Sorry I missed this thread earlier. When I started with chickens, I was working 6 days a week, sometimes 12-14 hours a day. I'm by myself. I still managed. I'm now fully retired and moved to start a "real" (hobby) farm. Everyone else already covered the basics. If it's something you really want, you'll find a way to make it happen. It won't always be easy or fun, but hopefully those times will outweigh the bad times. Best wishes!

 

[4MFVT]

We keep 14 dairy goats and a 20-30 layer hens and work full time. I probably put 20 or so hours per week in the barn and maybe another 6 or so making soap and cheese. It does make for a long day. I milk about 3am and barn chores take me an hour and a half to two hours. When I get home from work I milk again, but afternoon chores take only about an hour. I make cheese almost every day. I hang the curd as soon as I get up at 2:30am and then make the next batch before I leave around 6:30am. We make about 20 lbs of soap per week, which you usually do on a Sunday and that takes around 4 hours, including set up and clean up. My wife has a home internet based business (website/graphic designeer) and she handles most of the unmolding, polishing and packaging of the soap, so I am not sure how much time she puts in.

You have to like working with your animals and if you live in a northern climate, you need to be able to do your chores in below zero weather. WInter chores always take longer for me. I do hope to someday farm full time, and that is what helps put in the time now and still work a full time job. I also told my employer when I was hired, that I would need to be home at least every twelve hours to milk my goats, that was ok with them. Some employers may not be so generous.

 

[Kiotbabe]

My husband and i have a small goat farm. We have 8 does, 1 buck. In addition to 4 peacocks, 12 guineas, and 4 chickens, a rooster and a partridge and a pear tree. He works a full-time out of the home job. I run a small in home daycare. 2 kiddos. This allows me to do my daily task with them. Feeding and waterering all my animals usually takes me around an hour. We normally save team task for weekends. This includes immunizations, ear tagging, and worming for kids we sell mainly to 4h kids. Hubby made a head shoot for hoove trimming which has made that task much simpler. Barn clean up is done on the weekends as well. I am able to watch my goats throughout the day every day to see behavior patterns, pecking order, or if one just seems off. This doesn't leave alot of free time on weekends but we figure it is a life choice so we make it work

 

[CLSranch]

Another dual full time family. Mine included me gone for the last 12 wks straight without coming home. A lot of work for the DW. I got rid of the goats but still have horses, mini cattle, multiple chicken coops and a few dogs. Hoping my being gone more means the sooner she can go down to part time.

Starting small (say 3 goats 1 being a buck) will get you used to taking care of them in general and learn your system while letting you get used to the extra work. It will get easier then you will want more.
Starting to big you will become overwhelmed and not enjoy it then possibly never mess with them again. Same with a garden which I'm sure will be next on the list.

 

[Latestarter]

Welcome back @Kiotbabe I hope you mean head "chute" as after a head "shoot", there wouldn't really be need of hoof trimming. What breed of goats are you raising? Just curious.