# one thing no one mentiones when you start out with livestock



## jk47 (Dec 15, 2014)

Well I got a cold today and it got me thinking that no one including me really tells a new person that you have to take care of whatever stock you have no matter what. It could be because I raise my livestock at my high school
But people get sick and dont go to school someone else has to feed for you. Now i might of took the day off but I still went to care for my livestock before I went home.I might of took longer and hopeing  that nothing trys to shove me over but I still do it may feel like im going to die but it has to be done. Im not sure were im going with this post but that what was on my mind


----------



## Baymule (Dec 15, 2014)

You are right, animals still have to eat and drink. They don't just take the day off because you are sick. It shows your level of maturity and responsibility that you cared enough about your animals to care for them even though you are sick.


----------



## M.L. McKnight (Dec 15, 2014)

Farming is a 24/7 365 job that is more of a lifestyle. Dragging yourself out of bed when you'd be better off in it is part of it.


----------



## Hens and Roos (Dec 15, 2014)

x2


----------



## jodief100 (Dec 17, 2014)

My mom used to get upset when my aunt would leave midday at Thanksgiving and Christmas to take care of the horses and whatever else she had at the time.  Mom never understood.  You don't take a day off, no matter what.  You either do it or you pay someone to do it.  My aunt has a farm hand but she always gives him the holidays off.  I don't see my mom much.  She thinks I can just take a week off and go half way across the country to see her. 

Neither rain nor snow nor dark or night.......it's not just the post office.


----------



## kinder (Dec 17, 2014)

Its a commitment., not every one has a knack for, but it sounds like you'll be fine.


----------



## jk47 (Dec 17, 2014)

That's exactly how my family is 
Gets upset why I leave in the middle 
Of a get together to feed the pigs at 4 O clock exactly.they say the pigs will be fine  getting feed later and why cant you spend time with the family.and why do we have to fit are schedules for your pigs. Some people will never understand that are livestock come first no matter what


----------



## Baymule (Dec 17, 2014)

Don't let it bother you @jodief100 My mother is 91 and has never understood me. I am sure she wonders if she wasn't handed a different baby at the hospital.

 Look at it this way, everybody eats and nobody is interested in how, why or where it comes from. We, on the other hand, are part of the process. Maybe we only feed our own family, maybe we only provide a part of the food we eat, maybe we have extra to sell or share, but we are light years ahead of those who don't even care.

I am proud of that dirt under my fingernails. I love the smell of animal manure and compost piles. I revel in the first tomato bloom. I gain immense satisfaction in a pot of chicken soup-and I raised and butchered that chicken. The magic of a tiny seed, planted and nurtured, then the fruitful harvest, never gets old for me. The sounds and smells of animals in a barn feels like home.

They don't get it and never will. Just feel sorry for them and go on with your happy life.


----------



## frustratedearthmother (Dec 17, 2014)

What Bay said!   X 1,000,000,000,000


----------



## BrownSheep (Dec 17, 2014)

I've missed school for lambs. Luckily my school is in a rural area and understood. Kids miss for branding and driving cattle. I once was excused from classes to get a rooster out of an engine block. 

Holidays are also hard for us. The majority of the family gatherings happen 2 hours away and we do like to go to them. So far we have been lucky that relatives or neighbors close by offer to check in and feed everybody.


----------



## Hens and Roos (Dec 17, 2014)

what gets me is those who have been in farming but don't consider rabbits and chickens to be livestock and can be taken care of whenever.


----------



## frustratedearthmother (Dec 17, 2014)

BrownSheep brings up a good point about having "backup".  We don't travel often , but when we do it's nice to have some animal loving neighbors who help out.   While they enjoy doing it we try to make everything as easy as possible for them.

We have our pens/pastures set up with auto waterers, and a pond.  If it's fall or winter we have a round bale out so they don't have to mess with haying the outside goats.  I have large  hay racks for the smaller pens so they can be stuffed full before we leave.   Gravity feeders for the chickens make life easier.  We have pvc feeders that will hold almost a week's worth of feed.  About the only thing that has to be fed daily are the goats in smaller pens like mama's/babies and bucks.  We have gravity feeders for them also, but only use them if the goats have been getting grain and are accustomed to it.

The neighbors get any and all eggs they can find and if it's spring/summer they can have all the garden bounty they can pick.  Now, if I could teach them to milk!


----------



## norseofcourse (Dec 17, 2014)

BrownSheep said:


> I once was excused from classes to get a rooster out of an engine block.



   This belongs in the "You know you're country if..." section!


----------

