Dairy - are you up for a DITL?

[Deleted]

@justdairy, I saw a movie not long ago that took place on a farm, can't remember the name.  It wasn't about farm life or anything, it just took place on a farm.  It made me think of you and Mr. Dairy. I know you work at a school, right?  But I also read here about farm chores, making lunch for the farm guys, etc., and it makes me curious as to what a typical day is like for you, especially now with two kids.  Care to share? 

[Deleted]

Sure. What do you want to know exactly?
I'm pretty open. I will discuss anything other than the choices we make for our cows. Just know they are well loved, well fed and well cared for. I opened myself up to that once before and burned in flames for no good reason. I refuse. Ha.

[Deleted]

Here's my typical day. (I work 8-3 in a school two days a week, so my day is pretty standard like most people's that way. Get up. Kids to daycare. Work. get home. manage life. bedtime).

The days I'm home:

445: get up. I use this time to catch up on house chores, take care of bills etc. blah blah. Anything I can't do with the kids.
6:30: kids get up I take care of them.
7:00ish: We head outside I milk some cows, feed any baby calves, clean up stuff. Whatever easy stuff I can do with kids in tow.
9:00ish: back in the house, playtime, laundry, work on lunch.
11:30: lunch
12:30-1: kids nap. I take care of any farm paperwork, make phone calls for the farm, and whatever H may need help with.
3:00: I head outside, check in with the help, get ready for milking.
4:00: Kids are usually up so I play outside with them, do typical mom stuff.
Then I figure out what's for dinner, get the kids a bath, get ready of the next day do bedtime
8:00: DS is down. H is on his way in. We eat. Get Dd to bed/play with her a bit.
9:00- Ha. I'm half asleep by then.

Right now my life is highly flexible due to the kids. We also have more employees since we got married so it's not all on us anymore. It used to be all cows all day long when I wasn't at school and prekids. Then it was milk, clean barn, do vaccinations/treat sick cows, do some fieldwork, squeeze in lunch, milk more cows, fall into bed.

I love cows and the farm but I like the balance I have now. I usually milk myself 2 days a week myself and fill as necessary when the help is gone.

It's also not busy season. When it is throw in making dinner for 12 people, driving a tractor across the field half the day. Ha.

[Deleted]

I also do a lot of errands for the farm. You know how people do grocery store/Target/Kohls?

Mine is more like bank, Target, CASE IH for a part, grocery store, vet, and one more stop H forgot to tell me about before I left.

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2014 16:54:39 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

Sure. What do you want to know exactly?
I'm pretty open. I will discuss anything other than the choices we make for our cows. Just know they are well loved, well fed and well cared for. I opened myself up to that once before and burned in flames for no good reason. I refuse. Ha.

Haha.  Nope, your cows your business.  I'm just curious as to things like do you have specific farm chores you handle every morning and then go to work, or is it more like you help out as needed but Mr. Dairy, E student, etc. do the majority of the chores?  Did you once or do you still work at a school?  From what I can tell, you work off the farm but do plenty on the farm as well, plus you have two young kids to care for.  I am equal parts impressed and fascinated because I'm not sure I could do it!  

[Deleted]

H usually does farm things from 4:45-11, has lunch and a break with us until 1. Afternoon is maintenance sort of stuff/phone calls/cow care/management on the farm. Milk again from 4-8.

Busy season he works from 5-midnight doing what needs to be done (making hay, chopping corn, delivering calves).

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2014 17:04:24 GMT -5 downtonali said:

Dec 16, 2014 16:54:39 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

Sure. What do you want to know exactly?
I'm pretty open. I will discuss anything other than the choices we make for our cows. Just know they are well loved, well fed and well cared for. I opened myself up to that once before and burned in flames for no good reason. I refuse. Ha.

Haha.  Nope, your cows your business.  I'm just curious as to things like do you have specific farm chores you handle every morning and then go to work, or is it more like you help out as needed but Mr. Dairy, E student, etc. do the majority of the chores?  Did you once or do you still work at a school?  From what I can tell, you work off the farm but do plenty on the farm as well, plus you have two young kids to care for.  I am equal parts impressed and fascinated because I'm not sure I could do it!  

Got it. My specific farm chores are milking cows, getting the cows about to calve their grain, feeding the babies. Or used to be. Now that I have two kids and two employees I just fill in more where necessary. Every day is different. 

I used to do all that before I went to work and prekids. Now I only do it on my off days. It's part of the reason we have help.

[Deleted]

I'm also pretty good at throwing bales. I move a lot of straw/hay where it needs to go and unload wagons in the summer.

My life is not all that exciting really. Ha.

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2014 17:01:30 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

Here's my typical day. (I work 8-3 in a school two days a week, so my day is pretty standard like most people's that way. Get up. Kids to daycare. Work. get home. manage life. bedtime).

The days I'm home:

445: get up. I use this time to catch up on house chores, take care of bills etc. blah blah. Anything I can't do with the kids.
6:30: kids get up I take care of them.
7:00ish: We head outside I milk some cows, feed any baby calves, clean up stuff. Whatever easy stuff I can do with kids in tow.
9:00ish: back in the house, playtime, laundry, work on lunch.
11:30: lunch
12:30-1: kids nap. I take care of any farm paperwork, make phone calls for the farm, and whatever H may need help with.
3:00: I head outside, check in with the help, get ready for milking.
4:00: Kids are usually up so I play outside with them, do typical mom stuff.
Then I figure out what's for dinner, get the kids a bath, get ready of the next day do bedtime
8:00: DS is down. H is on his way in. We eat. Get Dd to bed/play with her a bit.
9:00- Ha. I'm half asleep by then.

Right now my life is highly flexible due to the kids. We also have more employees since we got married so it's not all on us anymore. It used to be all cows all day long when I wasn't at school and prekids. Then it was milk, clean barn, do vaccinations/treat sick cows, do some fieldwork, squeeze in lunch, milk more cows, fall into bed.

I love cows and the farm but I like the balance I have now. I usually milk myself 2 days a week myself and fill as necessary when the help is gone.

It's also not busy season. When it is throw in making dinner for 12 people, driving a tractor across the field half the day. Ha.

Aaaah, ok.  I wasn't sure if you worked FT or PT and couldn't figure out how in the world you managed a FT job and farm work. I mean I work FT and don't have kids but I'm vegging on the couch by 7:30 some days!  LOL.  

Thanks for the rundown. All that you do is quite impressive!! 

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2014 17:09:07 GMT -5 downtonali said:

Dec 16, 2014 17:01:30 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

Aaaah, ok.  I wasn't sure if you worked FT or PT and couldn't figure out how in the world you managed a FT job and farm work. I mean I work FT and don't have kids but I'm vegging on the couch by 7:30 some days!  LOL.  

Thanks for the rundown. Even with a PT job, all that you do is quite impressive!! 

Nope. I am not Wonde rwoman.  Ha. I can only do so much and it's part of the reason I only work part-time, something has to give. H works 80 hours a week on average, someone has to take make sure other things happen. I also like my time away from the barnyard. I'm very good at what I do at school and I don't want to take that away. Busy season is the worst and even a part-time job is hard then, but everyone has a busy season. 

I just do a lot more without H  than I would say a typical mom in suburbia does. It has it's positives and negatives though.  

My day/jobs/off the farm job/schedule is also pretty typical of the other women on farms I know.

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2014 17:13:06 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

Dec 16, 2014 17:09:07 GMT -5 downtonali said:

Aaaah, ok.  I wasn't sure if you worked FT or PT and couldn't figure out how in the world you managed a FT job and farm work. I mean I work FT and don't have kids but I'm vegging on the couch by 7:30 some days!  LOL.  

Thanks for the rundown. Even with a PT job, all that you do is quite impressive!! 

Nope. I am not Wonde rwoman.  Ha. I can only do so much and it's part of the reason I only work part-time, something has to give. H works 80 hours a week on average, someone has to take make sure other things happen. I also like my time away from the barnyard. I'm very good at what I do at school and I don't want to take that away. Busy season is the worst and even a part-time job is hard then, but everyone has a busy season. 

I just do a lot more without H  than I would say a typical mom in suburbia does. It has it's positives and negatives though.  

My day/jobs/off the farm job/schedule is also pretty typical of the other women on farms I know.

It sounds like a good balance to me actually.  I'm sure working on the farm is hard but rewarding work, but having a job a couple days a week to do something else is good for you as well. 

[Deleted]

It is very good for me! I need to feel valued. And it's something that's all for me I don't share with my kids or H. I also love the interaction. I work with 3 guys all day otherwise.

I grew up on a farm too so I understand it. It's hard and rewarding in so many ways. And it's a cool party trick to tell people I just met I can back up a tractor and milk a cow with the best of them...lolololol.

I have to run but if you have anymore questions, let me know.

[Deleted]

Thanks again for taking time to explain all this to me. It's an interesting life I imagine, and I highly respect you, Mr. Dairy and your crew for all your hard work.   I still say you are Wonderwoman though! 

[sierramist03]

Dec 16, 2014 17:03:41 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

I also do a lot of errands for the farm. You know how people do grocery store/Target/Kohls?

Mine is more like bank, Target, CASE IH for a part, grocery store, vet, and one more stop H forgot to tell me about before I left.

This made me chuckle. I remember the days that my dad would call me and tell me to pick something up or meet him at such and such and help move fields.

[sailorgray]

Dec 16, 2014 16:54:39 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

Sure. What do you want to know exactly?
I'm pretty open. I will discuss anything other than the choices we make for our cows. Just know they are well loved, well fed and well cared for. I opened myself up to that once before and burned in flames for no good reason. I refuse. Ha.

My H's family owns a feed lot.  Oddly enough, I stopped eating beef when I was a teenager. Of course, I marry into a family whose whole livelihood revolves around the beef business.  My H's uncle used to be head of the CO Cattlemen's Assoc (or whatever it's called).  It has totally changed how I see things