"Livestock Sitter"

[Kerry]

I have been thinking about starting up a "livestock sitter" service in my area and was wondering if any one out there does this kind of service? If so, what would you typically charge, i.e., a certain amount per animal or a certain amount per hour? OR - any ideas on what you may be willing to pay to have someone come to your farm while you are on vacation and watch over your animals, feed them, clean stalls, etc.
Thanks

 

[dun]

We just do it for people when they need it. Never would think of charging anything for it. That's what neighbors do, even if the neighbors are 25 miles away

dun

 

[Caustic Burno]

We just do it for people when they need it. Never would think of charging anything for it. That's what neighbors do, even if the neighbors are 25 miles away

dun

Dun is right again and I ain't going to have no stranger scoping out my place or tending my stock. I have came back from a vacation neighbor said I had to put a bullet in old Belles head, I know everthing within reason was tried. Never question neighbors decision. A stranger making that type of decision on my stock would need to have a good proctolgist on his speed dial. Now them show people with pets might have a different take.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

You can bet that when a rancher goes on vacation if he gets one that something is gonna go wrong . my cattle will be doing fine until a vacation or holiday then they decide to pull a monkey shine. i have came back from vacation and find my cattle standing in the middle of a highway hell it makes you afraid to trust just anyone to take care of um

 

[J-CCCC]

Dun & Bruno have it right. I raise cattle from town but have a support group I find hard to believe. There are four people in my area who each pass my place once or twice a day. I am notified when mine stray or when I have acquired stays. In calving season I've had a new calf pulled from the shallow part of my pond. If I'm not around to put out hay, I'm not suprised to find it out when I come in. Back when we had normal rainfall I sank the front wheels of my tractor in one of those two foot wide trenches we all have hidden in the bottom land. Before I could ask for help I had it.

Problem is payback in my case. I go out of my way to help with the same attitude but there just aren't enough opportunities. I've built a fence with the neighbor and didn't ask him to share the cost and loaned a trailer to another and offered help with some roofing (darn they had it done by the time I showed up). I'm also watchful for their stock. Returned a horse once and helped return a cow.

Farm people are the greatest.

Jay

 

[cypressfarms]

Problem is payback in my case. I go out of my way to help with the same attitude but there just aren't enough opportunities.
Farm people are the greatest.

Jay

Jay, I don't think that the farmer that helped you did it for payback. A good neighbor doesn't keep track of who owes who.

 

[dun]

Problem is payback in my case. I go out of my way to help with the same attitude but there just aren't enough opportunities.
Farm people are the greatest.

Jay

Jay, I don't think that the farmer that helped you did it for payback. A good neighbor doesn't keep track of who owes who.

Correct. It just goes along with being a neighbor.

dun

 

[Crowderfarms]

You might have some of the Horse folks call you, but as far as Cattlemen, we always look out for each other's Stock if we get lucky enough to take a few days off.It's what living in the country is all about. We all watch each others backs, and there is no currency exchanged.

 

[J-CCCC]

It's not that I think my neighbors keep score. It's that there isn't opportunity for me to get that good feeling like they get for their kiindness

Jay

 

[RebelCritter]

Vacation? What is that?

 

[MoGal]

I've never had to pay someone either, to watch horses or cows. We help each other out. An unspoken neighborhood watch so to speak.

We all still bake a dish and take it to the family or church when one passes on as well.

Where could you find that hospitality in any city?

 

[warpaint]

Critter brings up a good point. What's a vacation?

 

[Muratic]

Critter brings up a good point. What's a vacation?

An afternoon at Crowder's?

I imagine the critter sitter thing would work in MI, them folks are "different" up there. Espically in the U P ;-)

 

[Crowderfarms]

Critter brings up a good point. What's a vacation?

An afternoon at Crowder's?

I imagine the critter sitter thing would work in MI, them folks are "different" up there. Espically in the U P ;-)

Muratic. An afternoon at Crowder's is not anything close to a vacation.Unless it's raining or snowing. :lol:

 

[AAOK]

Kerry,
I think it's a good idea. I am in need of such a service right now. I have one good neighbor who will look out for problems, but they are too old to do anything other than call me. I wouldn't trust any of my other neighbors with 2 cents. I say if you treat it as a real business, you will have a market. By that I mean you get a state and federal ID. You get bonded and insured. You have a genuine business plan and capital to market your services. I would think you would charge by the amount of time involved, and what types of work you would be responsible to get done. Housesitting has become a huge business. I would think that many farm families would want you to house sit as well as tend to the chores. I could see this kind of business growing into one that would require you to become a manager and hire your own employees.

 

[EIEIO]

I think it could be a good idea depending on your location. If your near lots of smaller operations that you could travel easily between especially if you have more than one set of clients go out of town at once I could see it working well. Where we live the distance between places I would think would be to big and it would not be worth your time unless you charged a lot.

Regarding "what's a vacation" well I'm forced to go on 2 a year. Back 15 years ago when the preacher was talking with the wife and I before we got married he told me I needed to change my ways if our marriage was going to work. I do the 2 a year trips and she stays happy. Least for the last 15 years it's worked. May not sound like a long time but anymore folks staying married longer than 10 years is a big deal.

We have 3 kids all active in 4-H so when we do go out of town it's not just cattle and horses than need attention. No problem with the neighbors helping out with those but when you also have a goat, sheep, guinea pigs, hamsters, dog, cats, chickens, salamander, and the list goes on it starts to be (in my opinion anyway) more of an imposition to the neighbors than just "what is expected of a good neighbor".

I'm lucky that we have a hard as heck working neighbor kid (19yo.) that runs his own fence building business plus helps out on his folks farm and he goes sun up till sun down that watches our place when we are away.

I have to force him to take money but he finally understood when I told him if I did not have him to count on my marriage would be in serious trouble. I will usually just put some cash in a feed bucket with a note thanking him when we do leave town. Thankfully he has always been there to watch the place when we do leave but if he is ever not available we also have a couple of kids that live on farms that go to our church that is willing to watch the place for us as well.

J

 

[coolwater]

i use a teenager from church.i started him out just feeding the chickens and dogs and pigs.then after learning his abilities and trusting him i let him take care of it all when i have to leave a few days.i pay him well.i wouldnt use someone that i didnt know and trust with my livestock.

 

[windwalker]

don a lot of that and house sit, ,go to wisconsin ever yr t omilk cows for week.. use t ogo t okansas to fix fence for 3 ranchers..enjoyed it