SurroundedByGrass.

Does anyone know what they want to do with their future? Settle down and have kids? Dream job? Travel? Bum around from job to job?¹. I’m pretty sure I know what I want to do with my life. It’s going to be a long and hard road, and bloody expensive, but the benefits are great. It’s an awesome life-style, you work from home, and if you don’t fuck it up, it’s a great income to support a family on.

Can you guess what I want to do? Dairy farming. I know I’ve only been dairy farming for one season, but it’s something I enjoy. I don’t wake up every morning and say “OH fuck this, can’t be screwed“, it’s more like “Hrm, wonder what today will bring?“.

Dairy does have it’s downs..

• There will always be that bitch cow who kicks or runs away and jumps fences.
• The weather isn’t always the best, and water restrictions can mean less irrigation², which means less feed.. which means spending money to buy it in.
• To start your own herd, you need to a) Save a fuck load and / or b) Get a huge arse loan from the bank.
• It takes awhile to get used to each farm, or to train staff to get used to the farm.. then staff leave and you have to train someone new
• The time off isn’t the best on most farms³. And during busy times, it’s often hard to get a couple of days off because you need all the staff you can.
• Cows are expensive. 

That is actually all the downs I can think of. There are a lot more, I know that for a fact, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head.

Buying a farm or going share milking⁴ is going to be expensive, but luckily dairy has a fast climbing career ladder⁵. And with promotion comes more money. I do intend  on sticking this job out, to get the most out of it I can, take what I learn from here and go managing somewhere else⁶.

I’m very excited for what the future holds, I just hope I can make a plan. I would like to speak to a bank person about how to go about setting up a farm etc. Perhaps not yet as I am very young and have only been in the industry for a year, but it’s important I am prepared for costs, that I know what I’m buying into etc.

The problem? Jared doesn’t want to be a farmer. He said he doesn’t mind the lifestyle⁷, but he would never work outside. He did however say, if I remember correctly, that he may do other things for the business. Which is good to know because if I have to to into it alone, as in, there is no other family who wants to go 50/50 with me, then I would have to do the business side AND the animal side. Which would be.. stressful to say the lest.

I’ve also found out that AgITO has all the courses I need to learn about managing staff, business, farm management, everything I would need to run a farm. So I don’t need to go to Lincoln Uni. Which is good, because AgITO is basically”Earn while you learn”. Plus it’s easy.

A few questions?

• What is your dream job? Have you ever been in that career & Did it turn out well?
• Do you have plans for your future? Even just a rough draft like mine?
• Do you like cows?⁸

1. Some people actually enjoy that.. [↩]
2. Watering grass [↩]
3. Currently I work 8 on, 2 off [↩]
4. You own the cows, and you go 50/50 with the owners of the land / impliments etc [↩]
5. Said correctly? Er, I should be a 2IC in a year or 2 [↩]
6. There are already managers here who I don’t see leaving any time soon [↩]
7. As in, living in the country [↩]
8. Random I know, but I’m curious! [↩]

Related posts:

1. Thinking of the future
2. Someone needs anger management classes
3. Vaccinating cows
4. First week over.