We don’t go on vacation much. Hardly ever, really. And our version of a vacation is usually just a 3-day weekend visiting family. Between all the packing for five people; all the prep (and cost!) to leave the animals in someone else’s hands; all the stress of getting there and getting home–and worrying about everything while you’re gone!–then all the unpacking, washing, cleaning, and catching up when you do get home…blah! There’s nothing relaxing about it!

Besides–we like being at home!

But we also like our family. And we like adventuring together as a family. So sometimes we enlist a good farm-sitter, pack our bags, and head out.

Here’s some ideas on finding a good farm-sitter, and some tips on how to organize the farm to run smoothly without you for a few days…

How to Find a Farm Sitter

This is so tough! Farm-sitting tends to be much bigger (and a little more overwhelming!) than just pet-sitting or house-sitting. It can also get expensive if you’re being charged per animal or extra for travel distances as the sitter goes back and forth.

We like to use young people because they are interested and motivated, as well as available and less expensive. A lot of folks will disagree with this, but If the chores are something our 8 and 11 year-olds can do, a local 15 or 17-year-old can do it. You really don’t have to be an adult to fill a water bucket. You need to use discernment! We require that teens have their parents’ permission and supervision, but we have had no issues with using young people we know. Our Ladybug is also doing some farm-sitting of her own now and at 15 is more than capable of managing basic food, water, shelter, and supervision of a small farm for a short period.

Here are a couple key places to put out feelers to find someone…

• Local vet clinics, particularly your large animal vet. They might know someone. I know several vets with kids that would make great farm sitters if they can get transportation.
• Local horse barns. They often know of a couple responsible riders or youngsters taking lessons that would be interested and comfortable around farm animals to sit for you.
• Neighbors that have farm animals. They’re going to be the most comfortable if they have the same type of livestock you do.
• Standard Pet Sitters. Your average dog and cat sitter can most likely also handle small livestock when it comes to just feed and water. You’re not expecting them to manage lambing season or anything.
• Church families. Usually, they’re going to be local to you and you’ll know them so it will be more comfortable.
• Homeschoolers/Homeschool families. We’ve had great luck here and our experience has been that homeschoolers tend to be very responsible and mature in areas like this, as well as having families that are interested in getting the kids that experience AND providing supervision to the whole situation.
• Local vet tech program. Our local vocational/technical school offers vet tech classes and the students are usually both animal lovers AND interested in more hands-on experiences for their resumes.
• Care.com. I checked this out on a whim and actually found a couple likely local candidates. I would reach out directly and form a relationship rather than go through the website, but it was a good jumping off point.

[bctt tweet=”#Homesteaders need a break sometimes too! How to find, prep for, and work with a #farmsitter…” username=”va_grown”]

How to Prep the Farm for a Farm Sitter

The goal is to make everything as easy for them as possible while giving the animals the cleanest resting spots we can while we’re gone. Unless we are leaving for an extended time period (which we just don’t really do) the normal daily pasture rotations will STOP while we’re gone to make it easier on the farm sitter.

• Clean all the feed pans, water buckets, and nesting boxes.
• Move everyone as close to the house as possible and put them in permanent fencing. We don’t use temporary fencing while a stranger is managing things.
• Move all the mobile shelters and the chicken house to a clean location so the sitter will not have to walk through a messy, worn out spot in the field. This also gives all the animals the cleanest, freshest area to sit on for our vacation days.
• Check over and lay out all the hose lines that will be needed to water while we’re gone.
• Test all the fence lines for proper electricity and check that all the fence warning signs are in place.
• Triple check all the gate latches around the whole farm. And then check again! {smile}
• Stock up on all feed necessary and have it organized neatly with all the buckets, measuring scoops and supplies needed.
• Post information about where we are going by the phone inside.
• Post the vet’s regular and emergency phone numbers along with directions on how to reach the vet on call.
• Write out directions for the chores in a daily checklist format that the farm sitter can fill out each visit. (Use our Farm Sitting Checklist Bundle for forms!)
• Write a detailed list of what animals are on the farm. How many cows, sheep, chickens, which breeds, the number of males and females, basic ages, etc. The farm sitter should be counting noses every visit. If the vet or (hopefully not!) Animal Control had to come out for any reason, this could be very helpful. (Use our Farm Sitting Checklist Bundle for forms!)
• Notify the closest neighbors that you’re going out of town and that there will be a farm sitter coming by. Leave their phone numbers for the sitter.

How to Work with the Farm Sitter

The best scenario for the farm is to develop a long-term relationship with someone that will be able to help out repeatedly. They’ll get to know your animals and your set up and be a solid resource for you in the future.

Here are some keys to a successful experience:

• Decide how you will pay. We do not pay by the hour. We pay by the visit. For example, Saturday AM chores and Saturday PM chores would be two visits. We also pay in cash, up front, for the sitter we know. I would do 50% up front and 50% when we get back for a stranger or first-time sitter.
• Decide how much you will pay. We take into account how much experience they have, how close they are for emergencies, how involved the choring is (winter is more, summer is less), and whether we offer any produce for trade.
• Consider if your farm sitter is paying taxes on their fees. If they are operating as a business, be sure to provide a receipt and log the expense for consideration at tax time.
• Offer to trade farm produce for a portion of the work. We offer the farm sitter any eggs that are gathered while they are here. This also helps me avoid egg overload the second I get back from vacation. We’ve also welcomed sitters into our garden and berry patches while we were gone. It would go to the bugs anyway!
• Offer the farm for recreation. This is one reason why I don’t pay by the hour. We encourage our farm sitter to enjoy some time on the porch, take a morning walk around the fields or even bring a (vetted and known) friend or sibling with them as long as the other person doesn’t go in the field or pens with the livestock. We also offer them free use of any food or drinks left in the house.
• Agree to a check-in schedule. We ask for a text update after each visit. Our regular sitter also usually sends us pictures while she’s out here.
• Explain about procedures to call the vet. Our procedure is that you don’t call the vet without talking to us first. That might not be yours, depending on how available you will be during your vacation and how experienced your sitter is.
• Explain about common “emergency” scenarios. We run through a couple common issues and how to handle them. In our case that’s loose animals, spilled feed (sheep will bloat), injuries, and severe weather.
• Provide a Thank You note and offer a good reference.

Finding a farm sitter that will also manage the indoor pets is a little more complicated. It means a couple of extra visits for walking the dogs and that I’ve got to have the house clean before they come. I leave the dogs’ medical files out, check everyone’s collars, and stock up on chew bones. But a good farm sitter is usually a perfect fit for this job too and the extra visits don’t cost any more than a boarding kennel would. (Use our Pet Sitter Checklist bundle for Forms!)

Do you have any tips, or experiences (good or bad!) that you’d like to share? I’d love to hear and file them away for future use!