A Day in the Life of a Farmer

A farmer’s week is filled with days that have similar events happening in them; however, each day brings its own new surprises. The day begins with waking up bright and early usually between 3:00 and 5:00 depending on what time he milks and how many times a day he milks. On our farm the milk pump gets turned on at 3:30. It takes us about 21/2 hours to milk so we are finished milking and cleaning up between 6:00 and 6:30. The next chore is to make sure everything gets fed. All the calves under two months get fed 3 L of pasteurized milk during milking. All the other calves, heifers, and cows have water troughs. All the calves that are not yet at the breeding age get fed hay and for the last 4 months they get silage. All the other animals get fed silage.

Once all the animals have been fed, their pens need to be cleaned. Once every two-three days all the hutches and pens get bedded and clean shavings are brought into the barn for the milk cows. Bedding usually takes about one-two hours depending on the method used. The rest of the afternoon can be used for many other chores. This ranges from needling or breeding cows, cleaning pens (as in taking out all the manure to literally clean it), or even going out to do field work. This all depends on what season you are working in. In the winter you can often get caught up trying to fix frozen water lines or moving snow piles. In the summer however, a large part of a farmer’s day can take place in the field. All-in-all, a farmer is kept busy during the day but is able to keep the farm going!