I hope you all have had a Merry Christmas and that you are enjoying any time off work that you might have. I know that many businesses close for several days before and after Christmas, but a dairy farm is one business that doesn't have that luxury. Whether it's Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, or any holiday, the cows have to be milked, fed, and attended to.
My father has worked every Christmas day as far back as I can remember, and I've been right there as well since I was about 15. It can keep you from traveling to the in-laws if they have their gatherings on Christmas instead of before (like mine) or after, but all the Gilmer family gatherings happen here on the farm. It's really not that bad of a deal, either. We typically work a "weekend" schedule on holidays and take care of chores before breakfast and then again after lunch. Our milkhand usually likes to work the early shift on holidays, and did so again yesterday. Dad and I were also joined by another employee yesterday afternoon who decided he needed a few hours away from his in-laws.
So whether you're enjoying a holiday feast or just snacking any other day of the year, savor it happily and know that a farmer's commitment to care for his animals and to provide you with quality food never takes a day off!
And in closing, here is a new episode of our MooTube Minute in which I give you a quick tour of our "milk room". Enjoy!
My father has worked every Christmas day as far back as I can remember, and I've been right there as well since I was about 15. It can keep you from traveling to the in-laws if they have their gatherings on Christmas instead of before (like mine) or after, but all the Gilmer family gatherings happen here on the farm. It's really not that bad of a deal, either. We typically work a "weekend" schedule on holidays and take care of chores before breakfast and then again after lunch. Our milkhand usually likes to work the early shift on holidays, and did so again yesterday. Dad and I were also joined by another employee yesterday afternoon who decided he needed a few hours away from his in-laws.
So whether you're enjoying a holiday feast or just snacking any other day of the year, savor it happily and know that a farmer's commitment to care for his animals and to provide you with quality food never takes a day off!
And in closing, here is a new episode of our MooTube Minute in which I give you a quick tour of our "milk room". Enjoy!
2 comments:
Will,
We started Christmas day listening to your Christmas song then off to 9 hours with of chores. The blizzard that hit Kansas left 6-8 ft snow drifts we had to break through to feed our cows and calves and make sure they had water since the ponds were frozen.
Some holiday, today chores took 6 hours. Tomorrow it will be about the same as there's no warm-up in sight.
So many people don't realize the animals come first when you're in the farming/ranching/dairy business.
Merry Christmas and Happy Moo Year from our place to yours.
I hear ya when it comes to working on Christmas!
We also have a dairy farm, and it's so hard for others to understand that we are in the barn, early Christmas morning and usually get in around noon, back out to the barn around 6 p.m. for evening chores.
We turn up some Christmas tunes to cheer up our chores!
No days off for the farmer, ever.
Don't think I'd ever trade what we do for anything else, though.
Merry Christmas!
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