Where Do Farmers Go For Vacations?

Where do farmers go for vacations?  Lots of places.  Often the same places everyone else goes. 

Sometimes, though, a farmer goes on vacation to other farms.  And they ask the other farmers to put them to work.  And they talk about farming for the whole trip.  It's really fun.

Picture Credit: Peterson Farm Bros.

I took a vacation like that last week.  It truly was a fantastic holiday!  I contacted some college friends I hadn't seen in a while and asked if I could come for a visit.  I told them to put me to work and asked when it was convenient to come.  Once I had a loose schedule set, I packed coveralls, gloves, hats, freshly scrubbed boots, coats, and normal travelling gear into my trusty old truck and hit the road. 

It was a long trip. 

I started in Barrhead and dipped down to Salmon Arm, BC.  There, I found my friend doing chores in the dairy barn.  He got me to help with a few minor tasks and then we chatted in the spacious barn until the vet came to do a herd health check.  The rest of the day was spent watching the vet perform surgery on a cow, doing miscellaneous chores, and having awesome conversations with my friend, his parents, and one of the hired men.  By the end of the day, my clothes smelled like barn and I was exhausted from trying to keep up with my friend (I swear he didn't walk that fast in college...), but it had been a great day!  As a beef producer, my knowledge of the dairy industry is limited, but I've been slowly learning and had a blast getting to see more and ask questions as they came to me.

The very next day, I hit the road again and traveled north to Vanderhoof.  Aside from slushy roads and dreary weather, the trip went well until about an hour west of my destination.  I was travelling through Prince George and glanced down at my speedometer to make sure I was keeping to the speed limit.  It was then that my trusty truck failed me.  The cluster was dark.  I couldn't see anything. 

No speedometer. 

No fuel gauge. 

No temperature gauge. 

No oil pressure gauge. 

No odometer. 

Nothing.  All I could see was my check engine light and airbag light, both of which have been on since I got the truck.  On top of all that, what I did not yet know was that my tail lights were also out.  Knowing I had only one more hour to go (and not knowing that the people behind me couldn't actually see me in the pitch dark of the highways), I decided I would keep going and just follow the speed of the people around me.  After a stressful drive, I finally made it to Vanderhoof.

The friend I was staying with there met me in town and led me to her parents place, where her dad quizzed me on road conditions and then told us how he had just discovered a new way to remove a plastic or rubber hose from a connector.  I am not kidding when I say I wrote it down because it was so brilliant. 

The next morning we dropped my truck off at a busy mechanic shop, apologetically told them that I needed it in two days, and took off on the big tour.  My friend's family owns a cattle ranch and a logging business.  Apparently those two enterprises are commonly found together in that area.  Her boyfriend's family also has a dairy farm, so we toured all three of those businesses in one day.  We started at the dairy, where I donned a clean set of coveralls and washed my boots thoroughly before walking too far into the barn.  Once again, I had some fun learning how dairy farmers do things.  When we had finished there, I washed my boots again and we set off for the ranch.

At the ranch, I met my friend's uncle, who proudly showed me around his corral system and gave me a lengthy explanation of why the corrals were built the way they were.  It was fascinating, as I had never seen a system set up in that particular pattern, nor wooden fences built with 2x4 boards.  My friend finished the tour of the corrals after her uncle returned to the shop to do some work and we went to check out the herd of yearling heifers hanging out nearby. 

Later, my friend's dad led us out to the woodlot they were currently working in and I got a chance to see some of the different equipment used in that industry.  The afternoon concluded with a tour of the various fields and pastures owned by the ranch, which is considerably larger than my own farm.

The next day, I had a break from touring farms as my friend and I toured the town, drove along back roads to see what kinds of farmland we could see, and got lost on a "short" walk through the local bike trails.  We also picked up my truck from the frazzled mechanic who worked overtime and had to try three different times to get the problem fixed.  Ol' Blue is back to being his trusty self again!

After spending three nights and two days with my friend, it was time to head back to Alberta.  Taking the advice of her dad, I left earlier than I had planned and made it through the bad portion of highway while it was still light out, then made it to Grande Prairie in time for a late supper. 

My final day of vacation took me to one more farm, not far from Grande Prairie.  I wasn't able to stay long enough to be useful there, but my friends toured me around the farmstead of the family's large crop farm, showed me their impressive new aeration bins, and fed me some delicious banana bread before I had to hit the road again to come home.

I wish I could explain how much fun this trip really was.  Written out this way, it looks long, boring, and difficult, but it wasn't.  It was thrilling to see and learn new things, to talk with farmers my own age and their parents, all of whom had interesting things to teach me, whether they were showing me how something worked, talking about new innovations, or allowing me to experience industries I don't normally get to experience.  I also had a blast visiting friends I hadn't seen in over a year and catching up on all of their lives.

Me and Mal the Cat at the Vanderhoof dairy farm.
Photo Credit: Tessa Weaver

If you have farmer friends, I highly recommend vacationing on their farms, if they'll let you.  Take your work clothes.  Tell them to put you to work.  And prepare to learn.