How to go on vacation with a barn and house full of animals?

[Reiter]

And I don't mean I want to take the barn and house full of animals with me! ;)
My husband and I are having our 20th wedding aniversary this May and we had always planned to go on a big vacation when the time comes. Well as it turns out our family got rather large in the last couple of years. We have 2 children (5 and 2 years old), horses, a dog, cats and fish. The kids would go with us, but I can't figure out what to do with the critters. I don't feel comfortable leaving them with just someone coming out to feed 2x/day and none of the companies I've found that do this type of thing bonded and insured will actually house sit. I've thought about putting an ad on craigs list, but am way too worried about a total stranger neglecting my animals or cleaning out the house.
Any ideas?
I'm also open to alternate plans for the aniversary that don't involve being gone too long, if anyone has any ideas there!

[WorthTheWait95]

You don't know any horsey teens/twenty somethings that house/pet sit? That was my jobin high school and it's how I help pay tuition now that I'm in college.

Give your vet clinic a call and see if they can recommend any house/barn sitters for you. Alot of the techs in my area house sit to help supplement their income and most reliable house/pet sitters are known to the local equine vets by positive word of mouth from their customers.

[jumpjesterjump]

do you have any friends or neighbors that you trust, we had a really bad experience over chirstmas with a house sitter (she was lic. and bonded) that came 2x day to feed/walk our dogs and cats, she was sick for close to three days and would not return phone calls. luckily we have a neighbor, that knew we were going out of town, and noticed pet sitter had not been there, that fed for us while we figured out how to get home in a hurry.

i house sit for some friends of mine on occasion, and i usually stay over when i can or stay at their house as long as i can during the day/night without my animals feeling left out.

[HuntrJumpr]

Is there anyplace you can put an ad out to reach animal-involved young adults in your area? I am a college undergraduate with a lot of experience with dogs, cats, horses, and even cattle/chickens, and have house-sat for at least a half dozen different individuals and anyone of those people would give verbal or written references for me. Additionally, I have resources to provide a back-up person if I were to become unable to take care of your animals (accident, illness, etc). I know that there are scores of others like me - a good place to start would be any local University or even trainers in your area. I got started through my mom, who is a veterinarian, but a trainer I rode with also handed out my name to people she knew who were looking. It didn't hurt that I also worked at a well-respected facility in my area.

[county]

Its easy for us we go for 3 to 8 days at a time. Round bales of hay for horses and cattle, auto waterers, neighbor feeds the dogs and pigs takes about 10 minutes a day, cats fend for themselves as usual. We own the livestock they don't own us.

[2 tbs]

Wanna take me on vacation too? Well, to your house so I can house/barn sit that is :D

I'm actually house/barn sitting right now! I have 4 kitties, a dog, and 3 horses in my care this weekend. This is a short one for me-just Saturday/Sunday and limited animals - usually I've got at least twice that head count. I just got done house/barn sitting from the 13th of Janurary to the 1st of February so I'm glad this is a short weekend!

I've been doing this for years. My trainer, friends of my trainer, various family members, barns where I've boarded - it's like a second job. If I could do it professionally and make enough money to pay for benefits and keep my own horses I'd be all over it!

I'm sure you can find someone, via word of mouth is best IMO, who is like me! Ask your vet, farrier, horsie friends, a local trusthworthy barn, college with a riding program etc. "Interview" the people to make sure you are comfortable with them, have them come out and work along side you for a few days so they know the routine and you can see them handle the animals etc. It's not easy but I'm sure you can find a good person. If not, I'd seriously vacation at your house for a week taking care of all your critters but you'd have to fly me out there and back ;)

[Seven-up]

What is this "a vacation"? I seem to remember a word like that from my youth, but I'm not sure. :winkgrin:

[county]

Its what ya do when you live wheres its cold and ya wanna go where its warm!!!!! LOL

[AKB]

Plan to spend some money and get someone very reliable. When we went to Germany on vacation quite a few years ago, my husband refused to go until I hired a young, just out of school, veterinarian to stay at our house. Then, he was able to relax.

My neighbor has the daughter of another neighbor take care of her herd when she is gone. The daughter runs her own family barn and is a part-time law student. My neighbor pays her well enough that she happily spends several hours per day taking care of the animals. If she runs short of time, her sister (also a grad student) helps out.

Another neighbor has a local vet tech stay at her house. There are people around if you check with local vet offices and are willing to pay well.

[horsetales]

We found a young woman through my vet (and friend). I was on a trail ride with her and another friend of hers and mentioned I was trying to find someone to watch the place for a summer trip. The friend had a daughter - 19 - that jumped at the chance. She was great.

[Cherry]

I vote for calling your vet for a reference! ;)

[Sparky Boy]

We're on our second week in Utah!! I have a house sitter staying in the house to babysit the dogs and my boarder is taking care of all the horses. God bless them :)

It's easier to have someone stay in the house that does both house animals and the horses. I personally would rather not use a teenager to do this. Do you have any friends who are retired or that don't work? There are professional pet sitters but they are pretty expensive. Check with friends and the vets to see who they'd recommend.

Good luck.

[JB]

Reliable kennel/"bed and biscuit" for the dogs. Ask your vet for any recommendations, or, some vets will board dogs, they just don't usually offer the "extras".

Cats are pretty self-reliant - can even be fed just once a day, or every couple of days, as long as potty situations are suitable and enough food is left out.

When we go on vacation during "have to put hay out" season, I spread hay in the pasture to last several days more than we'll be gone. I do use round bales, but don't normally put the whole bale out there - I dole it out twice a day to pretty much free choice. I wouldn't bother if I used square bales - those are much easier to deal with. But even then, to simplify things, you can spread out lots of extra square bales.

[camohn]

Kid: goes to Grandma or with us depending on the trip. For anniversary trip? Grandma.
Fish: get a vacation fish feeder
Cats: get lots of food, bowls of water and litter box
Dog: goes to kennel
Horses: local 4H teenager that has previously been trained farmsits: feeds twice a day. Horses stay out/get pasture fed if summer; if winter she has to turnout/in and do stalls.

[saddleup]

How many horses? Can you just board them at a stable while you're gone? I only have three, and I did that once when my horse sitter wasn't available. Boarded the dog at the kennel. It worked out great for me.

[Guin]

Are you near a college? I have found college kids to be AWESOME at house/animal sitting. Find one who who misses her dogs and knows about horses, and you'll be all set. They love the chance to live in a house instead of a dorm for a few days.

[WaningMoon]

I WILL NOT leave my animals and my home with anyone whom I haven't personally known for a long time. I have several older retired friends whom I've known for many yrs. I also have four daughters , three of who are close by. IF I can't get one of them to stay I ask one of my retired friends to come and stay. I pay them $50 a day. I don't expect housework other than for them to keep up their own dishes and whatnot. I do expect them to be there though except for a short jaunt to the store or whatever. Some of my dogs sleep with us and I expect them to still be able to. Two of them will not sleep but will just roam the house all night if they don't have a human to sleep with. ONe of my dogs refuses to eat when I am gone and once went for four days without eating. Finally we figured out that if I call and talk to her briefly each day she is fine, she eats, doesn't spend the whole day by the window watching and is quite happy. So I call. There are 5 dogs to take care of, 5 cats, 5 small birds, one horse, and one mini donkey. In the summer time there really isn't a lot to do other than make sure everyone is okay. Letting the dogs in and out to their 1/2 acre pen is most of the work really. Their pen entrance is from the cellar door so there is a lot of running up and down the stairs at times. They seem to forget they actually pretty much have a schedule when someone else is around and will try to get the person to run up and down all day if yoiu let them. So yah, I find it best to get someone you can trust and know to come in and stay while I am gone, it's what works best for us. I leave a whole list of what vets who sees, their feeding( all dogs and cats eat free choice). I leave extensive lists of info so nothing is left to wonder about, likely too much. But I like for them to be as happy as they can be with as few changes as possible. It has always worked very well. I find the older retired ppl work for me better than younger, just seems the older ppl pay more attention to the small details of how i want things done. Of course having one of my own daughters is optimum as they grew up knowing and seeing how I do things. Thats a big one to ensuring the happiness of my animals, as little change from what they are used to as possible, is what works the best here. Then, of course, we find the very best is when one of us stays and the other goes, then there are no changes but it is nice to be able to go away together once in a while too for sure.

[Reiter]

2 tbs, that's a tempting offer! :)
I have too many horses to consider boarding and half of them are babies. One of the older horses is on daily meds, so just leaving hay out wouldn't work either and I'm way too paranoid that something would happen to one of them and no one would notice.
I'm a bit in the boonies and none of my neighbors are horsey and I don't know any horse knowledgable retirees either! :( I would not feel comfortable with someone that isn't familiar with horses.
2 of the 3 cats are mainly indoors and would not be happy being locked out and the 3rd pretty much only comes in to eat. He'd be fine outside as long as I leave some food. The dog is easy as long as she gets some human interaction, she's a lap dog, so definitely wouldn't just leave her by herself!
Camohn, what is a vacation fish feeder and how long does that last?
I haven't been lucky with the local teenagers. One I hired a couple of years ago to take care of the horses while I was out of town for a breeding seminar and she didn't show up the very first day. Luckily my husband was there to take over, but I really didn't want him to have to worry about the horses while taking care of a toddler. The other one, that advertised house/pet sitting couldn't even manage to keep the appointment to come out and meet me and the animals! :(

[MistyBlue]

Hopefully someone in your area from here will see this thread and be willing to farm-sit.
I have a huge family in state...many horsie enough to farm sit. Problem is...all have lives/jobs too involved to take the time to come live at my house to sit while we go on vacation. And I would require someone to come stay here...we'd pay well for it too. Although I have a niece 5 miles from here with her own farm that could come over...but she also works full time and isn't available from 6 am until 7 pm 4 days per week. So that's a no-go.
It's funny how we can have so many relatives within 45 minutes of my house and nobody to farm sit. So we don't go anywhere. Ever. Kinda sucks sometimes. But then I was never really a vacation type person, never liked going places for a short time. Plus if we ever did get a farm sitter we'd kind of HAVE to go visit my MIL in FL and that would suck in it's own way. I hate FL, hate hot weather, not a beach person, not into shopping or having dinner at 4 pm, LOL! (she lives right on the water in Naples...huge shopping and beach and senior citizen mecca) :winkgrin: My MIL would be hurt if we finally were able to travel and didn't come visit her. So it would be a waste of a vacation due to neither hubby nor I wanting to go to FL. We'd rather have the MIL come here.

[Sentry Chick]

We are taking the whole extended family to Fla. The dog has to go to a kennel and the horse owning neighbor will be taking care of my horses, barn cats and chickens. I normally have a family member stay at the house and do the chores for me but since we are taking them with us this time, I have to "hire out" my help this year. If I want to play, I must pay. Comes with the ownership territory.

[Fancy That]

Check around on bayequest.com You can post on thier boards, and I would definitely check with your vet, first.

We just bought our first horse property (also in NorCal) and will be needing to find the same thing.

Luckily, our new neighbors and all the surrounding neighbors are horse folks, plus my trainer lives down the road :) Phew!

Good luck!

[camohn]

A vacation fish feeder is a slowly dissolving food cube you throw in the tank from the fish department at the pet store. They feed for 5 to 10 days depending on how many fish and all....it tells ya on the back of the package.

[Reiter]

Oh, Bayequest! Didn't think about them! Yes, good idea!
I did check with one area vet (my friend works there), but everybody there has a house/barn full of animals themselves and the best they could do is the 2x/day feeding and even that is difficult because of the drive out here! Will check with a couple of other vets though!
Thanks Camohn! Looks like at least the fish will be okay then! :D

[rainechyldes]

I usually have one of our neighbors come feed the outside animals.
Dog goes to a kennel in town.
Cats get a giant bowl of food and water in the barn - and neighbor tops it up.
Rats get taken to another rodent friendly friend who has her own so she babysits them.

[Tom King]

Developing a relationship with a house/farm sitter is worth many times what it costs. We asked at one of our vet's years ago and one of the vet techs jumped at the chance and we have made sure that she is glad to come. She and her husband come and stay at our house and when we get back everything is cleaner than we left it. They go to work during the day but we have a couple of guys that stay around during the day anyway.

[AKB]

How far are you from UC Davis? Vet students are often good house sitters. Try to get a couple of them to come. That way, no matter how many middle of the night dissection reviews or other class projects they have, at least one of them will be home with the animals most of the time.

[Reiter]

I'm about 2 hours +/- depending on traffic from UC Davis. No vet student is going to want to put that kind of a drive into their daily schedule! :(

[CanterQueen]

- Check with local horse clubs (we have a few mature ladies that do horse & house sitting).

- There's also a couple of ladies from our local therapeutic riding program that suppliment their income by farm sitting.

- Trainers sometimes look for ways to suppliment their incomes. So do vet techs.

[caradino]

lots of great advice as to where to look for a house sitter! not much to add except that there is probably a recent college grad with horse sense that would LOVE the opportunity. i house/farm sit in addition to my full-time job and have gotten several jobs just by word-of mouth. friends who know i am responsible and reliable and i've worked for before tell their friends, and so on. if i were in your area of the world i'd volunteer!

[danceronice]

Dog: Vet.
Bird (When we had one): to the neighbor's house.
Cats/Horse (when we had the horse): same neighbor comes over, feeds 1xd, picks stall. Now he just comes 1xd to feed cats.
Fish: gets a couple extra algae tabs (he's a pleco) and is on his own. Be carefull of those mutli-day feeding blocks--they can foul the water REALLY quick. What kind of fish are they, what's the tank size, and what's the filter?

[Reiter]

The fish tank is about 30 gallons with a big filter. I also have a huge pleco in there, so needed to upgrade the filter, I started out with only a biological filter when the pleco was about the size of my thumb (he's probably close to a foot now). There's also a big angel fish and several assorted smaller fish. If I find a sitter, then they would feed the fish as well and I wouldn't do the feeding block. That reminds me of another question: I turn the light on in the morning when I feed, then feed again in the evening and turn the light off when I go to bed. If I was to leave the fish for a couple of days with a feeding block, is it okay to leave the light off for that long?

[MunchkinsMom]

Vacation?!?!?! what is that exactly? Oh, yeah, where you actually leave the farm and relax somewere else. . .

I have not done that in about 2 years. Last year, I tried to go away for just 2 nights, had my neighbor come stay with the animals (or so I thought), and through no fault of her own, she got really sick and had to go to the hospital. Well, the horses got turned out, but not feed, the dogs were not fed or let out - I don't have to tell you what my carpets look like now (I have 4 dogs).... She called me, I had to call my other neighbor (thank heavens she was home) to go and feed the dogs and put them out for a potty break until we could get home (we were 5 hours away).

If I was to ever try it again, I would ask my next door neighbor for a reference for her farm sitter, she seems to be very reliable (even fixes fences while they are away).

[jennywho]

I have been through heck and back trying to find a reliable petsitter. I hired THREE different people who were lic/bonded. The first one I used several times until in the same weekend she left a $300k filly out overnight by herself because she was difficult to catch and my boss showed up at 11'30 the next morning and she had yet to show up to feed/turn out. #2 chose not to feed my grain that I religiously measure and put out because she doesn't believe in feeding grain and #3 was only supposed to feed an evening feeding and when I got home at 8:30 that night she hadn't been out to either farm to feed. What a nightmare! I pay really good too and try to make it as simple as possible for people.

That being said, a couple of weeks ago I had a friend farm sit and she went above and beyond, did a fantastic job and I didn't worry once the whole time I was gone. It was such a relief. So my advice would be to try to find someone you know. In this case, it was a friend who is job searching and lives two hours away. I was more than happy to pay her gas in order to have someone I trusted come to stay with the critters.

Good luck!~

[flyingchange]

When you figure it out let me know.

The latest one I used over Xmas was a total moron. She :

- turned out my donkey who was on stall rest for a soft tissue injury. She apparently disagreed with my having him on stall rest as he was sound in the stall.

- Wrapped a mare's leg by wrapping the standing wrap to the inside around the cannon bone. This was after I specifically asked if she knew how to put on standing wraps and she said, she did. And then we laughed at a story I told about a guy I worked with once who didn't know how to wrap and went around trying to do so at a TB breeding farm. I got home and the mare's standing wrap was down around her ankle and when I saw the wrapping direction I just couldn't believe it.

- Let horses into a pasture that was resting for the winter which resulted in a horse messing with my solar fence charger which then of course was broken when I got back. Newly seeded grass was chewed down. Nice. Had been about 4 to 5 inches and was 1 inch when I returned.

- Put five horses into a very tiny winter paddock - for what reason I do not know. I got home early from my trip. she was at the barn when I walked up. She went "they are all just visiting with each other right now" and quickly separated them.

This is a "barefoot trimmer" in the Warrenton VA area and she talks a good talk but from having her do my horses I have to say I think she lacks a good bit of horse sense.

Next time I go out of town I am probably just going to have my neighboring cattle farmer look after them. He needs the money and he has some common livestock/farming sense.

[equineartworks]

We are going for an overnight in April and as always the thought of it puts me into an anxiety attack.

Dumplin' eats soaked senior feed and soaked cubes so throwing out hay for him isn't an option. And he is more than a little human companionship driven.

There are nearly 50 chickens to care for and 13 ducks that need food and water like every 10 minutes.

Then there are the four dogs...ughhh...can't kennel them because two came from traumatic rescue situations and kenneling almost did one in. The other is too old and it would just kill him. And our new little man from Sunkissed hasn't been here long enough to get a feel for kenneling.

the two cats? They are golden...but their dish must not be allowed to become empty under ANY circumstances. The result is something hideous that no one wants to endure.

Then cockatiel...she's fine.

The bunnies? hmmm...I think they will be fine.

ME? Tranquilizers and a few cocktails and I might be ok. Maybe...

[2 tbs]

Wow. Maybe I should look into doing the house/farm sitting thing professionally? It would be like paid vacations for me as I'd get to go places I've never been and might never go without a reason!! I'd never consider going against the routine-things happen but I wouldn't do it on purpose!

I'm amazed by how many people will do what they please with others animals! When I was farm sitting over the last month the biggest decisions I made on my own were for the safety of the animals. When it was bitter, bitter cold they stayed in out of the wind and snow. When it was icy I left them in because I didn't want to risk their injury-or mine for that matter.

One of my horses lives at the one barn but I kept the mindset that none of the animals were mine and I'd rather someone be more cautious than necessary while I was away. I figure it hurts them less to be exposed to less. I have been given strict instructions to do a specific thing with a certain dog, cat, horse, etc and I am always sure to follow those instructions. However, if conditions change and following those instructions puts anyone at risk I will think long and hard about the consequences of changing that instruction. If I can't get around the risk then I won't do it but usually I find a way to get it done as that's what the owner would normally do.

A house/farm sitter is there to keep up a routine-not make changes and run things their own way...even if they disagree with how things are being done. Unless of course what's being done is risking the health and safety of the animals but then there are ways of alerting the appropriate authorities so they can be the one to implement the changes.

Good luck to everyone trying to vacation. My biggest concern is finding a place to vacation ;). I don't know what I'd do if I had to add critter care to that worry! I'm sure I'd never go anywhere as I'd never trust anyone to take good enough care of my critters! I'm lucky I board my horses at 2 different barns with exceptional care and my friends or family will look in on my easy house cats. I still worry and leave a list of "who to call if" but knowing the people involved as well as I do makes it easier to know they will do the right things.

[suz]

this is just the kind of business i'm looking into starting to supplement our retirement income--not to get away from newly retired dh all day,every day--despite what he thinks!! (besides, that's another thread entirely!!).
i've never had to worry about it because we've always had a tenant with animals who gets reduced rent for help around the place, so leaving her in charge is no big deal. but i've seen my friends postpone and cancel trips because they were so worried about the care their pets would receive at the hands of strangers. so now i'm going to offer my services--it does seem there is a real need for it.

[Jenn2674]

No matter who you get to come in to take care of the animals, get a friend or family member to also come in to check on things. Even if they aren't horse people, you can tell them things to look out for and to make sure they come.

Fortunately we have someone that we really, really trust to come in. I think it is incredibly irresponsible for a licensed and bonded petsitter not to have some sort of backup in the instance that they are hurt or sick. To just not do anything when living animals are involved would infuriate me!

I definately say board the dog out even if you find someone. I hightly doubt you are going to find someone that will actually stay at the house unless you already have an established relationship. The best you might could hope for is someone to come three times a day but that won't be cheap!

I personally don't think I would be comfortable leaving my animals for more than a couple of days until I had someone I had used quite a bit and knew really well.

[bdj]

That reminds me of another question: I turn the light on in the morning when I feed, then feed again in the evening and turn the light off when I go to bed. If I was to leave the fish for a couple of days with a feeding block, is it okay to leave the light off for that long?

Short answer to that question is "probably yes", but the better one is to get a timer for your tank light! Just head over to your local Lowe's/Home Depot/hardware store and get one of these:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=296851-251-TN111GLD86&lpage=none
Works like a charm!
If you're worried about the feeder blocks mucking up your water (and they do, to a certain extent) look for these - they're supposed to be better for your water quality (though I'd be a little concerned about your mega pleco hogging it all...) http://www.petco.com/product/102526/Tetra-Vacation-Tropical-Slow-Release-Feeder.aspx
or you could just get something like this: http://www.petco.com/product/14574/Fish-Mate-F14-Aquarium-Fish-Feeder.aspx and not worry about it at all!

Re: finding a house/barn/pet-sitter: I do some petsitting, too, and I get all of my jobs by word of mouth - most of my "clients" are personal friends of mine and I've picked up a couple of jobs through friends - I don't advertise or anything. I'd keep checking with the vet(s) - even if none of their techs can petsit for you, they may very well know someone who can!

As a sitter, I'm really surprised by some of the stories y'all have - I tell all of my clients that I LOVE to have EVERYTHING in writing - who goes out when/where, who eats what/when, and every phone number that they can think of that I might need - it means that I don't have to wonder about anything, and that I don't have to rely on my memory.
I also (for a new house) always make sure to come over for a visit (usually at a feeding time) before the actual job starts, so I can see (and participate) in the routine at least once with the owner there to answer questions!

My general philosophy is that I'll love your pets as if they were my own, but I'll care for them the way you want me to!

One thing to add, that a few of my clients do (generally for longer stays): They let their vet(s) know that I'll be petsitting for XXX dates, and that if something were to go wrong, I'm authorized to bring their pets in (or call the vets out) for care. It's a really small thing, but it gives both of us peace of mind.

[Fairview Horse Center]

The vets office my know a local college girl that they do work for.

Train an older local High School kid with a involved and caring parent & lots of horse experience. The kids help out here on weekends, and learn my horses and system. You get to know if they are someone that you can trust, and will make good decisions. When I need to go away, I have kids that I can trust to do a great job. They may not actually sleep on the property, but will stay the rest of the time.

[MissMaryMack]

For those of you who take care of others' farms while they are away or those of you who hire someone to do this...how much do you charge/pay?

I am in my twenties and have ridden my entire life...I recently looked after my barn owners farm while she was away for 10 days. She lives about 35 minutes away from my home and office. I 'moved' down there for the duration but had to take my dog to my house before work and pick her up after b/c I didn't feel like it was right to leave her at the BO's home unsupervised. I was responsible for 11 horses (who live like kings)- I blanketed, fed, threw hay and bandaged legs. I also bottle fed the orphaned calf. I also took care of their 7 dogs, cat and bird. I am METICULOUS about caring for all animals- and especially someone else's!!

I'm just curious to know what you would expect to get paid/pay in this situation. Thanks in advance!!

[YankeeLawyer]

This is a "barefoot trimmer" in the Warrenton VA area and she talks a good talk but from having her do my horses I have to say I think she lacks a good bit of horse sense.



This is epidemic.

[2 tbs]

For those of you who take care of others' farms while they are away or those of you who hire someone to do this...how much do you charge/pay?

It's really hard to pin it down to an exact price as I do mine as favors for people and tell them they don't have to pay me but they always do! I usually get somehwere between 25 and 40 bux a day. Depends on who I'm sitting for, how long, the weather conditions which may require extra work or less work, and how many critters I'm responsible for.

I'm also given free access to the house as if it were mine-laundry, food, etc. I don't generally eat the food of those I house sit for and only if I'm house sitting for family will I do laundry but even then I bring my own detergent etc. I like to leave a house in the same (or better) shape than I found it which means I disturb very little while I'm there. Heck, sometimes I won't even leave my garbage behind (depends on what kind of garbage I have of course)!

If I were to do this "professionally" I would probably charge somewhere between $30 and $50 a day for the first week up to 10 animals most likely not including cats (the range allows for a variety of situations: horses out 24/7 so no stalls and things like that). Over 10 animals or more than a week I'd probably add on another $25-$30 for the next 5 animals and for the next 3 days or something like that - I'd have to sit down and put it on paper to make sure it was beneficial to me. A lot would depend on where I had to stay too. I do have a full time job and have my own horses/cats to take care of so I'd need compensated for longer drives to work and lack of time with my own life (house, horses, cats, etc).

I believe most people probably look in that $50/day range for the average house/farm sitting job.

[Fairview Horse Center]

A nearby community college will more likely have students living at home that would welcome the opportunity for a few days of solitude. Maybe try to hook up with the horse club members. You could even find someone that is horseless, that would love to share riding time with you if you have a spare horse that could use some extra riding time and attention, and be available on occasion to farm sit.

[Reiter]

Well, life works in very mysterious ways! :)
I got an email yesterday through my website from a young, local girl asking if I needed some help around the farm. She needs extra money and loves horses! She came out last night to observe the evening feeding routine and meet everybody and we agreed for her to come out a couple of times a week to help with chores. I haven't mentioned the vacation yet, one thing at a time! ;) But I would feel so much better having someone that I know and that has had time to learn the routine than some stranger. Even if she would only come out 2x/day instead of staying at the house! Or maybe 2TB's can vacation here at the house and the new girl can be back up! :D
Either way, I'm starting to think we might actually be able to do this! 20 year anniversary or not, I'd rather stay home if things are iffy! Not worth it to me coming back to chaos, hurt animals or worse! My in-laws offered to take Sophie (the doggy), but they live in the city and she's used to roaming the farm so I have to make sure they don't let her out without being on a leash, etc.! Yep, I'm a worry wart! ;)

[Fairview Horse Center]

I find the kids are the best to deal with. They actually LISTEN to me, and try to learn to do things MY way. Enjoy your new horse buddy!

[NEEDS A NAP]

It sounds like part of your problem is that you are rather isolated.

Good luck with the new worker.

You may also check with any trainers you know that have working students. They usually need extra jobs/money!

When my daughter was a working student, she picked up a lot of house/horse/dog babysitting jobs. Had to work it in around her school schedule and working for the trainer, but it can be manageable.

[suz]

well i've been inspired by this thread and am busy working out the numbers.
the biggest challenge is figuring out a way to price my service so it's both affordable and worth my time. that's a harder thing to figure out than i thought it would be!
so far i've come up with a basic rate of fifty dollars a day, that'll buy you having me on site for most of 24 hours, unless i go for groceries or something. for that i'll provide full care and feeding of up to two dogs, two cats and two equines. more or less of any critters can be discussed, i don't want to get into a situation where i have a dozen horses to care for, as well as six dogs at that rate. but if someone has four cats and no dogs, or six horses and no dogs or cats, then i have to be flexible. i'm still working that part out, and can't forget i may have to collect eggs on some farms too.
i think i'd prefer to bring my own food, and as long as they have internet so i can feed my coth addiction while farmsitting i should be just fine.
what am i forgettting here? maybe a milage differential for people over fifty miles from me?
i know cleaning litterboxes, stalls and cleaning up dog poo are part of the daily chores, i will walk dogs on leash too.
of course i just have to think about what i'd want someone to do while i'm away, that does help to figure it out.
meanwhile, i hope your young lady works out so you can go have fun!

[2 tbs]

Or maybe 2TB's can vacation here at the house and the new girl can be back up! :D

You say the word and I'm there!!!! I won't even charge...well, other than round trip airfare ;) :D

And I'm thinkin' maybe I can be back up to the kid - you know, she does all the work and I just make sure it's done right...would be like a real vacation for me then :winkgrin: :lol: