Farm Sitters ????

SKI'er or is it Frank?

If you are worried about your credentials then why bother with the exercise. Four bottles of scotch is $200? or more. Does it matter? If it matters then you are probably not willing to take the plunge...:-)

As a farm sitter you would not have to do much except to see that the operation ticks over while the owners are away.

Most farmers/ station owners would like to have reliable, sober and enthusiastic Farm Minders irrespective of their age, colour, creed or level of fitness.

Cheers

Yep, I wasan IT manager before I retired and ended up babysitting a cattle station in the Kimberleys for 5 months during the wet season.

Just need a bit of mechanical knowledge and be game to have a go.

You would'nt "sit" my farm with that attitude.

Regards

Kim

Sounds like you've got plenty of skills.

I can see your point about the farmsitting website. I did a free trial on a house-sitting one (could see posts but not contact them until I paid up). Not a lot came up to really push me to hand over money.

Have you looked at other forms of advertising? No idea of prices, but I would look at putting a classified in The Land. There are a number of free classifieds sites on the web too.

Check out the house sitting section on the caravaners forum. Small acreage sitting comes up occasionally, and may be the way to get experience with the animals, and references for the future. I have seen opportunities come up on the various caravanning forums from time to time.

Site Link

We joined farm sitters a few months ago..We were hesitant about outlaying the joining fee without being able to vet the site first to see if it was functional and credible...We bit the bullett and joined...a pleasant surprise, lots of prospective sitters and also positions available..I believe it is good value and a reputable site

Ultimately the choice of sit and sitter is betwen the individuals... we are about to trust our farming property for the first time to total strangers..however they do come with previous testimonials and we have spoken with them etc..the rest is gut feel and how bad you need a break I guess!

if you have some life skills, in good health, competent and confident why not give it a go...you are not going to be a farmer...so need to panic about what you dont know...just be upfront about your limitations and expectations...no property owner would leave someone unsupported without neighbours etc to call upon for advice..in many cases it is more about the property not being unattended and only performing light duties that you would do for your neighbour in town....except there maybe be a few more watering points to check and animals to feed than you are used to.

SKI'er,
Thanks for putting us onto this operation, been thinking I'd like to do something like that myself. There must be heaps of cockies who need a break but after so many years of drought can't afford to pay a temporary manager. What a great, simple way to help out! Mate, like you my career has been city based, though I have spent some time as a visitor on farms, where the cockies reckon I'm nuts when I spend the day working with them and call it fun. Seems to me if you present yourself honestly, it's up to the people on the other end to make a decision. Good luck.
(Sounds a better option than dragging a boat between water holes on the Murray)
Smudger

Thanks everybody for your thoughts and especially those that gave some insights into the Farmsitter site,

Farmsitters is advertised in the RW Williams magazine....It really is a suck it and see situation. I will send off the cheque ($100) today and put a new update on the site on lets say June 1st and update everybody to how things progressed.

Had another thought - if a farmer wanted a really good break on the coast - in a part of NSW where you can still see green fields and fat contented cows - our place would be empty because we would be at his place. Will include this swap idea in my CV.

SKI'er

SKi er

I don't sulk, nor do I have a chip on my shoulder mate (no time for that crap).

My response was directed towards your opening remarks about grog. I like a drink as much as the next man, but I'd scrub the whisky off your resume if you want to farm sit.

Farm sitting is relative easy, providing the sh*t does'nt hit the fan while the owners are away. You'll also need to convince the property owner that you have appropiate skills.

Don't know where your going, but there are some very hard nosed farmers/Station owners out there that'll need a lot of convincing before they assign a caretaker role.

Kim

we are farmsitting at the moment, for 3 mths. It was posted on explore oz last year.After a few emails, exchange of photos and a phone call we were accepted and we accepted the position.We arrived allowing 2 days overlap,and they gave us a BBQ to meet neighbours and friends who could be of use to us. It's worked out very well, everyone is very welcoming.
We see that the 9 animals are fed as well as playing ball with their 2 big dogs. We also slash and whippersnip to maintain the property. We have 2 terrier type dogs ourselves and were worried about how they would manage. One of them fits in well but the other has had snarling standoffs so to avoid disaster we fenced off part of the veranda and garden for her personal use.
By word of mouth we are securing further farmstays for later this year and next winter and will travel in our rig in between.
A warning though, we met someone who is on a long farmstay, the owner has stayed away longer and not sending enough money back to feed the animals, so she is forking out her own money now.......what to do in that situation, eh?

yours, sally [andy's wife]