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I did not grow up on a farm....


Zephyr

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1 hour ago, Airehead said:

It is a good life.  

The folks on the farm I grew up on seemed happy, but I'm never going back.  Those days are gone around here.  The farm is estate housing.  My friends farm is pick your own strawberries.  His kids won't keep it now that he's gone.  Grandma's farm is planted as houses.  I don't see how the rest keep going.

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45 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

:(

Dearie was a part-time farmer for a decade in Ontario.  He had 100 acres with some cattle, pigs and chicken.  He and his ex did slaughter the chickens.  When the children were very young, they kept them away from the chicken massacre.  But yes, the children ate their chickens.  That's not that different from taking children to go fishing and eat fish afterwards.. actually cleaning fish would be less messy, etc.  Not that I've done it.  I've only scaled fish.

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3 hours ago, Zephyr said:

But it must be a fun to be a farm kid.  This little guy has lots of 'pets' to get to know in the next few years

 

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Child will grow up to be more "responsible" quickly...doing simple things to help parents on farm ..even if it's just picking weeds and staying out of the way from trampling cattle.  Or the kid will run after the chickens.

Dearie's son had fun riding a pig.

 

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1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

The folks on the farm I grew up on seemed happy, but I'm never going back.  Those days are gone around here.  The farm is estate housing.  My friends farm is pick your own strawberries.  His kids won't keep it now that he's gone.  Grandma's farm is planted as houses.  I don't see how the rest keep going.

An employee at work, grew up on dairy farm.  She hated the task of getting up at 4:00 am to help milk the cows, etc. Several times per wk. It sounded like unrelenting work for a teen. A problem when really the whole family must be involved daily unless the farmer can afford to hire other people....which is probably less often these days.  it's like running a restaurant..the teenagers get involved...even if only cleaning, taking phone/online orders and filling them.  You don't get much holidays.  A long-time close friend comes from such a family.

I know that people get sensitive about "child labour".  On the immigrant side, for the family situations that I personally know, the parents assign simple tasks and don't have the kids working in the kitchen, especially if they are young teens and younger.  These days with online/takeout orders this is where an older teen can help a parent owner.  If the older teen is quite smart, even manage/update the website/online commerce site with specials/changing menus/pricing. 

Of course, one might see a child sitting at a back table, colouring a book or with little toys.  There's not much choice...if the parents can't afford to pay babysitter or there's no older kid to look after at home.

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My uncles and even my grandpa had real jobs as well as the farm so the farming wasn’t as big of a deal. They grew corn and oats and hay and had a few dairy cows, a few beef cows, some chickens and some sheep. My cousins always had time to play when I visited. Sometimes I would help them with chores so they got done sooner.

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2 hours ago, Longjohn said:

My cousins had a bull named Peanuts for a pet. Peanuts was always trying to kill them. They had the last laugh, I remember them laughing about it as they ate steak. They told my uncle not to raise anymore bulls.

My family told a similar story but this was before inwas born. In the 50’s & early 60’s my city was more rural and the mega mansions and condo’s were once single family homes with large lots.  My parents lived in one of these small homes on a large lot and had a several animals & a goat. One day this goat rammed my dad so he gave it to a friend as he didn’t want it to hurt the kids.

Fast forward a few months and this friend invites my family & some other friends over for to a bbq.  Hey this satay tastes different, what kind of meat did you use... Oh you don’t want to know... My dad looks around his yard, hmm I don’t see the goat.

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6 hours ago, ChrisL said:

Is it just me or does a several hundred pound farm animal next to an infant give you some pause?

They are actually quite timid.  My guess is Lauren put some oats by the baby so T bone would come up near them.  Truth be told, the pygmy goats make me more nervous around the baby than the cows do

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44 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

They are actually quite timid.  My guess is Lauren put some oats by the baby so T bone would come up near them.  Truth be told, the pygmy goats make me more nervous around the baby than the cows do

Well you can tell who didn’t grow up on a farm! 

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