[HeyLaughingBoy]

Raising animals is definitely not a weekend hobby. It can be a hobby, but it's daily work that you really can't avoid. When people start waxing poetic about how nice it is to live "out here" and how beautiful horses are, I usually mumble something about how it's nice until it's -20F and the snow is coming down horizontally and they still have to be fed and watered. Water freezes pretty fast at -20.

I'd say that the most substantial lifestyle change is that it becomes very difficult to go anywhere for more than a day. Depends on the animals of course: you can leave chickens with a few days of water and feed if it's above freezing. Anything larger and you have to at least have someone check in on your animals to be sure they haven't escaped: a few head of cattle/horses on a main road is a major hazard. And that's assuming the animals are fine with just pasture and you can leave enough water for the time you're gone.

That's best case scenario. As a rule of thumb, your animals will need to be fed/watered daily and that's usually when you have a chance to make sure that one of them isn't injured in some way. So going on vacation generally means that you either pay someone to do it, or you exchange favors with someone in a similar situation.

[Gustomaximus]

At our property (small cattle farm) we rely on neighbours for the most part to get away.

Pre-holiday you prep everything and someone will drop by ever day or few and throw some food and generally check on livestock.

If going away for a longer period often people find a house sitter.

But 100% it does take over life vs 'enjoying the view' type view of the lifestyle. Busy as it is I find it amazing. Something wholesome about it you don't get in urban life. Not least this covid period where lifestyle hardly changed for us vs friends in the city.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

Covid reminded me how privileged I am to live where we do. While I'm reading stories about people in big cities confined to their cramped apartments, my life was actually improving. With lockdown and WFH, I didn't need to commute into the office every day and when I did travel, the roads were almost empty. Rush hour was surreal! If I got bored, I could go for a walk and not run into a single other person. And with everyone trying to keep their distance, even the parks didn't feel crowded.

[jdavis703]

What? Where were you? Some of my favorite parks in the rural parts of the Bay Area were destroyed by all the extra visitors. Not too mention urban parks were more crowded: since clubs and bars were shut people would bring their alcohol, drugs and sound systems to the park to socialize.

[captainredbeard]

Probably one of the non-coastal states.

[nickstinemates]

You are absolutely right. Being tethered to home is a big responsibility/limitation if you have year round animal operations.

This is why I only have seasonal egg chickens, as an example and not full time layers. And why I grow the yearly amount of chickens at once. Same with Rabbit.

We spend a lot of time away from home, so all of the meat we raise is seasonal and pre-planned.