Planning a vacation around the crazy schedule of dairy farming is never easy.
There are farmers who never take a vacation, those who enjoy yearly trips to warm places, and those who take one every once in a while.
A time of rest away from the day-to-day activities of life helps everyone feel refreshed and rejuvenated. I have been fortunate that my husband understands and appreciates his time away.
Every summer, we take about four days to go visit family on a lake in northern Wisconsin and follow that up with some splashing around at Noah’s Ark in the Wisconsin Dells. Over the years we have taken in many of the Dells area attractions.
Sure, these yearly summer getaways are a vacation to us, but I made up my mind when the boys were toddlers that I wanted to take them on at least two big vacations before my oldest graduated high school. This past July we took the family out West.
Planning this trip around the hectic schedule of a dairy farm has not been easy. In January 2013, I talked to my husband and said that it was time for this trip. My suggestion was to do it in 2013 or 2014; he could decide the year. He said 2014. Fast track to December 2013.
I said, “Dear, I need to get hotels booked for our vacation this year. When would you like to go?” Spring isn’t a good time of the year with planting, and then there’s fall harvest. Throw in the fact that we calve our cows and heifers during two different seasons.
That makes going away for a week from the middle of March to the first part of June or from September through November a bit difficult. Our tradition has been to squeeze our summer getaways in between second-crop and third-crop hay. We usually set the date after we make first crop.
Since we try to cut hay every 30 days, this allows us to get a rough time frame as to when we can squeeze out. My husband looked at a 2014 calendar and out of the blue said, “July 7 to 13.” After questioning his choice of dates a bit, I agreed that this would work for us.
We got through Christmas, and I got the boys back to school before I started figuring out distances to various places and where we might want to stop along the way. This helped me put together which cities I needed to book hotels in.
My first choices for hotels were the ones we could get a discount on as a member of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau. I also wanted to make sure we had a breakfast in the morning to help keep food costs down. Booking these rooms was easy, but I wanted to stay overnight in a hotel in Yellowstone.
This was not an easy task, to get a room six months in advance. My first goal was two nights, but when I called, the two nights I wanted were not available. However, they did have one. A nice gentleman was helping me out and answering my questions.
At one point he said, “Ma’am, you do understand that we started booking last May (May 2013) for summer 2014.” I responded to him with, “Sir, do you understand that I am a dairy farmer from Wisconsin trying to plan a trip six months in advance around when we hope to make hay?” He chuckled a little with that. With his help, we were able to stay one night in the park.
I asked the boys what all they wanted to see and do on this trip. Randy, age 11, wanted to see Chimney Rock in Nebraska since he researched it for a class project this last school year. Wesley, age 9, couldn’t wait to take a tour of sites where they dig dinosaur bones in Wyoming.
And Matthew, age 7, wanted to see the presidents’ heads on the mountain when we passed through South Dakota. Me, I was looking forward to everything as I have never been out West. Peter, my husband, had the opportunity to snowmobile through Yellowstone when he was in college.
Along the way we made stops at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota; drove through the Badlands; hiked around Devil’s Tower; awed at presidents on Mount Rushmore; learned about Native Americans at Crazy Horse; saw bears up close at Bear Country; saw a real western rodeo in Cody, Wyoming; visited dinosaur dig sites; stood in ruts made by covered wagons along the Oregon Trail; and of course basked in the glory and awesomeness of God’s great handiwork in Yellowstone.
All the hard work in planning this trip was well worth the memories we made. These memories would not have been made without two dedicated employees who held the fort down while we were away. There were also the friends who took care of chickens, watered the flowers, picked the garden and fed the show cows.
Whether your vacation this year is to World Dairy Expo, Disney World or just the indoor water park in the neighboring town, I hope that you take some time with your family to get off the farm and make some memories. PD
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Christina Winch
- Dairy Producer
- Fennimore, Wisconsin
