Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Dairy farming is second to last

I saw this headline everywhere today! CareerCast.com released the Best & Worst Jobs in 2012. Worst job of the 200 they evaluated? Lumberjack. Second to last? Dairy farmer.

They used five measurements: pay, outlook, work environment, stress and physical demands.

Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast.com said, “Dairy farmers work outdoors in all weather conditions and all hours, with very large animals that step on their feet and break limbs,” Lee says. “Plus, they compete with corporate dairy producers so earnings are down.”

Their site features this picture:


Two funny things:

1. Those aren't dairy cows. I'm sure the person putting the article together didn't know the difference - no big deal, but funny! I wish the picture of the lumberjack also showed him with pillars instead of trees.

2. Tony Lee says that corporate dairy producers reduce earnings. What makes one farm corporate and another just a dairy farmer? Isn't everyone part of some family? Besides, we all get paid on the amount of milk we ship.

I get why dairy farming loses with these evaluation points. Yes, there's stress involved in owning your own business - especially one that depends on the weather. Kris has a lot of physical demands, but it keeps him active and healthy.

But the work environment? Seriously hard to beat. Kids and cows are awfully cute.



7 comments:

Jack said...

Funny--I went into dairy farming because I thought it was the best "job" around. I emphasize job because it's really much more than that--it's owning your own business, it's choosing your lifestyle, it's living in a community of salt-of-the-earth kind of people, it's raising your kids in a great environment, etc. After 40 years I can definitely say I made the right choice. I doubt that any of those values were on CareerCast.com's criteria list.

dangerzone511 said...

Great input Carla and Uncle Jack! I am very PROUD to have dairy farmers in my family. They are not only hard workers, great teachers, successful business owners but most importantly hands on moms and dads. Can most corporate owners say that? Nope.

Kristin said...

Carla, I was glad to see your post. I saw this report on the news the other day and immediately thought, "that's odd, Carla and Kris make being a daily farmer look like fun!"

Leontien said...

Great post! My American Dream is still our family farm no matter what they say!

Thank you!
Leontien

AnglinBeef- Spotted Cow Review said...

Dairy farming and family--what a winning combination! Thanks for sharing great truths!

Diane Reed Loew said...

we are now one of those "awful" CAFO farms - just because of our size - what people don't know is my husband is 3rd generation, 3 of our 4 sons are on the farm making them 4th generation and there are grandkids that may become the 5th generation. We also have 10 other families that help us. Anyone of us has the ability to walk away and find another "job" but we prefer our "life" on the farm. I don't know of anyother livelihood that has the opportunity to observe miracles on a daily basis. Thanks for your post - excellent.

Carla said...

Thank you so much, everyone! I really appreciate your comments!