Parlor Profiles: Dairy Families Talk About Their Lives

Work Overload

“And he’s just working, working, working, working...”

This comment by a wife captures how families perceive the sometimes crushing workload dairy farmers face. The resulting exhaustion and stress are left unstated, but they’re obviously part of the equation. Work overload was so common that more than half of the families in the study specifically mentioned it.

Men and women alike said they wondered sometimes why they stuck with dairy farming when it took so much out of them. One spouse said: “There are times when you just plain get tired of the hassle and he gets disgusted and he’s frustrated and you ask, ‘Why are we doing it?’” One man’s opinion—“ just don’t like the hours anymore”—would no doubt be shared by many.

This statement from one farmer, complete with sarcasm, seems a good summary of the situation dairy farmers face, “If you enjoy working independently, if you like putting in 40 hours more every week than any other man, if you want these extra problems and you know there’s nobody to come in, and you want to deal with them, it’s a hell of a good deal.”

Family Time Suffers

“There are times when you just plain get tired of the hassle and he gets disgusted and he's frustrated and you ask, 'Why are we doing it?'”

Couples had two major concerns about farmers’ work overload, both relating to their families and both showing that the quality of life in dairy families suffers because of that workload.

The first is that all the time spent working takes away quality time they could have with their children. Even when parents do have an hour to read to their children or do something with them, the parents often can’t keep their eyes open to do it. The other concern is a lack of time as a couple.

The work overload problem increases when field work is added to an already hectic schedule. Of course, field work is an issue for all farmers. But in addition to field work, dairy farmers must continue to milk the cows twice, and even three times a day, everyday—no matter what.

It doesn’t seem unusual for dairy farmers to work several days with little sleep during field season. Interestingly, both husbands and wives seem to accept that a heavy workload and exhaustion are part of life on a dairy farm, and they believe there’s not much anyone can do about it.

The Work Comes First

Work overload comes with one other benefit. Farmers are so preoccupied with the cows and the farm work and the business that they rarely stop thinking about them.

This farmer’s wife probably wouldn’t be overjoyed to hear what her husband said, but his comment reflects the size of his workload. “I guess what would be our biggest disagreement is that she says that I’m always concentrating on the farming,” he said. “So much that I don’t realize she’s around here some days.”

Another husband also realizes that the workload is a problem, but his response—which was typical—shows that he doesn’t think he can do much about it. “The farming comes first,” he said, “and that doesn’t go over real good. She’s had to deal with that. And she’s not real happy about it.”

One farmer suggested eliminating field work by using rotational grazing. “All you’re worrying about is getting the grass to grow,” he said. “Then you put the cows on it, move them across it, keep rotating it and keep it fresh, and you get rid of a lot of stress.”

The men know they are preoccupied with the farm and that they have a hard time getting away from it mentally. They also know that their wives don’t like this very much, but the men don’t seem to think things can change. Because farmers see few options to change the demands the farm makes on their time, wives appear to feel they are the ones who must adapt.

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Produced by Communication and Educational Technology Services, University of Minnesota Extension.

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