195: Large Animal and Farm Sitting with Ariah Transmeier
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Summary:
Have you ever been asked to care for large animals or a farm? Within the pet care industry, it’s a growing niche that relies highly on word of mouth and reputation.
Ariah Transmeier has been farm sitting for almost 18 years. As a horse owner and lover, she knows the needs of owners and how to communicate her experience into solving their problems.
She describes what it’s like preparing and caring for 300 acres of farm, while making it worth her time, and still providing excellent care.
Ariah shares what it means to know your strengths and weaknesses, and how it results in a higher quality of care. We also discuss some of her favorite resources and how to go about gaining experience as a farm sitter.
Topics on this episode:
Why focus on farm care?
Preparing for emergencies
Knowing your client
Knowing your limits
Gaining experience
Main take away: At the end of the day, being kind protects your reputation and gets you the clients that you actually want.
Links:
Email Ariah: ariah.wolfe@gmail.com
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
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Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
horses, farm, animals, client, people, pet, care, cows, owner, staying, house, big, gift, dogs, property, cats, long, home, sitting, person
SPEAKERS
Ariah, Collin, Doug
00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan. I'm Collin. And this is pet sitter confessional, and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter
Collin 00:24
brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. large animal and farm care is a topic that many of us don't give a second thought to, because it's not very common in the circles of pet care. However, there are an awful lot of lessons that we can take from learning about this side of pet care. So today, we're really excited to have Araya trans Meyer on to talk about how she got started in large animal and farm care 17 years ago, how she dialed in her clients and how she uses word of mouth and her reputation to get referrals and continue her business. Let's get started.
Ariah 01:01
Hey, Collin. Yeah, thank you so much for having me on today. As you said, my name is Araya. I am originally from North Texas, and live there for a little over seven years before moving to Georgia, and spent 15 years living in the metropolitan area before moving back to Texas where I currently live with my husband are to rescue a black cat, rook and Molotov and my horse Marcus
Collin 01:34
you have been involved in in petsitting for the last several years. So how did you get started?
Ariah 01:41
Yep, so I've been petsitting, I'm probably close to 17 years now. I first started with smaller house sitting jobs with like dogs, cats, turtles, what have you. And next door neighbor actually traveled quite a bit. And so she started trusting me with her five cats. And from then it just kind of bloomed into this thing where she told somebody who told somebody else. And after a while I was staying at a couple different houses for a lot of different people. And then as I started riding horses a little bit more seriously, I would get connected with trainers and people who would need favors and things. So I started taking care of farms. So horses, cows, goats, chickens, to get a little bit more ride time. And then ultimately, I started doing it for pay.
Collin 02:52
What I find interesting about that is that it will it grew organically from a close knit group of people and kind of expanded outward through this word of mouth. And I really feel like that that's one of the ways that tends to be underestimated of just how important that is. And I can imagine even more. So when you're coming and taking care of people's prized horses and the these really beautiful homes and estates almost.
Ariah 03:21
Right? Yeah. So a lot of people that have, you know, these big farms and have, you know, upwards of 300 acres, they can't just, you know, bring in somebody and give them their gate code. And, you know, here's here's the keys. It's it's a lot of land. And I think it is a lot of responsibility. And especially if you can get like a referral from your next door neighbor that that does go a long way, especially in the community that I frequent. There are a lot of people and in the horse world is is large, but it's also very small. So being kind to your neighbor goes a very long way.
Collin 04:04
Well, I'm sure you to have your background and interest in horses really goes a long way to to selling yourself to people who are interested in your services.
Ariah 04:16
Right, yeah, I mean, I'm going on 22 years of horse life. So it's, it's been a passion forever. I've loved horses since before I could walk I was sitting on a horse and I think that being able to understand an animal that is you know, sometimes three or four times your size is definitely a big, big deal for a lot of people. And if you can kind of figure out where that animal is going like what they're thinking how they just what their daily routine is. And being able to Insert yourself into that person's house or farm or whatever. And just, okay, well, I'm gonna pick up the schedule and do it that way. You know, it's way less stress for everybody. I mean, the owner, the, the, the animal, or whatever you're taking care of.
Collin 05:18
Now, you had said that when you originally started, it was a way to also get more more ride time. What else was it about arm sitting that that you were interested in?
Ariah 05:27
I, I am probably, I'm mostly an introvert. So I feel like I can connect a little bit more with animals. And then just even to connect with a horse or a cow, even goats, it's super fun to just sit outside and spend time with these animals where you can like, sit in the pasture and just observe them. And sometimes they come up and hang out in your space. And sometimes they do their own thing, but it's very relaxing. And it really just recharges me while also being able to give, give the animals connection without being super hands on all the time.
Collin 06:14
Well, we keep saying farm sitting in large animal care here, but I guess the terms might mean different things to different people. So when you say those terms, when you're talking to those clients, what what exactly what kind of services are you providing?
Ariah 06:32
Yeah, so normally a farm sitting, if it's not an exclusive farm, I think, you know, to me, that means that the house has acreage, so maybe like anywhere from five to 300. I mean, there are like, farms with over 1000 acres, but the biggest I've ever done is 300 acres. And so it's, um, you know, if they have they have cows on the property, or they do pay on the property, like, what does that mean? When you're staying there? Like, how do you do? Are you up at dawn, you know, taking care of plants, like making sure that animals are fed on time, you know, cows have hay, so you're taking the trailer out the tractor out and getting the round bales and putting them out for cows? are you feeding horses? Are the horses show horses? Are they hobby horses, retirement horses? Do you have to watch them like a hawk? Do you just throw food out there and you go back into the house? You know, it's hopefully that's not too much. But it's a lot of different things to me, I think a lot of people call their, their state of farm. So you really have to go and see what your your client is wanting you to take care of. Because some people say well, oh, I just I want somebody to come to my house and feed my horses twice a day. And that's fine. But do I have to, you know, feed fluffy, you know, seven different supplements and I have to get 12 hours in advance. So that fluffy eats it? You know, those are things to think about?
Collin 08:24
Yeah, I was just thinking as you were describing all this process, what kind of prep work and kind of questions you have to do. Because you know, I've been given a booklet to care for a cat for a weekend from the clients preferences. Do you? Do you get those kind of instructions from the clients? Or do you find yourself having to ask very specific questions.
Ariah 08:47
Yeah, I used to just ask them to write it down for me and leave it on, you know, the counter or the fridge, but then you would get, you know, non descriptive directly. And so I've kind of come up with a template that I'll send a new client and be like, Hey, this is kind of what I use for your type of farm or your type of animals. If this is not what you're looking for, let's get together and and make a plan for what fluffy needs, you know. Because I have to know, like, if you don't really, if you're saying like, Oh, they eat, you know, in the morning, well, do they eat at 5am? Or do they eat at 7am? Because I feel like there's morning and then there's like, you know, crack of dawn. There are differences and some people don't think about that.
Collin 09:46
Right? And it takes those kind of experiences and questions to kind of draw that out because you know, to them, it's really no different. It's just what they do. But when you're bringing in somebody new than somebody who doesn't know the routine those differences who, you know, on the outset, it doesn't really sound that big of a deal. But it absolutely is and can really throw off the routine, especially of a course or, you know, large farm animal who's used to certain things.
Ariah 10:15
Yeah, and I think another thing that I like to do, which I've heard you guys talk about it too, is I usually try and either come at a feeding time when I meet the client, so like, go meet them, but then I'll come back and do maybe an evening feed feed time, so I can watch them feed their cows, you know, chickens, goats, whatever. And then just ask questions along the way. Okay, so you just picked up this much hay? Is that exactly how much you want me to do? Is there you know, some people way there, hey, there's, there's all kinds of way that you can do it. So I think that that's really important. And I think it gives the owner a sense of like, Okay, this person is serious, they're going to do it the way that that I've asked them to do it.
Collin 11:05
Yeah, no, I love that idea. Yeah, especially if coming during the meet and greet during those times, because then you really get a sense and a feel for how that is supposed to flow, and what it's supposed to look like, and just being as observant as possible. And I know, when we do meet and greets, you know, I'm, I go ahead and tell the clients I'm going to be taking some notes, I hope that's okay. Or, or something like that, so that I can annotate what they're doing and why they're doing it and you know, catching up on Oh, is that amount of hay appropriate? Or is that a guesstimate? Like that's, you know, again, it's those little details that you wouldn't think is going to make that big of a difference but if they're actively weighing it, you know, they're they're very interested on the exact amount that their horse is getting.
Ariah 11:49
Right and there are a lot of like, you know, you think about how it's easy for some dog breeds to to get overweight and so you know, some owners do have special dog food well it's kind of the same for at least for horses I think there are metabolic horses and if you give you know an extra three pounds of hay like that's of that visit Wow. Emergency that visit of course so you know animals never get sick during business hours.
Collin 12:22
Yeah, no, no, no. Why would they that would make it too convenient. Right? Well, what does it an emergency prep plan look like for you when you are at somebody's farm? How do you take into account all those circumstances and handled you know a typical kind of emergency that could come up?
Ariah 12:41
Usually I make sure that I'm familiar with all of the local departments in the area for that county or town like the the fire police where is the major hospital for people? Where is the major event hospital? Who is the regular vet if it's you know emergency hours do you use a different that because some That won't do emergency hours? If I have to transport the animal I do ask them to leave you know a truck and trailer if not who do I call to transport the animal all of obviously the neighbor's numbers and if if any of them are you know available at odd hours I usually do call the neighbors if I if it's my first time staying there to let them know what kind of car I drive you know and that I'll be doing the farm for X amount of days just in case the owner and you know, they might have forgotten in a lot of people are very close and they know that some strange person is driving into their neighbor's farm that's not okay. Yeah. Um, protection for the farm I mean, you know, there's some people have gate code some people have house alarms. Do you keep a safe you know, gun safe. Do you know what, what do you usually see on the farm at night? Is there a lot of activity you? Do you live somewhere I did a farm that had an event venue next door and they ended up doing a lot more security because they had some people getting lost and driving into the farm at night. So just everything that you can possibly think of it's probably happened at the farm.
Collin 14:44
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Doug 14:49
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Collin 15:08
If you are looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. our listeners can get 50% off your first three months by going to typepad.com. forward slash confessional. How would you describe your typical client? You've mentioned the difference between like a racehorse versus a show horse versus a hobby farm? Where do you find most of your clients fall?
Ariah 15:35
I would say most of them, it's kind of the Hobby Farm. So they have maybe some cows to keep their ag exemption current on their farm. And then maybe they have chickens, dogs, and then some sort of larger animals, so maybe a horse or a llama, or some, you know, some goats and then usually, they'll have some sort of security system. So I think it's it's, you know, the the five to 10 acre farms are what I see the most of it's just usually a family that wanted to live in the country. And now they they have all of these things, but they they still want to travel. So they need to have somebody they trust. And that's fairly available to, to come and stay. So I think that's the biggest thing is like having somebody stay at your house and the security of knowing that they're there. If if something were to happen.
Collin 16:48
Beyond word of mouth, how have you found effective ways of advertising and reaching those clients?
Ariah 16:56
I really haven't formally advertised anywhere. Wow. honest with you. I don't. I've had a couple people asked me about like, if they could share my name with other people. And so that's I, I'm always open to meeting new people. And as long as there's a connection somewhere, I've, I've had a couple of current clients, they saw an ad on next door, and they sent that person my number. So I think that's like the most formal advertising I've ever gotten. But
Collin 17:39
well, and as you mentioned, you know, the world of horse owners, horse farms and hobby farms, like it's big, but it's still pretty small too. And when you when you are, when you have a niche like that for your business, it doesn't take much for word of mouth to completely flood that market and get your name out there because they all know each other, or at least are tangentially aware of who all else is out there. And once somebody's name gets out there, like that's extremely powerful.
Ariah 18:08
Right? Yeah. And I think surrounding yourself with the right people, like you said, if you go if I go and I meet a new client for house sitting, and I feel that it's not a right match, or if I'm going to have some issues, taking care of the farm or whatever, you know, I just, I try and be open and honest in advance. Like, you know, I'm, I really appreciate you reaching out to me, I just, I don't think that this is the opportunity for me, you know, I don't I try not to have any hard feelings or animosity with any of my clients. And I think that's been the best policy for me, rather than trying to do the job and it not being 100%. Because I do I feel like I do good work as as a farm sitter. So I think knowing your situation going in, is going to be really big, because everybody does know everybody. So if they feel that you didn't give what they asked for, they're gonna tell whoever recommend to you like, well, she didn't do a good job for me. And I don't know what that was about. And we all know that negative reviews seem to make their way around a lot faster than the good ones.
Collin 19:26
Those, that's for sure. But you know, coming in and knowing your limits and setting expectations, and being not being afraid to say no, like, that's, that's doing several things. It's, it's making sure that the client gets the best care possible, because you are recognizing, ooh, this isn't the best fit for me. I'm not gonna you know, be able to meet these needs or these, whatever. But it's also as you mentioned, there, it's protecting your reputation on the back end of going into something getting being over your head and not being able to do 100% or do they Meet the job expectations as you thought, and then having this stain on your reputation as people are talking about you. So it really is both sides of this coin of going, Well, I'm saying no, not because, you know, I don't like you or I'm offended or anything like that I'm saying no to that you get the best care possible. And I keep doing the the ones that I know I'm going to be able to do the best and so on that when you are approaching when you're approached by a client or somebody who's interested in your services, what would you say no to or there? Do you have any as far as like animals or requests for for farm care that you would not be okay with?
Ariah 20:40
I think that I'm pretty much open to everything I I don't. I have done llamas one time. Huge fan. I love I love animals, I love all animals, but man, they are tough to win over.
21:05
Many
Ariah 21:07
a lot of spit. Um, so it has to be the right situation. Also knowing like how many animals does the person have, I'm, I'm usually comfortable. with large animals, I think my limit would be 10 to 12. And then after that, I think it's kind of a time and compensation and all of that I feel like, I want to do the best job I can but I'm only one person. So I have had people like kind of horse rescue type situations that had like 30 horses, and it was just like going to be impossible for one person to do at all. Um, so I'm happy to you know, come out and meet and talk to, you know, everybody that, that I talked with, and I, I do a preliminary phone call and just to kind of see what they think. And there's also I think I put a limit of, of one hour with from my home. Even though I'm staying there, like, it's still it's still a good distance for me to drive. So should anything like come up at my house? I want to be able to come back and deal with that. So
Collin 22:39
those kinds of things are something that, you know, you kind of figure out over time, like, I'm sure the one hour distance, you know, maybe that has or hasn't changed over the years, but it just becomes part of you know, how do I actually want to be running my business? How do I actually want to set this up so that I still have a life outside of it and unable to do things? And these are those barriers that we talked a lot about of, of setting so that you know going into when someone sends you a request, you can start matching this up and going open meets this needs this doesn't meet this, okay, this is this is probably going to be a no go. And if you do that ahead of time it really streamline that process and takes a lot of, for us at least takes a lot of the anxiety off of knowing whether to say no or yes, sometimes.
Ariah 23:29
Yeah, exactly. I think that that's, that's just something I've learned over the years, like how to, like, what do I want my drive time to be from the city or whatever? Or? Or does the person want me to stay on the farm? 24 seven, most of the farms are 24, seven deals. A lot of them understand that, like, you know, I'm going to go out to dinner or whatever, on the weekends, and that's fine. But most farms are just 24 seven jobs. And that's what it is. And I think that like you said, when you go into it, knowing that it's way less stress for everybody.
Collin 24:12
Thinking about, you've said this kind of limit on animals, but it's over 10 that still sounds like a lot to me. And then if you're there for 24 hours, how do you find pricing for the services that you're offering?
Ariah 24:27
Yeah, I think that I kind of set myself up with a day rate. If it's if the owner or the client pushes back on the day rate I then I will offer an hourly rate and the hourly rate is going to be more expensive. But it I just kind of I like to have a couple options for them. Like that's fine if you if you just want to do an hourly rate And I don't stay overnight. Or you can do the all in rate where I charge you per day. And it's a whole day, whether I'm only doing stuff in the morning, or only doing in the evening, I've tried before to just charge, like a little more all a cart, and it got to be a little out of control. So I just, I want the owner to be happy. But also I need to be happy to, you know, I want to make sure that I'm, I'm enjoying my time with the animals, and it's not stressful for me, because I feel like, if the person is stressed, it will translate into the animal. And that's not what I want for anyone,
Collin 25:44
when you are talking about pricing for your clients, do you feel like you have to push on the services and really sell the benefits? Or do you find a lot of people immediately see, oh, this is actually very beneficial. And I can see how this is going to be be good. And I see the value in this.
Ariah 26:04
And yeah, I don't really sell, I have to sell myself on it, I tell them, you know, this is the rate and this is what's included in it. And if if they have issues with it, that's fine. But, um, I feel like I've, I've set a fair price and and I do the job well. So I don't like I don't want to sound rude or pushy, but like I don't really negotiate. Because I feel like that's, that's your animals care. And I think that a lot of people do understand. So I don't really have
Collin 26:44
a lot of pushback, again, if you recognize the value. And if you're spreading through word of mouth, people who are contacting you are already somewhat interested at least right, and they have a real need. And they're going to be able to tell very quickly if if you're going to be able to fill that for them or not. And there's you know, from a business perspective, as far as like haggling on prices, now you have to make it worth your time. And as you mentioned earlier, this, you know, well, I had this big all the cart options for people and it was piecemeal, and I had all these things moving. But when things start to get very overly complicated, it can be really hard sometimes to figure out okay, now what am i charging this person? And why am I charging them that? And am I actually making money. So to go to more of a just a, you know, two options, hourly or flat rate, it just simplifies the entire process. And it's less headache on your side. And on the client side, too.
Ariah 27:39
Right? Yeah, I have this big Excel spreadsheet of this, like each client, and then I wrote out like, what I was charging them. And then I wrote out what they were having me do and it was eye opening, because you don't really think about it when they're just like paying you your lump sum. And then you go about your business. But it's like when you sit down and you actually go through how much carrier providing for these animals like don't discount yourself.
Collin 28:08
Yeah, we've had people go, Wow, you charge that for for a full day. And we go yeah, it's only for a full day, like the hourly rate for this. If you really broke it down for a lot of services and a lot of pet care providers, hourly, you're really not making as much as you think you are. But you get that big lump sum. You go Wow, look at all this money. Look what I you know, yeah, I got a I made it. But if you actually break it down for the number of hours of care, you're giving all of a sudden you're like, Oh, no, that's actually not it's not worth it.
Ariah 28:40
It's hard because you do I mean, I know that these these animals are family to a lot of people. So I don't want to, you know, tell anybody that their animal is worth X amount of dollars, that's so hard to do is to put a price tag on, you know, the animal that you love.
Collin 29:02
It is and I know for the more traditional pet sitting the dog and cat world. It's, it takes a little bit of convincing sometimes to say okay, well, you know, you have this pet part of pet ownership is paying for their care, and that includes pet sitting and dog walking. You know, if you go to somebody who has a hobby farm, it's okay, you have this and to maintain it. Part of maintaining it is paying somebody to do that while you're away.
Ariah 29:35
Right. Yeah, and I think you know, there's a lot of one time expenses that go in into farms or you know, like, I only spend X amount of dollars every three weeks and so it's sometimes hard for people to understand you coming and staying and like, doing exactly their schedule, but that's also Why I offer it. I'm like, hey, it's this much money. But I'm doing it exactly the way that you're asking me to do it. There's, I have no questions about how you're doing your animals care, but I promise to do it exactly how you do it so that they feel comfortable while you're away.
Collin 30:18
That that's huge. I know when when we offer just, you know, more of a again, a traditional housesitting option for people when we're able to explain that to them, have no it's your pet, your schedule, your house, their environment, you can see the gears start to turn and they start to realize like, oh, wow, you're right, like, Okay, this is a little bit more expensive, than if I took my my dog to a kennel or something like that. But I see the whole package here, and I can see tell you even more. So, for doing farm sitting and large animal care for what you're doing. of going No, no, like, it's almost as if you are still there, because I'm there doing all the same things. And especially for somebody who is very particular or have their, their, their animals have very specific needs. All of a sudden, these benefits just start, you know, really popping up for everybody.
Ariah 31:14
Yeah, for sure. I mean, you could, you could take your, your horse, I think some veterinarians do like boarding like dogs and cats, but I, but I think it's kind of the same thing, like a lot of people bring their animals home, and they're more stress because they had to pack them up and take them somewhere else and then bring them back, they're not really sure what kind of care they got. Especially since in that hospital, you know, there's 20 million things going on, horses are in surgery or, or whatever. So it's not as relaxing. Staying in your environment. Because I do I do think horses, cows, maybe not as much, but horses definitely get stressed when their schedule is bumped around a little bit. So I, I appreciate it when you know, my horse is is taking care of at the same times each day. So I know when I'm taking care of somebody else's animals that that's important to them. So I think being able to have worked out a lot of farms and like worked with a lot of veterinarians and I've worked at some equine assisted therapy programs, like it's just really cool to see how this animal can provide so many different services to the human, that it's like, me being able to farm set is is kind of giving back to those horses and just, they they give their all 100% like I I love I love being able to, to hang out with them and just just watch and spend time with them for sure.
Collin 33:01
Hmm. Well talk to us a little bit more about that about how you make those connections and how you start bonding with with the horses with the animals that you're caring for. Because when we go through that a meet and greet process and when we start doing how sets are boarding it takes a little bit for the animals for the dogs to come around to so what's that look like whenever you start caring for a new horse for the first time?
Ariah 33:24
Yeah, so I think with with any house say you would um you know if if you know a certain kind of animal and you and you've cleared it with the owner right the the owner maybe has told you that Dobby likes certain treats, maybe you pack those in your bag and bring them with you to either put in, in the animals food or just hand feed them and be like, Hey, I'm I'm here I'm a friend. It's gonna be fine. I do think some horses are a little wary of new people and then other horses are like Oh great, you're here to feed me where's my food it's pretty much like large dogs sometimes or you know any blog well personalities for sure. But yeah, I try and kind of do that. So I'll, I'll carry some of the treats are all make sure to stop at the feed store and pick some of those up if if they can't have carrots or apples, you know, they make every single trade on the market for horses. So I do like to kind of, you know, go out and in the field and put a halter on them and just pet them and and talk to them a little bit and it's the same if the cows are friendly, I'll go out and hang out with the cows a little bit. chickens. Chickens are fun like it especially if they're free range chickens and they just like hang out around the house. You can read to them, they really like that or you can play classical music, love music,
Collin 35:06
it's adorable.
Ariah 35:08
It's very adorable. And having fresh eggs while you're there, how sitting, that's awesome. But yeah, I all all hang out with, with all the animals just kind of spend some extra time with them the first couple days, so they do get comfortable and there's no stress seems to be like an animal gets stressed and then they get sick. So that's one of my biggest things, I don't want to have any any type of stressful environment for them.
Collin 35:41
Yeah, making those transitions as smooth as possible. You know, you mentioned it earlier about that can be some of the most stressful time for trans when you are transporting a pet, you know, if they're going to boarding or coming from boarding, it's those those multiple transitions in a pet's life and throughout the day. So coming in and trying to make those as smooth as possible with classical music or with treats and just, you know, being with them, like physically, emotionally, mentally being with them. Really, you know, it goes a long way for a lot of unspoken or even maybe unfelt things on our end, but it just kind of gives us peace and reassurance for the pets and for the animals that were around.
Ariah 36:21
Yeah, for sure. And it's a good way to just orient yourself with the farm, like figuring out where everything is, like as you kind of rotate through the animals, like, Oh, I noticed that there's this big shady place over here and it looks like Dobby will hang out at a certain time over here. Because I've, I've come out in the mornings sometimes. And I can't find the cows. But it just turned out that they were like hiding behind the group of hay bales, like in the way back of the pasture. So after that, I started doing full walk arounds of the property just to make sure I know the fence line and should a storm happen, then I, I've looked at the fence line at before and I'll go do it again. And just make sure like, okay, everything is still in its place. But yeah,
37:14
unless it
Collin 37:17
Oh, I've lost all of the cows, this is wonderful. I can imagine again, just the power of these simple things, the power of just paying attention, the power of of taking a few moments to be observant, again, really go a long way in the quality of care that we're doing. And in reassuring and giving confidence to the clients, when we say over able to do something and then being able to do it.
Ariah 37:48
Yeah, exactly. And, and if you're uncomfortable, you know, with doing some of these things, like it's totally okay to say no, I, I just I really say that to a lot of people. Like if, if you feel that it's too much, just say so, you know, I'd rather go into with my eyes open and like, we're only you know, one I shot. So I think really focusing on what I can promise my clients and then you know what i can deliver to them. And then, you know, when they come home, it's, you know, a Zen environment. That's what my goal is to provide may come home I want them to just be able to kind of like, you know, melt back into their schedule. It was like I was never there.
Collin 38:38
Yeah. Oh, I love that. I love that that thought process and of going I know for us like when we travel coming back home again, it's this big transition and there's always something else to do and you're unpacking you're doing laundry you're folding you're putting away You're readjusting back to the life that you had before you left and from a house sitting from a farm setting perspective going I want this to be as a seamless transition for them as possible so that they're not coming back into mayhem and chaos and they're able to just transition right back in and it's like nothing ever changed and and really striving to do that from day one you know not trying to scramble on the last day you know everything back to normal it's it's a from day one process to make sure that that stays moving forward. Right yeah,
Ariah 39:28
and I do offer like I'm in my rate I do some some light house cleaning like you know of course I take out the trash and I get the mail and you know, just making sure all the dishes if I used any dishes or you know did laundry or whatever you know the sheets on the better clean and just little things like that. I think those are great touches. taking out the trash like I cannot tell you how many times people Don't take out the trash. And then you come home from a trip. And it's just like awful. Like, one of the worst things you can do is like, leave the trash. And this stinks. So I do I do try and I've had, you know, I have two cats. And so we do have a cat sitter that comes when we go out of town. And I've had some before that just didn't take out the trash or like, forgot to close the door. And so my cats actually ate a whole loaf of bread. Oh, oh, is awesome.
Collin 40:37
Awesome is not the word I would use for that.
Ariah 40:41
Luckily, they were fine. Oh, good. But it was. It's just little things like that. And I feel like I'm a hard critic, right? Because I do it all, like I do professional house sitting but just little things like that you'll learn along the way. Your doors.
Collin 41:00
You've talked a little bit about your background, in with with horses and around the farm and some visiting vets and things like that. What kind of training or education would you say is necessary? Or would you recommend for people interested in getting into farm care.
Ariah 41:16
Um, so for sure, I recommend if you're passionate about a certain livestock animal, um, if you can find, I mean, there's farms that are exclusively goat farms. I mean, if you if you have a passion for goats and like, you want to learn all about how to take care of them, and what their needs are, and everything, there are just plenty of places for that, at least, you know, in my neck of the woods, but there's always if you ask your local veterinarian, like, hey, I want to get involved with large animals, they usually have a large animal veterinarian recommendation that they might refer refer out to like if they get a call from somebody that doesn't have a large animal that or you can do a quick Google search and, and be like, Hey, I'm looking to get some experience taking care of this animal. Like for me, it was horses. So I I started working, like in a barn and night, I found a person that needed some extra help. And so I would come after school and on the weekends and clean stalls and like turn horses in and out, like help feeding them. And eventually you create this rapport with, you know, the animals and the owner. And then she started teaching me how to ride and like so I learned all the ins and outs of like getting your horses saddle on in the bridle and learning how to ride a horse and all of that neat stuff and I just ate it up. So it's, it's definitely something that you need to have a drive for. And if you go out there and you don't like it, like the smell is just awful to you don't feel bad about saying no again, know your limits. If you don't like it, you don't like it. But really, if if you're willing and like you are a self starter and a go go getter, there's nobody that will turn you away to help them do farm work. And there are a lot of people are super nice. And they're more than happy to teach you.
Collin 43:30
Well, I'm sure to just being open to all aspects of helping on a farm because if your end goal is to do farm sitting and large animal care, you're going to be doing all aspects of that. So really embracing the whole process and don't asking those kind of questions and, and taking notes and just being observant will really you know as you get more involved into it, like you said like, uh, you know, the smell, that's not really my thing. I like everything else but the smell, you know, okay, you know, there are other things you can help with.
Ariah 44:05
Right? Yeah, just being in the beginning like open to everything even like water. I think water is a huge thing on a farm in the summer, you know, making sure everybody has enough water because they will drink more but in the winter like water also sucks because if you like get it on you then you're cold but like one of those necessary things that animals need water and so if it's, you know, 25 degrees outside you still have to go out there if if they don't have heaters in the water troughs. Like make sure you know what a sledgehammer the pickaxe is because you're going to be unfreezing water scoffs because they have to drink water. I mean, and we're the caretakers, so we have to make sure that they can get to what they need.
Collin 44:55
And just you know, use that as an opportunity to get out to your frustrations or angers about something that You know, and use it as therapy, right? workout in Do you require or is there available special special insurance for taking care of farms and being on these larger properties.
Ariah 45:16
So most of the time when I go to meet the person or if I have like a phone, phone call with them first I do ask about their Farm Insurance. A lot of if they are actually farms, and they have like an ag exemption, and you know, all of their paperwork and or they will have an insurance policy, and usually the the umbrella will cover, you know, if there's an accident on the property. I do carry my own insurance, just because I also ride horses, and that is a different activity in and of itself. So I do like to make sure that I'm always covered in that aspect. And should something happen, you know, on the farm, then, then I have two insurances, you know, the umbrella policy, and then my insurance. So I know that whatever happens to me,
Collin 46:20
something will be covered, I would never have even thought to ask about their Farm Insurance and whether that would cover incidents that occurred on there for caretakers or things like that. So those kinds of questions, again, really go and can have a huge impact on how you're able to care. Or if it's one that you're going to say yes to even
Ariah 46:41
right, and some people do have a liability release. So that's kind of something that you'll have to decide if they have you sign that, then you're, you know, they're not responsible, if something happens to you on on their property. So then that would be another reason that you'd carry your own insurance right. Now,
Collin 47:03
it's my understanding that you also have a full time job that you're doing while you are doing farm sitting and large animal care. How do you find a balance between those two and still have a life outside of all of that? life? What's that? It's when you're not, I don't really know, we'll find let me Google real quick. Hold on.
Ariah 47:30
No, um, I do. Yeah, I work in all a nine to five job and I'm with the the pandemic and everything going on, I've been fortunate enough to work remote. And so it does give me a little bit of flexibility to be able to go and stay at these farms. As long as there's a good Wi Fi signal. I'm usually good to go. Since most of the things that I need to deliver on everything for for my regular job are, you know, only during certain hours, then I can kind of flex flex out for the farm sitting. I am up front with both, you know, both jobs. The farm sitting clients do know that I have a job and then my job knows that I do the farm sitting so I find that as long as everybody involved is aware, then you're in a better position. Like if something happened and I had to take an animal into the vet, like my job understands that. So I'm very fortunate.
Collin 48:41
And I'm sure that that just again, it's it's being honest, it's having open communication with people and that that genuinely never hurts a situation whenever you being upfront about your both your abilities, both limitations and other things that you're involved in. Because that that way nothing can come back on the back end and bite you in the butt or, or come back on you. You're always being honest. And you're always talking about you know what the expectations are?
Ariah 49:09
right? Exactly. Can't it can't hurt to be honest. I mean, I've there have been multiple situations, farm sitting where like, I was feeding in the morning, and I did not get a chance to get coffee in me and I fed one horse and other horses food but I immediately you know, caught myself and I called the owner and I told her and so I was able to just monitor the horse. Luckily nothing happened. Like everyone was fine and I didn't have to take anybody to the vet but it's just like, as soon as something happens and you catch it, being open and honest, is always going to be better than like a couple hours into it. You know, in the horse gets sick or you know, God forbid has to have surgery or doesn't make it you know it is on you Because you are the one that was entrusted with their care, and I know like, animals are unpredictable, right? So the horse could have eaten a plant in the field the day before to like, who knows. But as long as you know, you, you are aware of what you're doing. And you're able to give, give the care, everybody makes mistakes, we're still human. And I think that's a testament to my clients, too. She didn't overreact or get upset with me, she just was like, it happens and, and I, I remedied it and I moved the food around so that I wouldn't do it again. And it didn't happen again.
Collin 50:41
So it is this instinct of, oh, something bad happened. Let me see if there's going to be any repercussions of this, before I go. And I talked to my client about this or before I tell them, but like you said, you don't want it to progress to a certain point where your hours into this. And then something bad does happen because of something that you caught, right? Like, don't, the earlier you that you can tell a client, then the more you can be communicating on that it really just helps out the entire process, because then they know that you are trustworthy, because it speaks to your character in those situations of what you will and what you won't tell a client.
Ariah 51:18
Yeah, exactly. And I think that goes back to just knowing your clients and being able to figure out, you know, if, if this is someone that I decided to take on as the client, like, will they give me some Grace? Or is it just kind of something where it's like, I have to be on my game all the time. But I'm still we're all still human. And, and I think that that's something you, you have to think about when you're doing the meet and greets and everything like, Am I gonna match this owner's personality? Maybe Maybe not. But there's nothing wrong, you know, with you as a or with me, I always think about that. And like, Well, you know, I just think it might be too much for me right now, maybe. And even down the road. Sometimes I have, I have people that come back to me. And they're like, Hey, I know that. I talked to you a couple months ago. And you said no, but like, I've changed some things, would you be willing to come back out and see if it's something you can do?
Collin 52:22
Well, and there again, right? When you when you are saying no and saying Oh no. Well, this and this, and this, this is not something that I'm able to do. That way they know that when something changes, they know who to reach out to, right, and you've gained a client because of that. So gaining a client from saying no is kind of counter intuitive to the way a lot of us think about that process. But again, when you are saying, I know what I do, I know how I do it. And if that's not something that aligns with you, that's fine. But when you explain that to a client that's part becomes part of this education process. And then, you know, as you have have experienced when the client goes, Oh, I changed the thing. And now I check all of your boxes, you know, you have now gained a client that you know you're going to fit Yeah, exactly. That perennials makes it easy as 123 to send a heartfelt condolence gift directly to someone with a broken heart. Megan and I have used this several times in our business and they really make it so simple. They have this awesome direct client gift service that takes the effort off of us ensures a thoughtful, personalized, simply gift reaches a client or employee. All gift packages include a handwritten card, colorful gift wrap and shipping fees across the US and Canada. They'll be releasing an array of milestone gifts and greeting cards throughout the rest of the year that can be sent to celebrate birthdays, extend Giro wishes, and welcome new or rescue pets. They also have a few gift options in case you need to send a sympathy gift in memory of a special human client. If you're interested register for a free account to receive discounted package pricing rather than pay consumer prices. Since the service is leveraged on an as needed basis, there is no monthly or annual obligation or minimum purchase. Learn more and register using blink pet frailes comm slash pages slash GPS then enter the referral code PSE at registration will be given a unique coupon code to save $2 off any packages that you send in your first 90 days. I'm curious, you know never don't limit on a farm and these processes. So what's one of your most memorable experiences?
Ariah 54:28
Oh goodness. I was actually doing a farm sick. I don't know if you remember Texas had that big power outage. Right? And it snowed. Yeah. And so we lost power. And the house is a huge house. And luckily, they just had the dogs and a cat and there wasn't any extra livestock. But yeah, we were on the rotation. Power schedule. And luckily, they had a gas fireplace. So that was on like 24 seven, and I was there like a week. So the entire time the power was out. And it was like 30 degrees in the house and I was trying, every time the power would come on, I would try and put heaters on all the pipes. And the owners were actually in Hawaii. So I was I slept on the ground, like a couple of nights with the dogs in front of the fireplace because it was cold. And it was awesome. I mean, it was it was hard. But I think it would have been harder if I had had like, horses, cows, because there's a lot of my clients that were out of power and they didn't have water. So they were like lugging water to from their like stock tanks or pools to feed their animals. So I got lucky that I just had the inside animals but it was crazy. But none of the pipes froze the house like when the power of course the power came back on the day I left and like everything heated back up. And they came home and they said that neighbors on both sides of them. They had multiple pipes burst in their house. But nothing was wrong with their house.
Collin 56:37
Hey, there you go. That's that's a a plus on smooth transitions for clients coming home, no burst pipes, that's about as awesome as you can give them almost a present of giving them when they come back to those those kinds of situations.
Ariah 56:53
What's crazy, because in Texas, you know, we don't get those temperatures like it was, you know, six, seven degrees outside. So it was just wild. And I'm you know, I'm a southern girl. So I was wearing like all the clothes that I brought, and I don't do cold well, but it is definitely one one for the memories. And I don't drive in the snow and I had to leave the house and there was still like snow and ice on the ground. So it was I only lived like five, I think like 15 minutes away from this house. But it took me like 40 to drive home because driving so slow. But that's the I don't really do snow I split anything else. I'm fine, like hail tornadoes. It's all good, but not now. Do you want me to tell the other one? Yeah, absolutely. I stayed at a farm and they had 30 chickens. And a horse, three cows and two dogs. And I was out in the pool. And there were some trucks driving up? Well, they have alarms on their driveway. So like if somebody drives on the driveway, you'll know because you'll hear the bells in the house. And I was staying there, you know, by myself and I wasn't expecting anybody and someone drove up. And so I I got out and and there was a guy walking up. And he said that he needed to take some pictures for to look at landmarks of where the property line was. And he didn't have a card and he didn't have anything. So I I immediately called the owner and I told them I was like, Look, you know, you're not allowed on the property I don't have from like, I can't give you permission to come on the property. So he left and then he came back the next day. Oh, no, I, I know this, this house had protection and everything. And the dogs were barking crazy. And he didn't even come to the door. This time. He just walked straight back onto the property. So I actually ended up calling the cops and I called the owner again. And this time he gave me a card and it was a handwritten card. He was a land surveyor. Oh, no. What? And I said I've called the police and the owner has said that you are not allowed on his property. So you will be arrested. And he looked at me and like kind of looked around. And he ran down to his truck and said down the driveway. And I didn't see him again. But the police they came in and I told them what happened and they said that there was a man that was doing that to a couple of farms in the area like study was a survey or any need to take pictures of the property line. But they, they're like, we can't figure out who he worked for or like what he's doing. So that was crazy. Yeah, that's, like all the lights on in the house for the rest of the house.
Collin 1:00:16
Yeah, that's really unnerving, right to think of not just what's going on out there, like while you're sleeping, but just to, like, have that confrontation or meet somebody and just just have it make no sense at all. And even the cops be like, we don't even know what this guy's doing. Right? Like, that's so bizarre.
Ariah 1:00:33
Yeah. And in the house owner, like, I felt so bad for them. Because I was like, yeah, there's like somebody trying to come onto your property. So they did end up telling me like, where an extra lock was for the gate. So I put a lock on the gate, like if I if I was there, when I left and I briefing, so. But yeah, that's, it says crazy, like the stuff that you see out in the country, I guess it could happen to anybody. But
1:01:04
I was like, wow,
Ariah 1:01:06
I guess it's just another thing. I'm thankful that, you know, it was one of those things where I was able to just kind of tell the guy that I had called the police and he left. So I think that's another another reason I like to, to know, you know, who's in in the area, like the sheriff or police and the fire department and, and all of that, and I told the neighbor next door, and so he was keeping an eye out since they shared the driveway. So
Collin 1:01:36
I know in in pet care and dog walking and pet sitting, continuing education and learning more, getting more resources is always a big thing. So I was curious, where do you go for more information on farm animals and staying up to date on the latest care information out there,
Ariah 1:01:55
I do have a really good relationship with my large animal veterinarian, she and I actually talk a lot about multiple different things. Even if you know my horse is healthier, whatever all all ask her questions about cows and, and goats or what have you. And just be out of curiosity, because I like to continue learning. And so we will meet up for dinner like once or twice a month and just like talk about all these different things. So I know everybody can't have have that. But if you if you're really interested in and you want to, to learn about, you know, the anatomy, or you know what that animal eats or whatever, there's, there's always, you know, books and stuff like that. But I mean, I can't stress enough like, if you want to go to a vet clinic, they are more than happy to take you on as a volunteer. If you're interested in becoming a vet tech, a lot of clinics will offer you the ability to get the training you need. They're super awesome about that. If you find a good clinic, definitely ask them about like, continuing education programs. There are multiple groups actually on Facebook, that will do like little weekend activities, especially with the pandemic, I think it's a little bit you have to RSVP now, but they'll do like days at the lake where you can come and people will bring their animals and like, talk to you about how they feed them and care for them and stuff like that. So that's really cool. I know that that's only in North Texas right now. I don't know about other other rural areas. But yeah, I I think the internet is it's amazing. Most of the time, just be careful and make sure that it is like a sanctioned event. So if it's like four H or the the horse one is the United States equestrian Federation, so just just make sure there's some sort of backing behind it and you're not just going to like some random person's house that's not safe. So
1:04:26
this now
Collin 1:04:29
it's focusing on those relationships, again, of relationships, not just with our clients and with potential clients, but with groups and with that some vet clinics to continue expanding our knowledge and growing our our community and growing our network, right so that you you do have somewhere to go and someplace to turn because you know you can you can watch YouTube videos and you can Google to your heart's content. But you do have to ground truth, a lot of that information and being having a vet or a clinic that you can go too and have conversations with really does help solidify a lot of the information out there.
Ariah 1:05:05
Yeah, and there are tons of shelters to like them. I know that the ASPCA, they do horses as well. And like other I think they have other livestock too, like, some have cows. So I know that they're always looking for volunteers and people to help them or, you know, the Humane Society gets horses in quite a bit like our surrenders or foreclosures or something. So that would be a great place as well.
Collin 1:05:33
Araya, I want to thank you for coming on the show today and shedding light on a part of the industry that many of us aren't aware of, or didn't even know that it was a thing and for sharing some, some stories and for encouraging us to go and get connected with those around us. But I know that there's a lot more information and there's gonna be a lot more questions that are very particular to certain people that they may have. So how can people best get connected with you and start picking your brain?
Ariah 1:06:02
Yeah, for sure. Um, email is probably the best way right now. It's Araya A Ri H dot wolf WOL F e@gmail.com. And that way they can, you know, they can write me a book or just write me a short note. And we can, I'm happy to answer any and all livestock farm related questions. But yeah, I'm, I'm always happy to talk to to anybody about farms. Awesome. And I encourage that I
Collin 1:06:41
know, we kind of did a 30,000 foot view of what it's like to be a farm sitter and, and a little bit of the ins and outs. But there are a lot of particulars, and especially with your background with horses, and that side of it. That's a real need. I know. We have people around us that ask questions about horses, and I know nothing about them. So I think that right place, yes. Perfect. Araya, thank you so much for coming on the show today. It's been a real pleasure. Yeah, thank you for having me. My three big takeaways from my conversation with Araya were one, being kind really does go a long way, we tend to forget how our simple interactions with people on a day to day basis on how we wave to neighbors on how we interact with our clients, that sets the standard that sets their understanding of who we are as people, and really does start to build our reputation. We've talked about that a lot on the show recently about the importance of maintaining our reputation. And that all begins with being kind to those around us. Second big takeaway was that chickens love classical music, not much more than that, it was just really interesting tidbit that I learned and then thirdly is that preparing never looks the same, from sit to sit and from person to person, we can never prepare for all the instances or for every kind of possibility, what it looks like to prepare for the sets that you do look very different from somebody else. Because we are all processing different information. We have all had different past experiences that build into that network in that system, of how we approach those kind of problems. But at the end of the day, the important part is to prepare, period is to have something in place to think through possible scenarios in different situations. So that we can be a little bit ahead of the game, it might not be exactly what we prepared for. But at least we've been that been in that mindset. And we've put ourselves in that situation to start understanding how things might go wrong and how we would respond to that. We want to thank our sponsors time to Pat and pat perennials for making today's show possible. And thank you so much for listening. We really, really do appreciate it. Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon.
