How to have an academic career but still live on a farm

missychicky
I am a zoologist with a small farm that work on others owned by state. Animals (fish, crayfish) are my primary study subjects that are raised for food and when raised in ponds interact considerably with wildlife and terrestrial livestock (cattle, goats and sheep). Much of my effort considers interactions between the three groups and managing for sustainable use of all. A fair portion of work involves getting belly deep in wildlife which makes a different experience every day. Such options will likely increase as efforts to conserve environment increase as human population pressure increases as well.

 

Talk to Dacjons on here..(hes usually in the office thread, i think?)
He's an enviromental whosawhutzit guy..... and pretty darn nice too. I'm sure he'll be willing to answer some questions you may have....
Go look him up... and good luck!

 

An academic career can be very conducive to farm life as you "can" be "off" summers. Very dependent of field etc but most professors do their research in the summers so many are either home (internet etc) or in the field.

May frequently stinks since you are getting started on crops when you are very busy at school. But, often the semester ends the first week of May leaving plenty of time to plant.

Also my class schedule is somewhat flexible from semester to semester so I can work with the schedule my animals need. (Mostly that involved getting up really early LOL!!)


I would suggest cruising through forestry services jobs opportunities to see what types of jobs are out there. Also try USAJobs.gov which can show you the VAST variety of tyoes of jobs which do not require you to sit in an office. It is a good idea to start your decision making early.

 

I have WHAT in my yard? is very much on ball with seasonality of work schedule. My area is similar to your stated interest and summer is the flex time.

Another consideration is getting work experience at least related to your field(s) of interest. I routinely hire high school students as summer time research assistants. At very least it helps build up your resume. It can also help you decide if interest is with such work. It also helps develop connections with professionals in a given field of study. Several of my past high school student employees have gone on to study in the field we provided them experience with. Your age may prevent actually being hired at this point but getting noticed through volunteer work can get your foot in door when you are eligible and positions available.

 

The other awesome thing about being a student is that you can call or e-mail ALL kinds of people in academia or in the fields that interest you and many if not most will respond.

It is a good idea t talk to some on e who actually makes their living in the field of interest to find out what day to day life is like. And do not be too shocked if you discover that something else that college exposes you to interests you more than what you started in college to study! That is part of the point of college!!

And yes, intern!!!!!!!! Do it! Awesome networking experiences and even better resume builders and even better getting a look at how organizations function......

 

And maybe in the back of your mind you'd consider veterinary school?? Lots of vets are large animal specialists who do most of their work going out to people's farms to tend to livestock... Keep your own and help others with theirs...