Vacation Relief From Chores : Farm-Sitters Keep an Eye on the Acres

It’s relatively easy to find someone to water the geranium and feed the dog while you’re on vacation.

But what if you also have 300 acres of crops and 100 cows on a modern farm with complex milking equipment, an array of machinery, computerized feed formulas and other high-tech wonders?

When Ed and Paulie Drexler were forced to leave dairy farming two years ago, they remembered the trouble they had finding someone to mind their farm when they were taking a trip in 1980. So they began a new and successful career: farm-sitting.

Farm-sitting is doing a farmer’s daily chores.

The young couple, who live in a house they built on 54 wooded acres in the town of Fabius, near Syracuse, believe their occupation is unique.

‘It’s Tough’

“As far as we can tell, no one else has ever heard of anyone doing what we do as a profession,” Ed said. “Farmers might be able to get help from neighbors for a short period of time but it’s tough to find someone who could fill a void for a week or two.”

The Drexlers have worked on numerous farms in the Northeast.

“We will milk in Tahiti if someone there pays our air fare,” Paulie said with a laugh. “Seriously,” she said, “we go anywhere.”

Their business is booming. They are booked for this summer and fall, and February, 1988, is taken too. Many people make reservations months and even a year in advance, Ed said.

The Drexlers said they draw deep satisfaction from helping farmers get a much-needed escape from their grinding daily chores.

“Every time the phone rings, it’s exciting because we know somebody out there needs us, and we try to schedule our time to help them get away,” Ed said. “When we arrive at a farm, we get comments such as: ‘Where have you been the past 20 years?’ ”

Cornell Graduates

The Drexlers are graduates of Cornell University, where they majored in animal science. In 1978, they bought their first farm--with 62 cows and 200 acres of cropland--in St. Johnsville in Montgomery County, N.Y.

Their herd was designated the most improved in Montgomery County in 1980. The Drexlers also were named the New York Farm Bureau’s “Outstanding Young Farmers” that year.

They sold the farm in 1981--because of its poor soil quality--and moved to Pompey near Syracuse, where they bought a farm with 165 cows and 600 acres of cropland. But they experienced problems with the herd and sold the farm in 1985. It was shortly thereafter that they started the farm-sitting service.

The business soon brought in more jobs than they could handle.

“The first year we were turning down about five to six jobs for every one we could take,” Ed said. “This year, we are booked 100% from the last week of June to Christmas.”

Special Events

The Drexlers said most of their clients are owners of small dairy farms who usually do not have any extra help.