Life of a Whitmore Student – Working on the Family Farm
Working on the farm is not easy. Syd’s day starts early and ends late.
“Normally, I get up at 6:00 a.m. to start feeding the animals and end around 10:00 p.m. On our farm we have goats, cows, chickens, ducks, and a lot of fields. Since this is a family farm, we are not focused on production as much as we are focused on our animal’s wellness. As a farmer I work mucking barns out, brush hogging the fields, loading the hay wagons, preparing the fields for planting, harvesting the crops, milking cows, feeding the animals, fixing the machines, and sometimes building new barns or structures.”
“With all the work that comes with being a farmer, I still need to stay focused on my education. If I know it is going to be a busy day (loading wagons, harvesting crops, brush hogging ), then I wake up at 5 a.m. and work on school until 6 a.m. Milking and feeding is 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., then again at 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The time between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. I can get a solid amount of my school worked on. When there’s mucking, loading, brush hogging, fixing, or building to work on, then I normally work 3 hours on school the entire day. You never know what the day is going to bring when you work on a farm, yet I still strive to get my school work finished either way.”

Whitmore School gives Syd the flexibility to juggle the chores on the farm and earn all A’s in her courses. Way to go Syd!
Typical Day of School and Working the Farm
5 am Wake up! No kidding
5 – 6 am – Squeeze in some school time
6 – 9 am – Milk and feed the animals
9 am to 12 pm – Finish school work
12 – 6 pm – Muck the barns, load the hay wagons, brush hog, fix the machines, build new barns, plant or harvest
6 – 9 pm – Milk and feed again
10 pm – SLEEP