Vampire Farmer

[jamesq]

No, not someone who farms vampires.

Let's say you're a vampire, but not being an evil sort you decide to support yourself by farming and ranching. The farm animals provide a large supply of blood (provided this vampire mythology allows non-human blood to sustain) and whatever the farm produces provides you with your income.

Is there any reason why you couldn't do all your work during the night? i.e could you plant/maintain/harvest crops or take care of the animals?

Obviously you'd get a reputation for being a bit of a loon by the neighbors, but you could probably work around that.

Conversely, it might be less effort to simply buy a cabin somewhere and simply feed off the neighbor's cattle. This still doesn't exactly leave you with a means of monetary support though. Of course, your needs may be slight is the blood is taken care of.

Comments

[gareth13.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmmmm....Methinks you might need more sleep.

[wendy-licious.livejournal.com]

I suppose he could hire someone to take off the crops for him.
If he had dairy, he'd need an automated milker since cows are milked multiple times in the day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2843205.stm)

Or he could set up a UPick fruit or veggie garden...

[ladyerwyn.livejournal.com]

You could do it at night, but you'd need some farm hands during the day to help with the cattle and such. They need to be put out to pasture and the day operations. If your selling crops somebody would need to run that business during the day during business hours, so you could ghoul a couple of dudes, providing ghouling works in this scenario.

But you could plant and harvest at night. Your irrigation system would take care of the watering.

Wow...I really jumped into your idea...It's doable, but it might take the vampire a while to set it up if he doesn't have the capital.

[oblivions.livejournal.com]

Too much effort. Create some ghouls, and allow them to work the day shift, no suspicion required.

Sorry. I play a a lot of World of Darkness so this would be a simple housekeeping issue. :)

[ishansonofbrand.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late weigh in.

I suppose it depends on which template your vampires are from. The basic Stoker vampire would have little problem going out in the sun. A moral Stoker vampire wouldn't have a problem raising and consuming a herd of cattle. If done right he could slaughter the 'husk' for meat and run a good meat market. The problem would be the immortality of the vampire. Someone is going to notice that old Sven hasn't aged in the past 50 years.

If you go with a Rice vampire then the problem will come when the vampire loses consciousness at sun rise. Then the situation would become a little complicated. One would need a trusted servant to administer the property. The vampire would have the wealth, but it would rather like running a company. It could be done, but there would be a lot of trust placed in those around him. People who are attracted to power, are often attracted to the wealth, and as such cannot be trusted too far. Low chance of success.

Then we come to the popular pop-culture vampire. Who would only raise Goth cattle. Now that would be a sight to see. Anyhow, the vampire could be conscious and awake all day long so he could overseer the operations. It would be able to run the property as long as it's completely covered. Sort of like a wet suit under it's clothing and completely covered. It is possible, but it would be very uncomfortable. It makes the entire problem easier but still a pain in the arse.

There are a variety of types of vampires. The majority of them are consumed when the sun hits their skin, so there is a chance that they can walk through out the day without dieing.

The strict question of whether someone, vampire or not, would be able to run a profitable farm by only working at night is probably not this far north. A equatorial farm would be probable but still unlikely.

The moral vampire would most likely work in a profitable industry and run a industry such that they would be able to consume as much blood as required. The question also becomes if someone can consume tepid blood. There are some types of vampires that can only consume blood fresh from a victim, while other vampires could rob a blood bank.

Very many variables.