For farmers this means trouble – or cash.
Opening up your farm to campers, caravanners and even cushy cabin types can be a good way of diversifying and creating an additional income.
Michelle Stivala runs Sunny Acres Farm in Rushworth and said Australians were clamouring for farm experiences.
“People want the animal interaction. Their kids either love animals or the parents want the kids to be around animals more,” Ms Stivala said.
“I’ve found the parents want their children to be involved in the running of the farm and given tasks, so I round them up in the morning and put them to work.”
While Sunny Acres has been hit hard by pandemic restrictions, it continues to bounce back at each opportunity.
“This year has gone nuts,” Ms Stivala said.
“The most people we’ve had at one time was 96 on the 2020 Labour Day weekend, and this Easter was the second highest at 73. Now that was hard work.”
Ms Stivala said if anyone else was thinking of giving farm accommodation a go, the best way was to allow self-sufficient campers only until you could invest in an amenities block.
Dianne and Roger Trewick have been running Pepperton Homestead for 20 years on their sheep farm outside Elmore.
The pair went into tourism after being left with a hard decision: let the old homestead go into disrepair or pay to maintain it.
Mrs Trewick said since they were spending the money, it made sense to let people stay there.
“Sometimes it is good and sometimes bad,” Mrs Trewick said.
“We shut it entirely last year and only opened again at Easter.”
The homestead is able to house 14 guests and is marketed as a ‘family escape’.
“We have a lot of large groups. Once a family booked it out and they came from across South Australia, NSW and Victoria to stay there together,” Mrs Trewick said.
The couple offers supervised access to the farm and said it was rewarding to teach people about agriculture.
“A lot of them have never been around animals, but my husband will show them around and if we have lambs they can feed them. They love to watch the dogs work the sheep,” Mrs Trewick said.
“A lot of our guests are from Indian and Sri Lankan backgrounds so they are very, very scared of the dogs at the start, but by the time they leave the kids love them.”
The Trewicks said they would never personally allow camping on their property due to the risks of littering and vandalism.
“We wouldn’t go down that track,” Mrs Trewick said.
“The state reserve next to us is quite the eyesore after a long weekend, with rubbish and toilet paper everywhere … it’s not like the house where you have a legal right to claim a bond for damage.”
In north-east Victoria, camping peaks on long weekends and Easter.