r/Ranching • u/Low-Heat365 • 1d ago
The drive home
2 dayr drive
r/Ranching • u/drak0bsidian • Jan 31 '24
This is the 2024 update to this post. Not much has changed, but I'm refreshing it so new eyes can see it. As always, if you have suggestions to add, please comment below.
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This is for everyone who comes a-knockin' asking about how they can get into that tight job market of being able to put all your worldly belongings in the back of a pickup truck and work for pancakes.
For the purposes of this post, we'll use the term *cowboys* to group together ranch hands, cowpokes, shepherds, trail hands (dude ranches), and everyone else who may or may not own their own land or stock, but work for a rancher otherwise.
We're also focusing on the USA - if there's significant interest (and input) we'll include other countries, but nearly every post I've seen has been asking about work in the States, whether you're born blue or visitin' from overseas.
There are plenty of posts already in the sub asking this, so this post will be a mix of those questions and answers, and other tips of the trade to get you riding for the brand.
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Get Experience
In ag work, it can be a catch-22: you need experience to get experience. But if you can sell yourself with the tools you have, you're already a step ahead.
u/imabigdave gave a good explanation:
The short answer is that if you don't have any relevant experience you will be a liability. A simple mistake can cost tens of thousands of dollars in just an instant, so whoever hires you would need to spend an inordinate amount of time training you, so set your compensation goals accordingly. What you see on TV is not representative of the life or actual work at all.
We get posts here from kids every so often. Most ranches won't give a job to someone under 16, for legal and liability. If you're reading this and under 16, get off the screen and go outside. Do yard work, tinker in the garage, learn your plants and soil types . . . anything to give you something to bring to the table (this goes for people over 16, too).
If you're in high school, see if your school has FFA (Future Farmers of America) or 4-H to make the contacts, create a community, and get experience.
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Start Looking
Once you have some experience that you can sell, get to looking.
There's a good number of websites out there where you can find ranch jobs, including:
(I know there's disagreement about apprenticeships and internships - I started working for room & board and moved up from there, so I don't dismiss it. If you want to learn about room & board programs, send me a PM. This is your life. Make your own decisions.)
You can also look for postings or contacts at:
There are a lot of other groups that can help, too. Search for your local/state . . .
If you're already in a rural area or have contact with producers, just reach out. Seriously. Maybe don't drive up unannounced, but give them a call or send them an email and ask. This doesn't work so well in the commercial world anymore, but it does in the ranching world (source: my own experience on both ends of the phone).
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Schooling
Schooling, especially college, is not required. I've worked alongside cowboys with English degrees, 20-year veterans who enlisted out of high school, and ranch kids who got their GED from horseback. If you have a goal for your college degree, more power to you. Example thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ranching/comments/vtkpq1/is_it_worth_getting_my_bachelors_degree_in_horse/
A certificate program might be good if you're inclined to come with some proven experience. Look at programs for welders, machinists, farriers, butchers, or something else that you can apply to a rural or agricultural situation. There are scholarships for these programs, too, usually grouped with 'regular' college scholarships.
There's also no age limit to working on ranches. Again, it's what you can bring to the table. If you're in your 50s and want a change of pace, give it a shot.
r/Ranching • u/Lady_Lordess • 1d ago
**Edit: unfortunately I am not able to revise the caption.
Please consider Lalo as a farm dog, NOT a potential LGD***
I hope this post doesn’t get deleted 🤞
This majestic foster named Lalo with ACS needs a new foster home or most ideally, his forever home in a farm/ranch/big land where he can run and fulfill his life as an Anatolian Shepherd mix.
He’s been neutered, in good health, ~3 yrs old, weighs 85+ lbs, energetic, gets along with kids and other dogs.
Currently located in San Antonio, Texas.
You can foster him before fully committing to see how trainable he is- please give him a chance.
His referral: LALO
Please share this post with those who live in and around La Grange, La Vernia, Floresville, Gonzales, Schulenburg, Lockhart, Marion or anywhere with land/ranch/farm. Lalo would be the perfect fit.
To FOSTER, please email
[acsfoster@sanantonio.gov](mailto:acsfoster@sanantonio.gov)
To ADOPT, please email
[acsadoptions@sanantonio.gov](mailto:acsadoptions@sanantonio.gov)
His referral: LALO A800695
r/Ranching • u/Direct_Branch_5489 • 1d ago
r/Ranching • u/WLAComms • 2d ago
This story from the Western Slope of Colorado illustrates another benefit of virtual fence that might be of major value to the public going forward: wildfire response.
From the article:
"When fire commanders try to figure out how to contain a major wildfire, the last thing you might expect them to deploy is a herd of beef cattle. But on the recent Gold Mountain Fire in western Colorado, cows are eating the “fine fuels” along a three-mile fire line on the Big Cimarron River.
Putting that idea into practice five years ago would have required miles of electric fencing and a range rider to gather strays. Now, new technology has changed the game for cattle grazing by putting electronic collars — all solar-powered — on cows and linking them by satellite."
Anyone else seen other examples of innovative applications of this tool?
r/Ranching • u/AlteredGuardian • 2d ago
Just out of curiosity, whats everyones go-to for takin care of these things en masse? Ive heard everything from bubble gum, to equine salts, to gassing them, etc
Got a lot im about to take care of in one of our pastures and not sure which route I should take this time around.
r/Ranching • u/cAR15tel • 4d ago
Riding in a feedlot and I’m done. The place is understaffed, falling down, their horses are nags, my day rate was supposed to be based on 5-6 hour days, I’ve worked 10-18 hours every day, not a single day off. I was hired on as a pen rider, but I’ve been receiving, shipping, doctoring, processing, working pasture cattle, feeding all horses and dogs, and putting out hay. I’ve saddled a horse every day and many days swapped horses in the afternoon to keep from overworking them. Saddled three horses this morning trying to get on something sound and ended up having to go back to the barn without getting any work done because the mare I rode out on couldn’t work.
The cowboy life sucks. 20 years ago I swore I was done making a living on a horse and I think I just got a good reminder why.
r/Ranching • u/TilapiaTango • 5d ago
4 gallons of 5W30 and 2 gallons of diesel 15W40 at NAPA was $360.
Exactly the same from Blain’s was $202.
I can’t believe how expensive either NAPA is or how great a deal Blain’s is.
r/Ranching • u/Otherwise-Basket-652 • 4d ago
How is this my 4 months old heifer looks like ?
r/Ranching • u/UnAvailable-Reality • 6d ago
Lost it on the gather gettting them to sale.. when it was 500 lbs. Isnt that cattle for you?
r/Ranching • u/cardsfanbob • 5d ago
If this is not allowed, please take it down.
I'm a software developer working with a ranch near Sundance, WY. I'm trying to learn how crews pass along things like a sick calf, a downed fence or a dry tank when there's no cell signal out where you ride.
How do you handle it now? Text when you get back in range, write it down, tell the boss at supper, or something else? What goes wrong?
If you'd be up for a 20-minute phone call about how you work, I'd be grateful. I'm not selling anything, just trying to learn. Thanks.
r/Ranching • u/orsomeshitidk • 8d ago
r/Ranching • u/tuckycarlzyn • 9d ago
Curious if anyone here uses cellular cameras (non-wifi, but send straight to your phone) to keep an eye on livestock, equipment, gates, water tanks, or just their land in general.
What are you using them for, and how well do they work? Any issues with signal, battery life, or cost? Any brands to look at or avoid?
I’m researching options and weighing the monthly costs, and obviously trying to pick something reliable. Thank you.
r/Ranching • u/Fuzzy_Cos_Art • 9d ago
We are planning our spring rodeo and want opinions on what to call it. It’s gonna be a pro rodeo with all 5 events, SRA style.
Any suggestions??
Pic for tax
r/Ranching • u/orsomeshitidk • 12d ago
Blonde D’Aquitaine and Red Angus bulls squaring up to decide which will be the dominant male of the group.
r/Ranching • u/HellHathNoFury18 • 12d ago
First time cow owner here. Got 4 steers back in mid July. Each of them weighed in around 400lbs at that time. They’ve stayed on this 2 acre area which is mostly fescue grass, and I’ve been feeding them with roughly 1% body weight per day of triple feed (corn, soy bean hulls, gluten) with rumensin added. They also have hay in the pen as well that they’ve been munching on. The three on the right all look like they’ve put on weight (I don’t currently have a way to weigh them), but the one on the left still looks pretty lean by comparison. That one also tends to be the last to come up for feed, and tends to be off from the others a little bit. Is this something I should be worried about? He eats with them, and I see him out grazing, they’re all still making solid manure as well, no squirts that I’ve noticed.
r/Ranching • u/Abudabbadoo • 12d ago
Allow me to lay it all out, and bear with me please, I’m not new to the field but I am still learning.
Anywho,
A 2 year old, heavy bred dorper cross starts showing signs of potential toxemia.
About 8 weeks prior to this ordeal she was unfortunately attacked by a dog. We were able to treat her (LA200) and nurse her wounds back to health (cleaning, kote, fly spray) and through the whole recovery she did very well. Strong fight, staying with the herd, eating, drinking, running.
Shortly after she was recovered (picture scabs and scars but nothing you wouldn’t think couldn’t heal without help), she took a turn.
I found her isolated, standing with an arched back and seeming a little uneasy on her feet. But still hard to catch at this point, I hit her with the whole medicine cabinet except LA200 since she’d had so much of it at this point. I drenched her with b12, calcium, nutridrench and gave her some hay topped with dyne and fresh water. Over the next two days she continued to go downhill. I could feel baby inside and it seemed alive and well and not trying to come out yet.
She began to sort of tiptoe and move sorely and with very very small steps. We’ve been getting insane rains lately so I treated it as foot rot though her hooves looked great.
Well not even a few hours later, I get back from a job and find her on her side. I walk over, am able to get her on her feet (it took some support but she was able to hold herself up), and then went to fetch some penicillin to try. When I came back out maybe 5 minutes later, she was choking on a foamy yellow substance, seemingly aspirated.
I didn’t know what to do for her at that point and she’d lost all her fight, so I went inside to get my gun. By the time I’d come back out she was dead on the ground.
Now I know this isn’t an ideal situation and it’s hard to read. I feel terrible and I’m just looking for potential answers on what it may have been so I can handle it differently should it arise again.
Does anyone have any ideas on what may have happened?
r/Ranching • u/Salt-Ad1282 • 12d ago
I just saw Corbitt Wall’s article on Cattlemen’s News and he said “The Trump Administration has made market conditions worse by their uncanny insistence to continue to make comments and policy that hurts US cattle producers”. He then references the introduction of Brazilian beef to the US at a 25% discount as an example of bad policy.
However, he ends with “… many conservative cattle producers (are) turning away from him, until they consider his alternative.”
What is the fear here? What do these cattle producers think will happen if Trump falls from power or his supporters aren’t elected to Congress? You won’t get any argument from me. I have my opinions, obviously, but I would like to hear what my neighbors think will happen/could have happened that is worse.
I read the rules and hope this doesn’t fall into the “too political” category. I just know my diesel bills have almost doubled, replacement heifers are through the roof, and it seems like this administration is pushing prices producers get paid down while beef at the store remains high.
r/Ranching • u/realcannedbeef • 13d ago
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Just look at this. Dare I say more?
r/Ranching • u/realcannedbeef • 14d ago
I write this starting 2:17 AM whilst it is piss pouring rain outside. Supposed to flood outside, and from the looks of my yard from the kitchen window it definitely is flooding. Harvest has been pushed back week after week since I started on September 11th. It is now October. When the first initial rain came, I thought that it couldn’t get much worse from here. I should get a job as a psychic because I’m great at jinxing things. Since 2009 I have not seen this wet of a harvest. 2009 I nearly went broke blowing my money on grain drying at 1000 bushel/hour. Just cannot wait to see how this year pans out..Prayers and hope for Nebraska/Iowa would be appreciated..
r/Ranching • u/ranchoparco • 15d ago
I have a hodgepodge herd that was mainly traded here and there during droughts in exchange for hay.
I currently have a Charolais mix bull that has been a winner for 5 years.
Looking forward this little guy was born about a month ago and his mom is a huge beautiful beefmaster. I have posted about her on here before (she doesn’t have the best udders)
Anyway I know there is a mentality of not going with something you don’t know the pedigree but this is not a real ranch. Just sort of starting to build a legit herd now that the price is right.
He look like a keeper???