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I want to work on a ranch!

M

MissHolly

Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2006
Messages
7
Location
USA
Hi you guys,
Im 20 years od and I want a career involving farm/ranch work. To be quite honest Ive been thinking about doing this for a few years now, in high school I wanted to be a cop, went to military school my senior year and was like, "NO! what was I thinking?" Needles to say I didnt fall thrue with the cop thing, Ive always loved the out doors and being around animals and I catch on to things pretty fast. Right now I live in California, Ive been here my whole life and im tired of it, I really want to move to Oregon or someware pretty, smogless etc. The thing is i have no experince in this field of work, but on some ranch sites a few of them will hire people with no experince but those who have the will to learn and work. Can you guys give me some advice on how to make this "dream job" of mine becoma a reality? The hardest part of all is convinceing a ranch manager or who ever to hire 5'1" me over some tall ash guy. ive tryed writing to a few ranches but most dont even write or call back, im asking for advice, not a job...right now, please respond. :D
- Holly
 
Welcome Miss Holly,
Well if ya want to be treated like the boys here are some tips :)

Ride better, but dont flaunt it. Work hard and you'll earn your dues, just like the boys. Don't yap on about how you can do the same amount of work etc. Just prove it. Respect is earned by gettin out there and doing it. If there is anything a male crew hates it's " a chick with something to prove". ( sorry if that sounded bad but I think ya get my meaning :) Hard work will get you the position you desire. In return respect your boss, a yes sir how high with a smile on your face will get you everywhere you want to go.
 
Faster, I think you meant to say don't believe ANYTHING the guys on here will tell you :D . This is the biggest bunch o leg pullers this side of the Mississippi :)
 
The best advice I can give you is to marry one of the bachelor neighbor boys who farm and ranch. Either that or camp out at a farm and offer to work for free for a few months, if you work out then you might get hired, if you don't then you might have to find a new occupation.
 
Well us hardened in gals might be able to sipher through some of it,
but a young girl...NO WAY!!!!!!!!

She best not believe ANYTHING or EVERYTHING they tell her.

Clue to Holly: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
And you need to get a second opinion about anything (oops,
everything) that is posted here by members of the opposite sex.

:shock: :roll: :P :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :nod: :liar:
 
Faster horses said:
Well us hardened in gals might be able to sipher through some of it,
but a young girl...NO WAY!!!!!!!!

She best not believe ANYTHING or EVERYTHING they tell her.

Clue to Holly: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
And you need to get a second opinion about anything (oops,
everything) that is posted here by members of the opposite sex.

:shock: :roll: :P :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :nod: :liar:
Click to expand...


And I thought we were friends. :cry:
 
Work Hard and Study Hard said:
The best advice I can give you is to marry one of the bachelor neighbor boys who farm and ranch. Either that or camp out at a farm and offer to work for free for a few months, if you work out then you might get hired, if you don't then you might have to find a new occupation.
Click to expand...
Uhhh, well what do you say to that, lol? First things first, Money dosent grow on trees. Its not like I have money falling from the sky, ware I can just get up one day and work for free, yeah right. Im pretty sure anyone wouldent turn down free help. But im pretty sure when it comes to hiring time ill get the old "dont call us, will call you" BS...ya know? I live in Southeren California, We dont have Ranches here, and what does qualify as a ranch is someones backyard full of chickens a horse and a tin sign that says johnson farm hanging on the garage, true story :)
But this seriously is something I wanna prusue, im at a job which I hate but im still working a year and a half later I still hate and just think about moveing nd getting a job ware ill be outdoors always busy, around animals..hence the ranch job, it sounds perfect, ecactly what I want. I knoe ranching most likely isnt gonna be easy, if I wanted something easy, id work in a grocerey store 4 ever, but I dont. Sorry to write so much, lol. This crap was just on my mind... And another thing if I had some bachlor rancher liveing next door to me, id marry him in a minute, lol. But like I said this is south.Cali. we dont have that here.
............If I were to turn in letters of recomendations to different ranches, farms, dued ranches etc. And tell them im a hard worker and what not and id be willing to move to work, how do you guys think that would fly by? If someone came up to one of you guys and said this and handed you letters and what not, seriously what would be your reaction?? :D
 
Holly there is jobs out there. My 22yr old daughter works with me on the ranch. She grew up doing it, great hand with a horse or cow. fair running machinery and terrible at fixing. I love her anyway. :wink:
I would suggest looking for a job in the classified ads of some western farm and ranch papers . Remember machinery and livestock cost alot of money and ranchers need help that they can count on not to wreck things so building trust will take so time. A cheap hired person can be the most expensive thing on a ranch.
 
MissHolly said:
Work Hard and Study Hard said:
The best advice I can give you is to marry one of the bachelor neighbor boys who farm and ranch. Either that or camp out at a farm and offer to work for free for a few months, if you work out then you might get hired, if you don't then you might have to find a new occupation.
Click to expand...
... And another thing if I had some bachlor rancher liveing next door to me, id marry him in a minute, lol. But like I said this is south.Cali. we dont have that here.
............If I were to turn in letters of recomendations to different ranches, farms, :D
Click to expand...

Well if you plan on finding this job in So Calif then good luck. I'm not trying to be an ash but if:

1. You live in So Cal
2. You are female
3. You are 5'1"
4. You have no experience

You have your work cut out for you, marry into it and learn. But marrying a farmer rancher is a whole nother bag of worms if you don't know what the hell your getting into. By the way being 5 foot one and female are the last things that will keep you from getting a ranch job. Most people don't want to or don't have the time to teach, but if you'd see some of the "Ranch" ready cowboys that come looking for work we might be better off hiring a newbie.
 
Yeah im sure there are, and the majority of those are either in northeren Ca, or sutheren southern California by el centro, Brawly, and what not and most of the people working there are just a hope skip and a jump over the border and got a job, one of the sucky parts about being from So Cal. is you get slim pickings from jobs cause there is someone who will work for a hell of alot cheaper only a few miles away. And yeah if you look on ther internet youll see some ranches in cali. most of which are just big resorts that offer horse back rideing and call it a ranch. Keep in mind you can drive for 17 hours fom ware I live all the way up towads Oregon and never leave Ca, its a pretty big state and I dont plan on driveing 100+ miles, paying 3.75 for gas and buying some over priced apt. Id rather just move someware cheaper, and someware id like..like Oregon :)
I do live kinda by the mountains, this place called Big Bear, they have a few ranches up there but thats a really nice town lots of people live there its a big tour trap, and every time I ask about jobs there not hiring, I mean its an on going thing over here. I did apply at a "Farm" which in all actualality was a kennel/zoo about 7 blocks from my house I applied twice, gave the manager good refrences, still notheing. It does suck, and its hard as hell to get any job over here, especially if your not bilinguale.
Sorry if I offened anyone but thats so true.
 
Sorry that first reply was to Big Muddy Rancher then I sort of zoned out...

But I agree with you, Work Hard and Study Hard
I know its gonna be a pain trying to convince someone to hire me over a tall buff guy that knows what to do.... Im kinda skrewed right now cause I dont know what to do, hence the advice, lol.
But I no there gotta be a way, ill probly have to end up going back to school :x
 
Holly if you think you might do the school thing why not try a Vocational Agriculture school. You will gain knowlege and hands on experience as well some have a placement service to help find a job after Grad.

Heck even Truck driver training will get you some experience with machinery.
 
Go ahead and at least get your Associates Degree, preferably your Bachelors. Agriculture is this nations biggest industry and there are lots of jobs if you are willing to relocate. There are lots of schools with ag programs and they don't require experience. They will help you get an internship between semesters to get the experience you're looking for.

Unless you're missing a leg or something you can always use the National Guard to pay for education. That is good experience in itself. Not with exact tasks but making you a better employee.

Finally, make sure you find a school that has an Alpha Gamma Rho chapter to find your alternate way in to a ranch. AGR is the national Ag Fraternity. There are some Ag Sorrorities as well, we had one starting up the semester after I gratuated from Cornell, can't remember the name though. The connections and friends you make are priceless.

Cornell does a semester trade opportunity with Cal Poly, so if you went there you could do a semester at Cornell in upstate NY.

Th best part about college is that you're learning what you want to.
 
Holly

I agree with the last two posts. Try a community college. I am in charge of all education programs at our local community college and can say that it is a cheap way to learn about agriculture and get some experience. Our ag students get 640 hours of on-the-job training during their two years with us. Tuition is cheap and the education is high quality. Every state has some form of community college system, so your choices are almost unlimited. The education and experience will go a lot further than working for free.
 
I do not want to burst your bubble, but if you could find a summer job on a ranch, I think you might be having a change of heart.

an isolated ranch, is a wee bit different than Southern California. like,you know ?gag me!

not wanting to be a dream buster, but the romanticism people see in movies is a far cry from reality. but good luck!
 
I gotta agree with Jigs.

Maybe see if you can find a boyfriend who works on a farm or ranch and find out more about the life. Or just a friend.

There are never very many bigger ranches, too close to any city, as the price of the land keeps the ranchers away. Too high of an investment. The few that are very close are probably ones that have been there for a long time.

Look into any kind of ag in your area. If there is none, be prepared to move. You might have to save up and take a trip to where you want to locate and check it all out. Maybe contact the local sales barns in that area or even the job service people or Chamber of Commerce.

Lots of times I see ads in the Western Horseman for people to work on Dude ranches. Cooks cleaners, wranglers. Might be a place to start and pick up a small amount of knowledge about horses anyway. And you'll meet like minded people.

Also, check for feedlots or dairy farms in your area.

Good luck. Where there is a will there is a way. :-)
 
Since I am on the other side of the mighty Mis I guess Judith's comment doesn't apply to me... Right :lol: :wink: .. Your best bet is going to be be to get some experience. NOt easy and I speak as someone who came from the burbs of Chicago, worked in Chicago and than at your age had a chang eof heart experience that sent me on a diferent path.. Actually, you sound a lot like my wife and I in that regard.... We decided to do something completely differnt than what we were doing and ended up in school in MOntana. Took some classes and after a while she got a lab tech job at th school farm, took classes that involved things like working at the school ranch for a couple days during lambing, and I took on a research job for a short time.. At least this gets you some experience.

Now, we are on the other side of the equaton in that we are the ones that have people approach us for a job (We usually aren't hiring) and know of a few more avenues but the first one is that you have to be available. You have to have ranches in the area to even have an oportunity to get a job doing it. You are not going to write a letter to a big ol pureread operation and get a response back from them 90% of the time. It just does't work that way. You have to be visable, you have to have a face with the name an wold't hurt t know someone (Meet on rancher/farmer, get on good terms with them and they might hear about someone looking for a hand)...

Or, what seems to work around here a bit is the local Ag CC has an ag intern problem. Be prepared to work a lot for a very little, find some real a-hole bosses, but you might get your foot in the door at least.. Personally, I know some places that would rather hire a 21 year ol woman than a 21 old man as the women tend to be a tad more responsible and gentle with the stock than the guys at that age.... But many would also rather hire an older guy than anyone else.

You are not going to get paid a lot to start expecially with your lack of exp. With some luck you will get a place to stay and maybe a vehcle to use on the place but don't be expecting to get rich quick.. The benifits are sometimes worth more than the paycheck.
 
That's the question you need to ask yerself Holly. 15yrs after literally walking away from a life on the east coast (tri-state area) and talking my way into this world, I'm still taking chances just for the mere HONOR of being able to pitch in and throw my back into my duties to help these fine people out here, and I cannot for the life of me, see any other way to live my life. Truth be told, I've never encountered a female 'ranch hand' in my travels (and I'm WELL travelled to be sure) but I've seen more than just a few Cowgirls, Buckerettes and 'Jilleroos' (Aussie term for female cow-hand) and thier responsibilities on most any ranch (big corporate-owned outfits and small family run farms/ranches) are comparable to what most men are expected to shoulder...with a few obvious 'common sense' exceptions.

Visit the local library or book store and look for a LARGE 'coffee-table book' Titled: "The Montana Cowboy" by photographer David Stocklein...flip through and you'll see shots of a few hard-working ladies out here who continue to hold thier own in this day and age...they SURE as hell ain't 'Fashion models'...and can rope/flank a calf along with the best of them. Matter of fact, in my mind, one of the smoothest and most 'professional' ropers I've ever laid eyes on is the wife of a large 'Buckaroo Outfit' in the Great Basin of Northern Nevada...

55 yrs old...mounted up, rode in and heeled (NEVER 'one-legged' the entire time) 20 calves in less than 45 minutes. She had the ground-crew scurrying...

...and she never broke a sweat.

No doubt in my mind whatsoever that If you were to catch up to one of these ladies in the local supermarket (the few times they even GO to town that is...) and ask them for advise...they'd look you right in the eye and say the same thing...

"Well Miss Holly...How bad do you want it ?"

You can be married, you can stay single...even with a bad drought all around us, there's still more than enough options available to look at.

All you can do is ask...and all they can do is say 'No'.

But once you land one...put yer time in, and keep yer nose clean...

All good things to those who wait...

...NOTHING is 'impossible'...

Merry X-mas all ! ! !
 

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