Hello, I have a few questions for those living/working the ranching lifestyle, but I suppose I should tell you a little about me first.
I'm 31 and due to things slowly changing, I find myself HATING my corporate job here in NJ. It is a technical job and unfortunately my skill-set is not widely needed outside of a corporate world. I grew up involved in agriculture and thought that is what I wanted to do until the opportunity of less hours and more money was put in front of me, and I took it. It has provided a good life, but not a fulfilling one.
Before I took the job I was working on a dairy farm, worked on them for 5-6 years and even helped with the morning milking for a few years after going to work for the Corp. I never enjoyed running the equipment (unless for doing hay) and always took the jobs that dealt with tending to the cows. I was happiest when tending to them( shoulda been a vet) and to be honest, miss going to bed from exhaustion, and not because it's time to sleep.
So now that I am seriously considering getting back into ag, I'm thinking ranching would he a good fit for me, love cows and horses. It just isn't going to happen in NJ $$$, so a move would be in order. Here comes the questions:
Is it really a solitary life on western ranches? I ask because, while I'm no social butterfly, I do like people and volunteering. Living on a ranch with no outside contact for weeks would drive me nuts!
If you have an employee, do you allow them vacation time when it's slow? I love to see and experience new places. I may have been spoiled when I worked on the dairy farms, but the owners always took vacations and allowed us employees vacation time also.
Well that's enough of a novel for now. Thank you in advance for your replies and time!
I'm 31 and due to things slowly changing, I find myself HATING my corporate job here in NJ. It is a technical job and unfortunately my skill-set is not widely needed outside of a corporate world. I grew up involved in agriculture and thought that is what I wanted to do until the opportunity of less hours and more money was put in front of me, and I took it. It has provided a good life, but not a fulfilling one.
Before I took the job I was working on a dairy farm, worked on them for 5-6 years and even helped with the morning milking for a few years after going to work for the Corp. I never enjoyed running the equipment (unless for doing hay) and always took the jobs that dealt with tending to the cows. I was happiest when tending to them( shoulda been a vet) and to be honest, miss going to bed from exhaustion, and not because it's time to sleep.
So now that I am seriously considering getting back into ag, I'm thinking ranching would he a good fit for me, love cows and horses. It just isn't going to happen in NJ $$$, so a move would be in order. Here comes the questions:
Is it really a solitary life on western ranches? I ask because, while I'm no social butterfly, I do like people and volunteering. Living on a ranch with no outside contact for weeks would drive me nuts!
If you have an employee, do you allow them vacation time when it's slow? I love to see and experience new places. I may have been spoiled when I worked on the dairy farms, but the owners always took vacations and allowed us employees vacation time also.
Well that's enough of a novel for now. Thank you in advance for your replies and time!