While there are lots of different jobs you can get on a guest ranch, a Ranch Hand is one that comes to mind most often. However, there is not a ton of information on how to get this job and what it's like once you have it. To get an idea of what it is really like to be a Ranch Hand at a guest ranch, and live on a ranch, I interviewed my friend Becca who was a ranch hand over the summer.
Photo Credits: Benjamin Hersh
Q: What is the role of a Ranch Hand on a guest ranch?
A: As a ranch hand you are working on the maintenance side of the ranch. Its a lot of fencing in the summer, airport drives to pick up guests, mowing, and random jobs... one day it's digging holes to put posts in, one day it's helping with the irrigation system... it can be whatever jobs [are needed].
Q: How did you find the job?
A: I knew I wanted to work at a ranch, I didn't really care what job I did, I was just looking to get my foot in the door. One of my friends worked here [and] said [it] was a really good ranch to get experience and start out in the ranch world. I also looked on the Dude Ranchers Association and CoolWorks.
Q: What experience did you need for this job?
A: I had to be 21 and they did want my driving record to make sure I was a safe driver. To drive the transit vans you had to be 24 or 25 for insurance purposes. They also said you had to lift 50-70lbs. I was pretty open and honest [that] I did not have a ton of experience. [In the interview they] said, if you don't have to have a lot of experience we will teach you everything you need to know.
All those different certifications [like OSHA or a CDL] would help but it was not a requirement. If you come in with [experience or knowledge], they will play off what your strengths are. [For example, one ranch hand] came in with a lot of landscaping experience, so all summer he was in charge of landscaping.
Photo Credits: Tekton
Q: What experience would have been helpful to have?
A: Driving equipment would have been helpful because I felt like that was the most intimidating part for me. They trust you with all this expensive equipment and I didn't feel qualified. Some stuff is pretty easy to pick up, you just have to have decent physical fitness and you will be fine. I was not in great shape when I came and I feel like I gained a lot of muscle in the first couple weeks. Being physically fit is important but you will get there as you work.
Q: What was training like?
A: I got here the week after orientation ended so there was a lot of things I learned on the job. One day [another ranch hand] took me out to the field and said “This is how my Grandpappy taught me how do barb wire fencing”…. [Another time my boss] asked, "How do you feel about hauling a trailer?" I was like, "Ahhh... pretty good but backing is a little tricky." He said, "Well, you're going to get practice today," and he threw me in. Anything safety wise, like driving the Toolcat or chainsaws, there was a safety training and [the manager] would teach me.
Q: What clothing or gear did you need to come prepared with?
A: You want gear you can work in. To be a ranch hand its nice to have jeans you don't care about because fencing will tear up your clothes, so have tough jeans like wranglers. I have Carhartt pants I would wear. They provided work gloves and I would have died without those. I really like the dry-fit shirts or cool shirts because in the summer it gets hot and a lot of our work was outside. You want long sleeves if you are fencing or mowing because you get itchy and uncomfortable. We also needed nicer outfits to be around the guests. We had to have collared shirts on when we were around the guests and you had to look western. We would wear cowboy hats a lot with belts, jeans, boots... You want to look the part.
Photo Credits: Spencer Scott Pugh
Q: What was the age range and breakdown of your team?
A: [There were about 8 of us that summer.] For driving and insurance purposes they wanted you to be 21 or older. There was one exception to that rule but [the age range] was between 21-40. Everyone was seasonal staff... the contract is seasonal, but some have been here longer than others. When I started, only myself and [two others] were brand new. I was the only girl.
Q: What was it like being the only female?
A: It was fun sometimes, other times I wanted to pull my hair out. This was the first job where I was really the only girl. I have brothers, I played sports on co-ed teams... but it was drastically different because the barns I had worked at… well, most barns are largely women in the profession. I think men are easier to work with in some ways. If you have a problem with them you can fight about it and then they let that go in 20 minutes. They are direct. I can say “It makes me mad when you take a break in the truck for 20 minutes after lunch because you ate too much…” and they would be like, “Ugh, whatever Becca” and 30 minutes later we are fine and goofing off again.
Q: What does a day in the life of a Ranch Hand look like?
A: We would start at 8:00am and end at 4:30pm. We would clock out for an hour for lunch. It was pretty consistent almost everyday. There was maybe two days we stayed late to get something done because we had a deadline.
We would start [with] a morning meeting where the manager would say what we were doing for that day. In the summer it's a set schedule. Saturdays and Sundays were mostly airport drives...that was the biggest priority, to pick up guests... and then mowing or restocking the wood for campfires, stuff like that. Then during the week it was [chores like] fencing... it was always fencing.... the snow destroys a lot of the fences around the ranch in the winter and in the spring before they can start moving the horses to the other pastures you have to go out and walk the fence line and make sure its all up [and fix what's broken].
Most of the time I [worked] 40 hours every week, 5 days a week. Some days you would not clock out for lunch, like if you took an airport drive and it was around lunch time you would just grab something on the way. You would have dish pit shifts sometimes and could sign up for evening activities [like barn dance], so I may have gotten 45 hours a week at most.
Photo Credits: Erik Mclean Q: Can you compare working as a Ranch Hand on a guest ranch versus a working ranch?
A: I don't know much about working ranches, I think it depends on how big the operation is. My understanding, based on what I've heard from other people... if you are a Ranch Hand at a working ranch you are probably also a wrangler… you work on the tractors, you do the fencing, you ride the horses… You would have to have a more diverse skill set. I don't know that they would hire just wranglers and just ranch hands on a working ranch. I would say you do it all.
The way the departments are divided here, it's different than working ranches. Based on my experience and looking at [other guest ranches] I’ve applied to, Ranch Hands [focus solely on] the maintenance [side of things] when working at a guest ranch.
Q: What was the best part of the job and living on a ranch?
A: As a ranch hand my schedule was really consistent. It wasn't a stressful job. It was physically demanding at times but it was nice to be able to clock out and leave work at work.
There is no chance I would ever get to live in this area without working here. You get to live in a really cool spot and work with people who know fly fishing and can teach you that, or you can go ride with the wranglers... you have access to a lot of cool things in a beautiful place. Other times I have moved it has taken me a while to get acclimated to the community and make connections with people. Here you get an instant community. Sometimes it's almost too much of a community and [you feel like you] never have any alone time, but its better than moving somewhere and feeling isolated.
Q: What was the worst part of the job and living on a ranch?
A: The hiccups of learning and being outside of your comfort zone. I worked at barns before but a lot of the maintenance side of things was completely new. It was a little humbling because I don't have any background in that stuff so I was just hoping they taught me the right way.
Going back to the community thing... There is not a big separation of work from personal life. I was a teacher before I worked here and if one of my coworkers was pissing me off at school and I went home and told my roommates, it didn't matter because those lives didn't cross. But here, if your coworker is frustrating you and you go talk to you roommates about it… well they are all friends with him, or someone is dating him… It's a very intertwined community and there is no separation between work and personal life.
Photo Credits: Steven Cordes
Q: How was the pay?
A: I get minimum wage and they take out a fee for food and facilities. I did not get a ton of tips but if I did it was on the airport drives. I would turn them into the office because it was strongly encouraged, and that's the ranches policy... that we split tips. When guests check out they add [an overall tip] to their bill [which is split among the employees]. So we would get a couple hundred in tips throughout the summer. Some weeks you would get a decent amount in your paycheck, one week we each got close to $400 in tips.
Q: How did meals and housing work?
A:You pay a fee for food and facilities, I think it's around $316 a month, and that's automatically deducted from your paycheck. Housing depended on how long you had been here and how old you are. Some of it is bunk house style, some of it is two people to a room. I had one of the nicer houses when I got here, it was like a little log cabin. We had 8 girls living there and it was two to a room, so we still had a decent amount of space.
They had a staff only breakfast. For lunch and most of the dinners we would clock out and eat with the guests. We were expected to look nice, so if you were working on the cars and had oil or grass all over you from work, we would be expected to change. When I first got here I loved the food but the meals repeat... every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday so you know what's coming. I got a little tired of it. It's great if you're on vacation for a week but having it long term is not always the healthiest.
Q: What is it like living on a ranch?
A: [The last city] I lived in, I always had my doors locked and I was more cautious when I was out and about. Here it's slow. Everyone trusts everyone, you don't lock your doors. It feels like a small town but its a ranch, so I guess its even smaller than a small town… but similar vibes. This community is more conservative than I was use to, which is not a bad thing, just different. Most people on the ranch are interested in similar things, and it's just not a very diverse community. Its small and everyone is very similar.
Photo Credits: Philip Swinburn
Q: Is there anything you wish you knew before taking the job?
A: I did not know exactly what to expect so I was open minded to it being whatever it was. As far as hard skills, I didn't have a ton of experience so maybe knowing more about equipment and stuff like that. But honestly, I feel like [this guest ranch] is a good place where you can learn what you need to learn.
Q: Would you do it again?
A: I would do it again. It was a good way for me to learn more of the maintenance side of the horse world because I had only ever done the horse side of it. I feel like I have some good skills now that I didn't have before. If I ever have my own barn... I got a lot out of being a ranch hand that I could use for that. I also think its just a nice change of pace from the jobs I was doing before that were more emotionally taxing.
Q: What should someone with no experience add to their resume before applying to be a Ranch Hand?
A: If you don't have experience in ranch handing, any outdoor jobs that require physical labor would look good. I think at [guest ranches] they look for people skills. Are [you] willing to work well with others, are [you] a leader... the soft skills. With any job, just be honest about your experience level and what your strengths are.
Conclusion
There you have it, the ins and outs of being a Ranch Hand. Thanks so much to Becca for sitting down with me to provide all this information and share some wild stories about her experience as a Ranch Hand on a guest ranch. Hopefully she was able to help give you an idea of what to expect when taking a job as a Ranch Hand.