Working as a Ranch Hand on a Working Ranch

A job as a ranch hand on a working ranch may look a bit different than you would expect. If you have a great work ethic and are not afraid to get your hands dirty, it can be a wonderful seasonal job. To learn more about what it's like to work as a ranch hand on a working ranch, I sat down with my friend Shannon who has been working on a cattle ranch for a year, and has been in the ranch world for five years. She was able to share a behind the scenes look at what the work is really like, the experience you need for the job, and where in the USA you may want to be when it comes to working as a ranch hand on a working ranch.

Photo Credits: Bailey Alexander

Q: How long have you been working in the ranch world?

A: I've been up here for 5 years. I worked [at a guest ranch, first in the office/reservations department for a few years] and then wrangled for a year. I had never even been around horses before working at a guest ranch. I was a city girl and I had been on a horse maybe twice. I started riding [while working at a guest ranch] my second summer and I just fell in love with it. I've been here [working on this cattle ranch] as a ranch hand for almost a year.

Q: Can you give an overview of the ranch you work on now?

A: On a working ranch the primary focus is agriculture. [This is] a working cattle ranch. We raise cows for beef. We have 1200 acres down here and roughly 2500 acres up [the road]. We have 150 cows right now, we had 250 last year. With the style of this ranch, we don’t know a ton about where the meat goes once they go to slaughter but we do have a couple people in the community that it’s direct to consumer beef. You can buy a quarter of a cow or half of a cow. But with that being said there are also older cows that get pulled from the herd and they go to slaughter for beef byproduct. The cows here don’t have a hard life, they have a wonderful life. But they are bred every year of their life since they were two years old so that is hard on them.

Q: What are your main responsibilities as a ranch hand on a working ranch?  

A: [My responsibilities] encompass general ranch maintenance, and the biggest thing is looking after the cows. There are a couple phases to the summer season. Right now we are in calving season so all of the moms are having their babies.We do all of our own breeding. We do artificial insemination.Then we will we split the herd into three different herds and move them to different parts of the property. I manage that and do a little bit of herd health management and monitor water and grass. That's the bulk of the main summer.

I do a lot of fencing. We have 35 miles of barbed wire fence, so that's a huge chunk of our year. In mid-July we start hay season where we will cut and bale all of our own hay for the winter. We feed 4500 pounds of hay a day with a tractor. In the fall we ween the calves off of their moms, and then we ship cows. The babies go to the feed lot for the winter. The steer calves, which are the boy calves, go to sale once they make weight. They are meat steers so they go to an auction, a slaughter buys them, and they become beef. The girl calves, they are called heifers until they have their first baby... we will either sell them, or if we are looking to increase our herd numbers, we will bring them back here.

Photo Credits: Chris Bair

Q: How did you find a job on a working ranch?

A: [I was working at a guest ranch up the road]. We were in town one night and [my current boss] was asking [that ranch’s hiring manager] if she had anyone she didn't hire for a ranch hand but thought would be a good fit for their ranch. I was already thinking about leaving [the guest ranch], I was ready to get off property, [and she referred me]. So I came down here and checked it out. I love animals. I had never really been around cows that much but I love horses and now I love cows more.

I think people look on CoolWorks a lot, but most everything is word of mouth up here. They are just in the community and know people through the grape vine.

Q: Did you need experience to get a job on a working ranch?

A: Not really. I wouldn’t say it was a requirement, but I think [my boss] liked that I know how to drive a tractor, I’m competent in different kinds of machinery, I like horses, and I enjoy doing this kind of thing. Every ranch is different but a lot of ranches use UTVs and four wheelers instead of horses now. They used to ride everywhere because they didn't have anything else. They had to go ride out in the middle of the night to check cows and now we are either on foot or we have the four wheeler available.

It’s more work ethic. Are you a go-getter, do you want to learn, do you want to do the right thing even if it's the hard thing? Just liking to work hard, get dirty, and not be afraid to try something and mess up... because you’re going to make mistakes. Know how to be around animals too. Some people don’t have the radar of how to be around cows in particular, how to work cows, move cows, or when a cow is going to charge you… just being emotionally intelligent with animals is helpful but that's also something you can learn. 

Q: How big is your staff?

A: It’s me and my boss and that’s it. [The ranch is owned by two brothers] and one of them does the back end of the business, [like payroll]. The other brother does our equipment maintenance. He is up here, just making sure things are in order. But day to day it's just me and [my boss]. [The owners] have entrusted [her] with 95% of the decision making. 

There’s a lot of work to be done but it is manageable for sure. Right now, with calving season, it's our busy time. We haven’t really started yet. We have 20 cows on the ground and 130 to go. So once we start cranking, calving season feels like a lot. Everything else, we can pace it and it’s manageable. We will have fencing help come in once in a while, but for the most part its just me and her.

Photo Credits: Nighthawk Shoots

Q: What is your average work schedule like for a ranch hand?

A: Aside from calving season, it's 8-5 Monday through Friday on this ranch. We use our time very wisely, so we do accomplish a lot within our 5 day work week. We are really disciplined with our time. [On the weekends] we are on call but no one is really watching [the cows]. We might if we suspect that there might be cows out or the neighbors calls us, like, “Hey, your cows are out.” But they are pretty self sufficient. We set ourselves up so that they are in a pasture that has enough grass for the weekend.

I can't speak for other operations but I don’t think that's super typical. [On other ranches] I bet they work maybe 6 days a week. A lot of the time I get the reaction of, “You have weekends off?!” So I think I have it made here for sure. We could be doing more maintenance; placing fence line instead of putting up really old wire, building the corrals back up instead of just patching them with what we have. We could bring the ranch to a new level if we worked more or had more employees, but [the owners] are pretty laid back.

Q: What's a day in the life like during calving season? 

A: Historically beef cows are really good moms but sometimes they don’t have the maternal instinct, so we keep a really close eye on them. We check them every 3 hours. Between me and [my boss] it's every 6 hours. I do 8am, 2pm, 8pm, and 2am checks. We keep them in a closed pasture and we are looking for signs of labor, or anything out of the ordinary. It is a little stressful. 

For the most part they can do it on their own but it just depends on your herd and it has a lot to do with breeding genetics. Sometimes [we help with the birth but] we always want to give them the chance to do it by themselves. Some ranches are super hands off and they wouldn’t even check [on the cows] at night. But we are a bit more on it. If we didn’t help some of them, they would die in childbirth. It’s worth it for us to get up in the middle of the night for 6 weeks out of the year if it means saving more animals. 

If you see a cow in early labor you are looking for a progression of an active labor within an hour. You have a window where if they labor too long… we’ve had calves die in the birth canal and you’re pulling a dead calf which is horrible. There’s defiantly going to be backwards calves, there is going to be dead calves, there is going to be moms that don’t make it. It’s awful but its kind of the nature of it. 

We will tag the calf with the mom's number so we know who belongs to who. When they are a month old we process calves. It’s when other ranches would brand but we don’t brand, we put an ear button in. It has an EID chip in it so if they got lost we can scan their tag and it tells you all their information. It’s the modern day… with technology it’s not really necessary to brand anymore, most people brand out of it being part of their history. 

Q: What’s a day in the life like outside of calving season? 

A: During the bulk of the summer, when everybody is calved and they are all out on pasture, that’s when we can kind of take a deep breath and relax. We get up, bring horses in, and typically we are still fencing into June. We are going out for half a day to fix some fence, come back, eat lunch, and in the afternoon go check on the herd. I drive out in a UTV and get eyes on [the herd]; scanning for illness, is everybody keeping weight on, do they look healthy, is the water looking good, is our irrigation good... I’m estimating when I’m going to move them. If they’ve picked a meadow over quite a bit we are going to move pastures [the following day]. We do that quite a bit, move them from pasture to pasture.

Some days I’m trailering horses up to ride fence line [at our property up the road]. If cows get out I am putting them back and fixing fence. I’m making sure everybody is staying within the area we want them to be. If they busted down the fence they could be way further out then we want them.  

Photo Credits: Brice Cooper

Q: What is the hardest part of being a ranch hand on a working ranch?

A: It’s very repetitive. Like, when you are fencing every day, that’s super mindless. What I personally struggled with the most, is just keeping momentum. But, that’s all perspective because you are still out in the most beautiful country… sometimes totally by yourself. When do you get to do that? The hardest thing was feeling like I wasn’t thinking critically in some phases of the season. But then I’m totally thinking critically everyday now during calving season.

It is really hard to spend every day taking care of these animals and know they are going to get slaughtered. I love them, I am attached to them… but I also can eat them. It’s still hard and there are moments when I am loading the truck and I’m like, “Oh my gosh this is so sad.” But they also have the best life... clean mountain water, fresh air, tons of space… So, I can justify still eating beef from our cows because I know they lived a really wonderful life. If you’re and animal lover, which I think you should be if you’re in this industry, you’re going to run into that. It’s a battle in your brain. I love them but it is their purpose.

Q: What are some misconceptions about working ranches?

A: I think people are definitely surprised that I work on a working ranch. I am a small female, so they judge me. They are like, “You work on a ranch?” It's viewed as rough, gruff, and super hard work. Which it is, but it’s doable. Anyone can do it, it's just more the work ethic. You don’t have to be this massive super strong guy that’s like, tackling cows. I think everybody does ranching just differently enough that there isn’t this big [main] idea of what ranching is. Our neighbor ranches sheep and that looks so different than cattle ranching.

Q: What's the best part about being a ranch hand?

A: Just being outside. I live to be outside, in nature, and with the horses. My ideal day would be to go catch my horse, drive up north, saddle up, and just wander around, and loom at cows. I do love calving season, baby animals are the best. It’s the hardest and most rewarding time. We’re like zombies walking around trying to get everything done, but it's the most worth it thing ever. One of the best moments I can remember was when we got all the fence up, we worked so hard, and we got to turn cows out onto green grass for the first time and they were so happy. That is the most gratifying thing. 

Q: What are the pay and benefits like for a ranch hand? 

A: I make a set salary and get bimonthly paychecks.The actual [amount] that I make on my check is definitely not great, but the benefits make it worth while. I live here rent free, they pay utilizes, water, and wifi. Housing is almost always included [when woking on a ranch] because industry standard is not very good pay so they have to bulk up the benefits with whatever else they have, which is typically housing. I buy and make all my own food but massive ranches probably have staff that feed their staff. I also get unlimited beef. Most ranches give some sort of beef incentive, if it’s a cattle ranch. You get some of your own product. 

I have free rein to the horses, to just ride for fun. I can use the truck and trailer anytime I want, even to do personal things. They are going to let me run flags at the rodeo this summer with a ranch horse and use the ranch truck, trailer, and fuel. They are so nice. [My boss], as ranch manager, [also has] her car insurance paid, she gets access to ranch fuel, and she also gets a couple of cows.

Photo Credits: Zeynep Sümer

Q: What's the difference between working as a ranch hand at a guest ranch versus a working ranch?  

A: Ranch hands at [guest ranches] help facilitate the experience for guests. Like, driving [the guests to and from the ranch], or the fencing they [are doing is] helping facilitate horseback rides and cattle drives [for the guests to have fun]. They are doing the behind the scenes work to create an experience, whereas we are creating a product. We are creating beef. We are sustaining people, managing water, moving cows around to make sure that our grass is going to grow and be sustainable for future seasons and years to come. [Working ranches are] more resource management than hospitality. I see them as totally separate. In the setting of a guest ranch you are using live stock, like horses, to facilitate the experience. Here our horses are a tool, our cows are like employees. They work for us, they make babies for us, they create the product we sell. 

Q: How long is an average summer season on a working ranch?

A: There are seasons within the season, kind of like phases to the summer. [We start] mid-March and I am contracted through October 31st. Then November slows down, it’s mud season and there’s not a ton of snow. Depending on when your ranch breeds, everybody does it different depending on climate and preference, [is when your season would start]. We calve at the end of March into April. Some do later, some do earlier, it depends on where you're at [location wise]. We have really harsh winters so we tend to breed later and have calves way later than in [a location] like Texas, where they are probably calving in January. 

Q: Are there job opportunities on working ranches year round?

A: Unless [a ranch] shipped [all their livestock] off to a feed lot [for the winter], then they are probably year round. [A feed lot is where] somebody owns a ton of land and they have it sectioned off and they feed and take care of the [other peoples] cows everyday. So there are cowboys that work on feedlots and that's a whole different sector of ranching.

The winter is hard on the cows, they are not gaining a ton of weight, they are just maintaining. In order for our calves to make weight to be slaughtered, you don’t want them in this climate. We ship our calves to a feed lot so they bulk up in the winter. [Our breeding cows] winter here because there’s not really a reason to send them to a feed lot. [Our ranch is open in the winter but] it’s just my boss [that runs it]. It’s super low maintenance, just feeding cows and snow removal. I’m back up as necessary.

The climate really makes a huge difference [on season length and staff numbers]. Like, in Texas, summer to winter doesn’t look so different, unlike us [here in Colorado] where we have 20 feet of snow. Yea, its colder, its nastier, but they might keep the same amount of people on because they are probably doing relatively the same thing year round.

Photo Credits: Scott Ymker

Q: What type of work do you do in the winter season?

A: Also seasonal work. [This winter I worked at the front desk for a lodging and dinging business up the road.] I am already thinking about next winter. I left the door open at [that location]. I would maybe be a server there or I would work at the [general] store, or maybe go back to [guest ranching]. I don’t really care, the winter... I just want to get through.

Q: What's the best location in the USA to get a job on a working ranch?

A: [It depends on where you want to work and the type of work you want to do.] The midwest is huge for ranching, Texas is also huge for ranching. Do you want to work in Texas where it's super flat or with rolling hills and gorgeous in its own way? Or do you want to live up here where your pasture has mountains in it, your fixing fence on the side of a cliff, and you're [physically] digging fence post holes because you can't get your machinery up there?

I love the mountains, that’s something I value about [working in Colorado], but it definitely is harder. We get 20 feet of snow so we repair fence for months of the year. In Texas they are probably spending a very small amount of time repairing fence and fixing structures that have been compromised from snow and it's not negative 10 degrees when their cows are calving. I always say, I don’t know why people would ever ranch up here. The climate is really difficult. It’s really difficult for growing hay. We get one cutting of hay where some places get three. We have such a short summer season that our grass only grows so much. But, I love here.

Q: What type of gear should someone pack for their first job on a working ranch?

A: Really good work wear and stuff you’re not afraid to wreck. I go through jeans super fast, rip my button down [shirts while] fencing, and I go through gloves like crazy. Invest in nice gloves, shoes, and socks. I love carhartt, wrangler jeans… the classic brands. Muck boots are a must this time of year, and I wouldn’t make it without them. Everything else is just whatever your style of workwear is. I accumulated all my stuff over the past year. I started out with pretty much nothing. [When it comes to tack for riding] I do have all my own stuff but they have stuff here. Unless you are going to a ranch that’s really riding heavy, they are going to have stuff [you can use].

Q: What can someone add to their resume to help them get a job on a working ranch?

A: I think it looked attractive that I worked at a guest ranch, I worked in the barn, have been around animals, and that there were a limited amount of cows in the horse program [I was a wrangler for]. If you have prior experience in [any of] that I think it's definitely helpful. Also anything that uses your brain… I’m thinking about fencing. Fencing isn’t hard it’s just problem solving. So if you have a job in a problem solving realm [that shows] you’re willing to work through things in your head and really put in the time, [that’s important]. You can teach anyone to wire fence, you can teach anyone how to drive a tractor, but problem solving skills [you can’t really teach].

Conclusion

A job as a ranch hand on a working ranch may be a bit different than you thought, or exactly as you expected. Either way, hopefully the behind the scenes information provided was helpful. Thank you so much to Shannon for sharing all the details of her cattle ranching experience and taking me around her working ranch to see what a ranch hand's job is really like. If you have worked on working ranch, please feel free to share your thoughts and experience in the comments below.