Ranch experience

[u/Interesting_Soup_490]

Where do you go to get a real ranch experience? I (38F) don't want a couple of hours riding then relaxing by a pool.

I want long hours all jobs , a realistic experience of ranch life. I've got 5 yrs experience shoeing racehorses in England.

Backed my first horse at 13 years old on my own. Gave it all up for 15 years and straight back riding a 4yr old OTTB.

I'm physically tough with a lot of English riding experience and dairy farming experience looking to see how the western world operates but can't find anything more than a weeks holiday which is just not what I'm looking for.

Any advice would be great appreciated

[u/-Man_From_The_East]

80% of cowboying is water and fence, 15-20% is cows, 0-5% is horses.

[u/Interesting_Soup_490 → u/-Man_From_The_East]

I thought 80% ot horse owning was fencing 😂

[u/mehssdd → u/Interesting_Soup_490]

More ground to cover ranching, though. The place I work is fifty thousand acres and has hundreds of miles of fence. If you have experience fencing and know you don't mind it, that will certainly be a leg up.

[u/mehssdd → u/-Man_From_The_East]

I think this varies a lot ranch to ranch. We check our animals daily, and move herds multiple times a week. Some ranches are doing similar and doing it on horseback.

I absolutely agree with you that if you don't like building infrastructure you are going to have a bad time.

[u/sootedacez → u/-Man_From_The_East]

This can't be updated enough. I spend more time checking fences, watching water roll down hill, and fixing shit cows break then I do on collectively anything else

[u/Penguin_Life_Now]

You need to find the right type of ranch to fit your background with horses and many ranches these days are relatively horse free and depend on vehicles for most of their work, though horses still have their place in some regions.

[u/Interesting_Soup_490 → u/Penguin_Life_Now]

Thanks that's good to know, the horse part is my main interest

[u/Ok-Rise-4611 → u/Interesting_Soup_490]

Florida still has a lot of ranches that use horses. There are cowboys that work several ranches. Kinda of like the big harvest operations in the mid west

[u/Every_Bison_2690]

If you want to be a farrier, they are in high demand in my area.

[u/mehssdd]

https://quiviracoalition.org/newagrarian/

This is the program I did.

[u/Interesting_Soup_490 → u/mehssdd]

Thanks are you still involved with a ranch?

[u/Background-Job-3629]

Befriend a rancher.

[u/HeartEquivalent333]

I think you should figure out what kind of job you want first, how it adds to your career/goals, then identify specific places where these jobs would be a good fit for you. :)

If you just say “I want to work on a real ranch”, I can tell you right now you will not be touching our horses. We are a pretty serious ranch and roping family, but the horses aren’t used to move our cattle. You will have a 4wheeler. I’m not saying this to be rude I just don’t want you to waste your time.

Instead, try horse-centered roles. For example: Assistant to a Trainer, stud hand, guest ranch host, dude ranch wrangler, land contractor or ranch management, rescue operation or transport, etc. …from there, you can find barns/businesses that would be a good fit, and would NEED help. The western world could use you! Just need to find where you’d fit. Then it’s just a game of persistence. If you badger the right people enough you’ll get a place. Let me know if you need networking tips 😎

[u/Flimsy_Airport595]

My ranch time was this... get up at dark. Light truck. Fill truc k with feed. Feed calves. Pull sick calves. Dr. Calves. Plow till edge of dark. Rinse repeat morning. Sleep. Start over.

[u/Exotic-Accident-2724]

If you want to be a cowboy, just say a prayer.
Start off at the bottom, then work your way down from there.

[u/BetInformal6081]

you might have better luck looking into working ranches that takes seasonal help rather than guest ranches. your horse and dairy experience could be a real advantage.

[u/Bocastown]

Australia or Brazil

[u/Far_Concentrate4062]

Ive got a ranch dm me

[u/The_Wanderer_Life]

This is why The American Cowboy Academy in Montana exists. 100% occupational focused training r/americancowboyacademy

[u/venomous83]

The ranch at devil's tower. Check them out. They get you wrangle cattle and doing work. Teach you to rope. People seem to love the place

[u/No-Contest-9353]

You can get a job as a wrangler/tour guide at the national parks. I know Glacier has it and it's seasonal. You can get a job as a wrangler/tour guide at the national parks. I know Glacier has it and it's seasonal.

[u/elultimohombre827]

Look up the top 10 largest ranches in New Mexico.
The largest is 937950 acres, 1465 sq. Miles. There’s gotta be room for you. Can you cook?

[u/Swksfarmgirl]

If only this group allowed memes…

[u/Swksfarmgirl]

Just don’t do it. I was once a strong young female in ranching. Besides being perpetually broke, constantly juggling credit, and having zero possibility of retirement, you end up tearing yourself up physically. I recommend sticking with your English skills and find a nice suburban area where you can train other young ladies to follow suit.

[u/Outsideforever3388]

Www.coolworks.com

Search for ranch hand or wrangler jobs, they are generally seasonal and run 3-5 months.