Do people think Ranching is easy? Check out what John Q Public thinks

[Just Duke]

Check this out. Our waiter/server (male) at a restaurant we use to go to called us up and wanted a job on one of our proposed ranches. He said all he makes is $200.00 a day tips plus $13.00 and hour and medical and they MADE!!! him work 30 hours this week. He usually only works 25 hours.
He's 42 and from a wealthy family in San Fransisco

I can't ever remember a 25 hour week in my lifetime........ Mine are usually 18 hours a day but have slowed down here recently.

[bayjoe]

50 weeks a year a minimum of 60 hours a week of irrigating, putting up hay, feeding hay, working on wind mills, fixing fence, repairing broke down equipment that was new in 1958 and finally 2 weeks of cowboying. It's a great life!

[mpbarry1]

Every day is a working vacation. lol

[tommag]

Using those numbers, and assuming a 5 day work week, that comes up to $66,500 a year.
Growing up in a resteraunt, I'm sure its harder than ranchwork, as I saw cowboy movies and they never seemed to work much at all!
I've thrown a few bales,mucked out a few stalls, etc. I can't imagine a hired hand gets paid that much. I think he'd better keep waiting on customers.

[plmitch]

$200.00 a day tips plus $13.00 and hour and medical

Sounds like poor wages to me. I'd have to work 80+ hours a week to get by. His laziness on hour is sad.

[Just Duke]

50 weeks a year a minimum of 60 hours a week of irrigating, putting up hay, feeding hay, working on wind mills, fixing fence, repairing broke down equipment that was new in 1958 and finally 2 weeks of cowboying. It's a great life!

Are you in Parker CO or Elizabeth?

[Just Duke]

His laziness on hour is sad.

Sad indeed!

[bayjoe]

Colorado City/Rye CO area

[starmac]

Someone that could possibly be a waitress until they were 42 years old then switching to ranch work and lasting a week, would be a truly unique individual. In fact someone that once thought about being a waitress would have a hard time making a day on a working ranch, in my opinion. Ranch work is more of something you are born into, very few people turn into cowboys later in life succesfuly, except on the gentleman type hobby ranches.

[Just Duke]

Someone that could possibly be a waitress until they were 42 years old then switching to ranch work and lasting a week, would be a truly unique individual. In fact someone that once thought about being a waitress would have a hard time making a day on a working ranch, in my opinion. Ranch work is more of something you are born into, very few people turn into cowboys later in life succesfuly, except on the gentleman type hobby ranches.

The waiter is a guy.
Someone better raise cows or were going to run out of food in 10 years or less.

[Just Duke]

Colorado City/Rye CO area

You ranch down that way? It's pretty dry.

[starmac]

The waiter is a guy.
Someone better raise cows or were going to run out of food in 10 years or less.

LOL I assumed that, To be honest a female waitress would probably transfer over to ranch life better than a mail waitress. lol

[HollandNut]

I grew up farming and my dad and his brothers foolishly 'gave' all our land away by the time I was getting out of high school and ready to be in the sixth generation farming on the same lands .. My brother , my cousin , and I all of a sudden found what we thought were our futures , gone almost overnight ..

The guy better stay where he is at ..

[Bullshop]

Wonder who he voted for in the last two potus elections?

[Just Duke]

LOL I assumed that, To be honest a female waitress would probably transfer over to ranch life better than a mail waitress. lol

I can surely agree with that. The women at least in this town are a ball of fire when it comes to working.

[Just Duke]

Anyway, The guy is 42, single and living with two Chihuahua's. I think he's a HERE (http://www.missionmission.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/cupcake.jpg)
A lazy one that's for sure.

[bayjoe]

You ranch down that way? It's pretty dry.
No, got out of the business.
Yes it is really dry on the eastern plains of southern Colorado. It will take years for that country to recover. If the tumble weeds catch fire this spring, there won't be nothing left for miles.

[9w1911]

college does that,

[smokeywolf]

Even though I've done little ranch work, it's painfully obvious that nowadays, if you're a small family operation, ranching has to be a labor of love, since if you divide up your net-net profits by the number of hours worked, you're probably lucky if you're making minimum wage.

Also, to most urban dwellers, ranching is just riding around on a horse all day long, when in fact much of it is repairing fences, gates, barns, trucks, tractors and other assorted machinery. Oh, and don't forget that because of the inherent dangers to people and livestock, you have to be a doctor and veterinarian too.

[fatelk]

Sounds almost as bad as dairy farming. I had enough of that growing up, but I can sure respect those who make a living at it.

Yea, you have to be a carpenter, mechanic, electrician, plumber, veterinarian, logger, etc..

[gray wolf]

Sounds like a hard days work that goes into the night.
many People today would get tired just reading this thread.
How do you go from waitress/wait person to Ranch hand ? seems there should be a few steps in between.

[C. Latch]

Thirty hours in one week?

The horror.

[country gent]

Spent summers out of school baling hay and straw with a nieghbor. Depending on the field we could run 3000 bales a day. Theres always something to be done or needing work on a farm or ranch. Once had a co worker tell me farmers had winters off since there were no crops to deal with. I ask Him when do you think equipment gets overhauled and rebuilt for the next year. Farming is a true labor of love as animals need fed watered 7 days a week 52 weeks a year. If there was a stormy nasty night thats when sows were dropping piglets and you were out in it with them. NAsty cold stormy night is when the chickens got raided by animals and you were out in it. We only farmed 160 acres kept some chickens pigs and steers on a small scale. But I learned alot.

[DLCTEX]

I got a laugh thinking about the shock he would get if he showed up to work on a real ranch. He would run back to waiting tables and thank his lucky stars he could.

[Shooternz]

I worked on dairy farms when I was a teenager milking twice a day got a couple of hours off in the middle of the day and between milkings on Sunday, fixing fences and cleaning drainage ditches filled in a fair bit of time, making hay and silage was fun no 40 hours a week then, did learn how to use tools working on farm machines and repairing and painting buildings, A great time for a few years would not want to start doing it at 42 be a hell of a stock to the system getting up before the sun every day. Robert.

[fatelk]

In my last interview for my current job, the manager said that the job requires someone dedicated; if there's a problem at the plant we need to come in no matter what time of the day or night and stay until it's fixed. I told him no problem, I grew up on a dairy farm. That's just how it is on a farm or ranch.

The difference is that on the farm I didn't get embarrassingly generous call-out and overtime pay. :)

I remember watching a movie years ago. The premise was about an idiot city kid who meets a farm girl in college and goes back with her over summer break to stay on the farm. At one point the dad (farmer) tells him that he can stay but needs to help out with the farm work. "No problem, man. I can do the old nine-to-fiver." I thought it was a laugh line, because farmers and ranchers don't even know what a nine-to-fiver is.

I remember being offended because they made the country folk out to be either ignorant hayseeds, or hypocritical jerks. That's just Hollywood, though.

[Sweetpea]

Thirty hours in one week?

The horror.

I'm betting he's never done 70 hours in 4 days, either...

If you're rolling with me, it happens, not all the time, but some people just aren't cut out for it!

[MaryB]

My grandfather had a dairy herd and farmed 80 acres with an old old crank start tractor(Can't remember brand). 4 row planter, 2 row corn picker that was on the cob, we had a crank sheller to make feed. Rented more land for hay that I spent many a summer helping make hay, toss bails as I got a little older and could handle one... up at 5am, in bed at sundown, work in between. Sundays were a half day off for church but if it was calving time we worked. Also had some chickens and pigs that helped feed the extended families that had to be taken care of. The amount of work on just 80 acres would make waiter dude run screaming. Ranching is way worse, stayed with a friend a few times out in SD who had a medium sized ranch.

[DHurtig]

This is an interesting thread. I've been on both sides of the fence. I grew up around farming and ranching. Growing up I milked 65 to 70 head of cows. Farming and ranching is a labor of love. If you don't love it you need to get out. A wise old man said if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. When you are farming or ranching, you are self employed in a business that puts you at the mercy of nature. You do what you have to do to be successful. How hard you work is entirely up to you. The harder you work shows in the pride you take in your place and it shows. Drive through the country and you can tell which places are better cared for.Being self employed also gives you the freedom to do what you want when you want.

Where I have a problem is with people who farm or ranch who think they work harder than EVERYONE else. This is straight up BS. I worked far harder after I left the farm than I did on the farm. I've worked for some of the worst people imaginable. I've worked for people who thought you OWED them because they GAVE you a job. Sorry folks, I earned every damn dime you paid me or should I say underpaid me. I've worked for people that would cheat your time sheets if you didn't watch them. I worked for a guy that I more than doubled the amount of earnings my portion of the business generated in the 4 years I worked there. When I started the area of the business I operated was producing $65 K per year. 4 years later I won national awards from the parent corporation for the number of invoices I serviced and the dollar value produced. The yearly revenue grew to $135 K and the owner was putting $60k a year in his pocket on what I alone produced. I was making $28k. I asked for a raise. I showed the owner how much I had increased the revenue and explained that I felt I was worth more than I was being paid. I was told I had a bad attitude and was fired. He had to hire two people to match what I had produced. I'm 59 years old and feel the aches of a lifetime of hard physical work.

To those of you in farming and ranching, I've been there and done that. I know what you do and I respect it. Your life can be difficult and your efforts are not always rewarded. However don't think you work harder and do more than everyone else because it just isn't true. Sure you work harder than than some dirt for brains knot head in a coffee shop, but there's plenty of us out here that work just as hard and some even harder than you do. Please don't disrespect those of us that work as hard as you do and don't have all the perks that come with ranch life.

[starmac]

Ranch work is not physically harder than a lot of jobs, but the conditions can make it a lot worse than most, and anybody that usually would consider being a waitress, would not normally have the grit it takes. period I didn't see any post on here that put down any other occupation. But I guarantee, I have worked some tough jobs, and I couldn't take a ranch job any more, and wouldn't even try.

[Stephen Cohen]

I would love to know what you told him, after you stopped laughing. MY god a 42yr old moron, its a shame you didn't run one of those dude ranches with a side show I for one would have payed to just
speak to a real for true talking moron.

[Boyscout]

If he is from San Francisco, he is probably barely making it on $66,000 a year with the cost of housing being what it is.

[Wayne Smith]

I'll bet he wouldn't last a day on a horse! I know I wouldn't. That hurts and you have to be muscled into it. I'll bet he'd cry foul within half a day. No, I didn't grow up with horses, but I did grow up on farms. Maybe that's why I'm a psychologist!

[btroj]

Why do people think any job is easy? No, he wouldn't do well on a ranch. Would a ranch hand do well as a waiter in a smarmy restaurant? Not likely.

Every job has its ups and downs. Physical labor isn't easy but neither is neurosurgery. Some jobs at physically demanding, some mentally demanding.

Do your job and do it well.

[mtnman31]

As a teen I worked one summer on a farm. All I can say is that the the next summer I decided instead to work as a lifeguard and held that job until I graduated high school.

Farm work would suit me more now as an adult than as a kid. As a kid I weighed 105 lbs and frankly, the animals walked all over me. Now, I see farmers/ranchers as self-reliant people who have to be a jack of all trades. I respect that versatility and I also like that farming is a life where you get out of it what you put into it. Then again, if I had all that land to farm/ranch on, I'd probably view it as one giant shooting range and I'd end up spending my days shooting instead of doing the work.

[osteodoc08]

Ranch work is some hard work. It breaks down the body and you're an old man before you know it. I've helped out an old friend of mine during my summers during college. His grandparents were gettign older and had a few hundred head of cattle as well as several hay fields. We were constantly fixing stuff, mending fences. One day during a drought, the fence that was guarded by a small 7-8 acre pond was dried up enough they could wad across it and were able to push through the fence in a bad spot. That was a pain in the **** to get mended. His grandparents had a very nice case tractor that had A/C and the whole 9 yards in it. We let them use it while we ran smaller tractors around moving big round bales and filling up trailers of local farmers that would buy the round bales from them. We also had to tend to the livestock. Dangerous work. Hard work. Fulfilling work and made you an honest man.

[searcher4851]

I reckon there's a lot of jobs folks think are easy or fun, mostly because they've never done them.

[oneokie]

If it was easy, more people would be doing it instead of working for wages and benefits.

[km101]

I worked a couple of summers on a ranch when I was a kid in high school. I made 65 cents an hour working for the richest man in the US (at that time) H.L. Hunt. The cowboying was fun and hard work too. But the haying and fence building ,and the other stuff that did not involve being on horseback, convinced me to get an education and go in another direction.

Anyone who has not grown up farming or ranching is VERY unlikely to make the transition from an "inside" job to being a ranch hand. It's just too much of a culture shock.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I have done farm work as a teenager, mostly in cotton. I worked one summer in northern Illinois in the corn fields and all of it was hard work but it was a not as stress full as what I did later in life. I went to work for the phone company when I was 21 and worked there for over 37 years. As an hourly employee the work was not physically hard but when I went into management the mental strain could be a real bitch. We did work that the public doesn't even know exists. I was in charge of a large telephone office in Long Beach, California and all other offices in town routed through that office to get to the big toll office in Compton, Ca. I had taken over the job when the man who was in charge of the office had a stroke. The man had babied the crew and they resented me and made my job as hard as possible and one of them was a union rep. She was a 4ft.10 inch tall witch. We were preparing to change the routing to go to the new toll office in Gardena, Ca. the preparation had taken months and I didn't know if the work was done correctly or not. Came the night of the big cutover and some of the other offices couldn't get through to the toll office, came 4:00 AM the entire crew went to lunch and there was not one thing I could do about it. Come 5:00 AM and the real pressure started to build. If you haven't been there you have no idea the strain it puts on you. There was one employee who helped me shoot the trouble and fix it and I never forgot it. When I left that hell hole after a year and a half I felt like I had been released from a chain gang. I was assigned to an office that was closing,at least the old electro mechanical side of it. After six months at that job I went into outside plant and retired at that job. Yes the grass can look greener but it may not taste as well as it looks.

[Smoke4320]

a jack of all trades , some luck , and some really good help (wife, hopefully some kids)

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Maybe he just wants to be a cattle Guard ? ?

[tygar]

Even though I've done little ranch work, it's painfully obvious that nowadays, if you're a small family operation, ranching has to be a labor of love, since if you divide up your net-net profits by the number of hours worked, you're probably lucky if you're making minimum wage.

Also, to most urban dwellers, ranching is just riding around on a horse all day long, when in fact much of it is repairing fences, gates, barns, trucks, tractors and other assorted machinery. Oh, and don't forget that because of the inherent dangers to people and livestock, you have to be a doctor and veterinarian too.

Yes it is. I've been lucky. Being in the military & being able to have small farms/ranches most of the time. Working full time, going to school, running a farm & bleacher butt from 3 kids keeps you busy.

Fixing fence cause of those dam angus & fixing fence cause of those gd dam angus & fixing fence cause of those bleep bleep angus, really sucks.

Really miss the horses & cows + a couple sheep & pigs. We talk about fencing some of our acreage frequently & putting some livestock on it. Then we think about it. Then we laugh about it. Then we forget about it.

But, I sure wish I could still ride, just to busted up. Rode my first bucking horse at about six. Had my Appy stud for 33yrs. Just loved that old horse.

Sure could use some of those Simental x cows throwing 100+lb calves now with beef so hi. Think the highest I ever got was $57 or 58.

Don't know how people can make it with pigs now (or for the last 30+ yrs) unless you grow your own grain. I had a farrowing operation & grain from the farmers went from $17 to $55 in less than a year & the price of wieners went up only $2 & grain never came down. Couldn't do any butcher hogs except for our own consumption after that.

But still miss the old farm. Best life in the world.

[starmac]

The simental crosses is some of the ornriest cattle I have worked, especially simbrays. gees I don't miss them.

[Three44s]

I am a rancher/farmer. We run beef cattle and run our calves out to yearlings. We raise more hay than we need and sell the surplus ....... mostly to horse accounts.


I have never tried to second guess how hard someone else works ....... it's none of my business.

Ranching and farming has gotten physically easier than it was several years ago. The mechanization has caused this.

The downside is the bureacracy!

It seems like every time you turn around ....... there is a new bullseye on your back.

The other scary thing is how few people know where their food comes from ........ there is always some ding-a-ling measure up for vote somewhere that threats the existence of agriculture and we are in the cross hairs again ....... and AGAIN!

What I would like is to take a nice long vacation and when the clueless folks run out of food .........

............ we'll ...... talk


As a fellow ag person ........ I really tip my hat to Dairymen ........ I simply could not stand the monotony!

I let our calves milk our cows ......... they like it that way and so do I!!!!

My fences are not torn down much by my cattle ........ rather .......... it's ELK and PEOPLE!

The elk are bound and determined to eat our alfalfa, in the field and the hay stack ....... and the people are not skilled enough to stay in the road!

Best regards

Three 44s

[Hardcast416taylor]

We were operating 3 farms totaling 600+ acres when Dad died. I was 13 at the time, my brother was 5 yr. older and just started in at MSU. Mom had a frail heart, but did what she could as did my 10 yr. old sister. We had 2 full time hired hands that both quit the next Spring - didn`t like a 14 yr. old as a boss. We milked 40 Holstines, had a swine operation supplying Farmer Peet packing and a lot of young cattle and crops land. I managed to stay in school besides running all 3 farms. I was smoking Lucky`s at age 15. Finally got 2 more hired hands that worked for me fairly well. By the time I graduated HS at age 18 my Mom had almost died from a heart attack and my sister hurt in a car accident. We square baled about 25K of all 3 cuttings, straw was about 11K or so. It was all handled by hand, no fancy machine loaders. Silage was another chore putting up, especially if it was muddy. A month after I graduated HS my Mom surprised everybody by announcing I was going to college and everything on the farm was being auctioned off and the 2 rented farms were being dropped! She cash rented the farm till 1990 when she died. I went 2 years in college till my money ran out, no scholarships, so I went into the job market and finally plumbing for the final 35 1/2 yr.before retiring in `03. Along the way I met a German gal that I married and we still are 46 years later along with 4 kids. We lost our Marine son 3 years back.Robert

[tygar]

The simental crosses is some of the ornriest cattle I have worked, especially simbrays. gees I don't miss them.

Yep but they throw big az calves that put on a bunch of weight & can go 1200+ easy in a yr. You just can't beat the leg they put under a calve.

I would use the angus bulls for open heifers, herford for cows & to cross the sims, or a sim bull on white face & a friend had a 1/2 sim bull that we would run. We always swapped bulls around. My angus to them for open heifers, & the sims would be passed around & we all had herfords. The white face calm them down a lot & soon they are all 50-50 or 25-75.

It is amazing how so many people havn't a clue where their food comes from. I swear to god some of them some of them think meat comes magically in packages for the stores.

Here's something to get your attention. One year I had 3 sets of twins out of a group of 26 second & third calf cows, all survived & did well.

Man, get some old country boys talking about livestock & it can really go on.

To make it part of CB, I have on occasion killed a pig or 2 with my .44 with 240 keiths.

[smokeywolf]

Hardcast416taylor, you and your family are the lifeblood of this Country. You, your family members and those like you are the ones who make this Country what it once was. It's a dirty shame the Gov't. jack@sses don't acknowledge that and put your/our interests above those of their owners.

smokeywolf

[762 shooter]

Most people think that other people have it easy. Most people think that others make more money than they actually do.

Onlookers tell me all the time that I have an easy job.

I tell them that I don't have an easy job, I just make it look easy.

762

[starmac]

I will admit I have an easy job, it just doesn't get much easier than sitting on your butt driving a truck. lol

[smokeywolf]

I will admit I have an easy job, it just doesn't get much easier than sitting on your butt driving a truck. lol

Maybe... But you have to put up with an awful lot of idiots.
Back in '74-'75, spent a year and a half driving a '73 Pete conventional and a '71 KW cab-over. Wouldn't want to do that now.

smokeywolf

[starmac]

Why do you think I choose to drive in Ak, not near as crowded, and natural selection works a little better here too. lol

[tommag]

Maybe... But you have to put up with an awful lot of idiots.
Back in '74-'75, spent a year and a haliving a '73 Pete conventional and a '71 KW cab-over. Wouldn't want to do that now.

smokeywolf
I have shied away from the post emissions (2013 and newer). If you drove a 2012 truck, you would be amazed! The first truck I bought was a 1977 international. There is no comparison between the 70's and today!

[shdwlkr]

Yep working with animals must be an easy job.
I remember a day like today rainy, cold and miserable day, we were going to get the mower, rake and bailer ready for haying. Well first the bull got out of his pen and went traveling, when I got him back, yes I did it myself, he liked me I fed him, talked to him and always made sure he had lots of water. Then the cows decided it was there turn to travel and messed up a lot of fence and yes we got them in and fence fixed. Soaked, cold and tired we went changed into dry clothes, had some hot chocolate and went back to working on the machinery. Came milking time and a thunder storm moved in and that ended the electric power so we milked 65 cows by hand, what fun, never saw my fingers so big in my life or hurt so much either.

Yep working with animals is fun, forget the manure spreader acting up in pouring rain and you are out in the field or up to your butt in snow, the gutter cleaner breaks so you get to shovel all that lovely stuff into the spreader, or the blower clogs so you have 80 feet of pipe to bring down and clean and put back up so you can finish unloading the truck, or the truck with a load of hay blows a few tires that now need replaced, or the brakes that suddenly don't work as good as they should and you are going down hill.

Getting up at 3:30am so you can begin milking at 4:30 am after feeding the cows and graining them, then cleaning the milking equipment, getting the cows out, cleaning the stall areas and still find time to eat breakfast and get to school on time.

Would like to have my own farm/ranch again not so much for the great income that goes with having one as much as getting back to the land. The smell of fresh cut hay, the full barn of good quality hay, the animals coming to see if you are going to drop a salt lick or not, the calves and the antics they get into, the sunsets and nights with no other lights around but those around the barn, house and shop area. The sounds of nature at both ends of the day.

Most of all I would like to end my journey in this life sitting in the seat some farm equipment instead of hospital bed or nursing home just waiting for the end to come and take me out of this miserable existence.

Don't forget everything you see in the store be it meat, fish, veggies all comes from the back of the store we don't need farms to produce any of these things, Heard a mother telling her kids this one day. Another weathered individual who was next to me said it never was that way when I was growing up. I returned that when I was growing up steaks were walking around the farm until we hung them up and gutted them and skinned them and ended up with either 2 halves of an animal or 4 quarters and I usually got to carry a quarter home to my folks if things were going good on the farm.

Yep farming or ranching is easy today you sit and watch tv, drink alcohol and ride in your convertible when the sun is out. The animals take care of themselves, load themselves onto the trucks, slaughter themselves and even rap and toss themselves into the freezer so you can go pick out what you want for dinner. No getting wet, covered in manure, dirt and sweat anymore it is all automated don't you know.

Yea farming or ranching is a whole lot easier today just ask Mr Bundy in Nevada

[tygar]

Yep working with animals must be an easy job.
I remember a day like today rainy, cold and miserable day, we were going to get the mower, rake and bailer ready for haying. Well first the bull got out of his pen and went traveling, when I got him back, yes I did it myself, he liked me I fed him, talked to him and always made sure he had lots of water. Then the cows decided it was there turn to travel and messed up a lot of fence and yes we got them in and fence fixed. Soaked, cold and tired we went changed into dry clothes, had some hot chocolate and went back to working on the machinery. Came milking time and a thunder storm moved in and that ended the electric power so we milked 65 cows by hand, what fun, never saw my fingers so big in my life or hurt so much either.

Yep working with animals is fun, forget the manure spreader acting up in pouring rain and you are out in the field or up to your butt in snow, the gutter cleaner breaks so you get to shovel all that lovely stuff into the spreader, or the blower clogs so you have 80 feet of pipe to bring down and clean and put back up so you can finish unloading the truck, or the truck with a load of hay blows a few tires that now need replaced, or the brakes that suddenly don't work as good as they should and you are going down hill.

Getting up at 3:30am so you can begin milking at 4:30 am after feeding the cows and graining them, then cleaning the milking equipment, getting the cows out, cleaning the stall areas and still find time to eat breakfast and get to school on time.

Would like to have my own farm/ranch again not so much for the great income that goes with having one as much as getting back to the land. The smell of fresh cut hay, the full barn of good quality hay, the animals coming to see if you are going to drop a salt lick or not, the calves and the antics they get into, the sunsets and nights with no other lights around but those around the barn, house and shop area. The sounds of nature at both ends of the day.

Most of all I would like to end my journey in this life sitting in the seat some farm equipment instead of hospital bed or nursing home just waiting for the end to come and take me out of this miserable existence.

Don't forget everything you see in the store be it meat, fish, veggies all comes from the back of the store we don't need farms to produce any of these things, Heard a mother telling her kids this one day. Another weathered individual who was next to me said it never was that way when I was growing up. I returned that when I was growing up steaks were walking around the farm until we hung them up and gutted them and skinned them and ended up with either 2 halves of an animal or 4 quarters and I usually got to carry a quarter home to my folks if things were going good on the farm.

Yep farming or ranching is easy today you sit and watch tv, drink alcohol and ride in your convertible when the sun is out. The animals take care of themselves, load themselves onto the trucks, slaughter themselves and even rap and toss themselves into the freezer so you can go pick out what you want for dinner. No getting wet, covered in manure, dirt and sweat anymore it is all automated don't you know.

Yea farming or ranching is a whole lot easier today just ask Mr Bundy in Nevada

That is a definite no shtr.

[Bad Water Bill]

I have shied away from the post emissions (2013 and newer). If you drove a 2012 truck, you would be amazed! The first truck I bought was a 1977 international. There is no comparison between the 70's and today!

The first TRUCK I drove was at N A S Oceana Va in 1956.

They needed someone to haul 10,000 gal of JP to the asreoplaines.

Had to get "another " license.

Got in the cab with the Sea Bee instructor and away we went down the dirt road.

After several stops where I must have ground off 5# of gear meat each time he decided I might not be the problem.

He climbed behind the wheel and finished up what I had started or helped along.

We walked back a couple miles to the office where I was given "another" license and the instructor got in a wrecker to tow the gas truck and all of the pieces of the transmission (they were generously scattered all over the road) back to the shop.

All the while I was walking back ,slapping swarms of mosquitoes,dodging hugh mud holes,sweating like a pig I was wondering how much brig time I was looking at for destroying gov property(just out of boot camp 4 weeks will do that to you) till we hit the office and another sea bee congratulated us for FINALLY putting an end to that &%^$ truck and the miserable ^&&$#% trannie.

Yup Big old floor shifter no power steering,AC or power breaks .

Do not hit those breaks very hard son or just a few gal of JP will come slushing out to give you a very refreshing shower.

MEMORIES of the good old days.

[shdwlkr]

Bad water bill
The first thing I ever drove was a farmall H that didn't fit my short legs well so the father-in-law went and drilled holes in the pedals of his farmall M that was on the place and put wood blocks enough on the pedals so I could reach them. That was my tractor for a few years until I began to grow some.

I was a runt and yes bullying was alive and well even 50 plus years ago. When I hit 15 I began to grow went from a little over 5 feet and 125 pounds to 5 foot 8 inches and 180 pounds the bullying slowed down some and in college it totally ended when I hit 6 foot 4 inches and 265 pounds. I was the smallest in height and weight among my friends at college. Military took me down to 175 pounds in 8 weeks and still had my height and enjoyed all the climbing they wanted us want to be airborne ranger types. I had to climb up on the pole tower to get a friend of mine that froze 40 feet in the air. He was short legged and the poles were a long step for him. I walked it backwards helping him get across. Got yelled at by the Major when I got down, but he was more pleased we didn't lose anyone on the confidence course that day. He also told me I was nuts to have gone after my friend, but I informed him leaving someone behind was not my style. Yes my friend passed the confidence course by following me through my second time of doing it. yes the old days glad they are in the past. Today you would never get away with some of the I did way back when.
My first truck was a '37 chevy 2 1/2 ton with 2spd rear axle that we would put way more than that on it when haying. then I moved up to the big truck a '56 dodge with 2spd rear axle and it would out run the '37 all day long and I could carry twice the load and did. Then I moved on to bigger trucks that had 18 wheels and whole lot more gears.

[smokeywolf]

Never hauled liquid; at least not in a tanker. Never got the endorsement to my license. The only liquid I hauled was in a 40 ft. box filled with little cans and bottles that had Michelob and Schlitz on the labels.

[HollandNut]

don't want no tanker , stick to my reefers and dry boxes ..

We hadda couple wore out Farmall H's and M's , big pulley on the side for the PTO to run the grainers and the like

47 or 48 GMC 2 1/2 ton with the starter in the floor by the gas pedal , is what I learned to drive in , old scoundrel probly wouldn't hit 50 mph tops , but it'd pull anything ya had a mind to hook to it ..

[shooterg]

A farm is a great place to grow up, but a tough way to earn a living nowadays. On 250 acres we had about all you could pack on it - with 1100 chickens Gramps useta pull the back seat out of the 50 Dodge and haul crates of eggs to local restaurants on Saturdays until he got a 1954 Ford truck, then put the seat back in so he could haul us to the Southern Baptist church he preached in on Sunday ! Useta could sell eggs/meat/jelly to the townfolk, no hassle. Now ya gotta have permits to breathe. Still have 80 acres of the old place, but it's woods and pasture and shooting range now !

[starmac]

Give me a flat, step, lowboy, dolly, bullwagon or tanker and I am fine, but never had the right temperment to deal with dock workers required to pull a box or reefer, especially at food warehouses.

[Just Duke]

This is an interesting thread. I've been on both sides of the fence. I grew up around farming and ranching. Growing up I milked 65 to 70 head of cows. Farming and ranching is a labor of love. If you don't love it you need to get out. A wise old man said if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. When you are farming or ranching, you are self employed in a business that puts you at the mercy of nature. You do what you have to do to be successful. How hard you work is entirely up to you. The harder you work shows in the pride you take in your place and it shows. Drive through the country and you can tell which places are better cared for.Being self employed also gives you the freedom to do what you want when you want.

Where I have a problem is with people who farm or ranch who think they work harder than EVERYONE else. This is straight up BS. I worked far harder after I left the farm than I did on the farm. I've worked for some of the worst people imaginable. I've worked for people who thought you OWED them because they GAVE you a job. Sorry folks, I earned every damn dime you paid me or should I say underpaid me. I've worked for people that would cheat your time sheets if you didn't watch them. I worked for a guy that I more than doubled the amount of earnings my portion of the business generated in the 4 years I worked there. When I started the area of the business I operated was producing $65 K per year. 4 years later I won national awards from the parent corporation for the number of invoices I serviced and the dollar value produced. The yearly revenue grew to $135 K and the owner was putting $60k a year in his pocket on what I alone produced. I was making $28k. I asked for a raise. I showed the owner how much I had increased the revenue and explained that I felt I was worth more than I was being paid. I was told I had a bad attitude and was fired. He had to hire two people to match what I had produced. I'm 59 years old and feel the aches of a lifetime of hard physical work.

To those of you in farming and ranching, I've been there and done that. I know what you do and I respect it. Your life can be difficult and your efforts are not always rewarded. However don't think you work harder and do more than everyone else because it just isn't true. Sure you work harder than than some dirt for brains knot head in a coffee shop, but there's plenty of us out here that work just as hard and some even harder than you do. Please don't disrespect those of us that work as hard as you do and don't have all the perks that come with ranch life.

Looks like we have both worked for the same employers. This is also typical in most work places I have seen.

[Gator 45/70]

I only work 87 hrs in a 7 day period, I feel like a slacker.

[Bad Water Bill]

Just remembered a special truck I did buy.

A 1931 model A Ford truck.

Double tires on the rear with a PTO but no doors.

While driving her rapidly down the road(a major BLACK cloud was over head) about 60 MPH I was pulled over by a State trooper.

He wanted to buy the matching 1931 truck license plates.

They are still around here someplace but the truck was stolen years ago.

In the many years I was involved in Model As and at conventions at Dearborn Mi I never saw so much as a photo of that type of Ford.

[lefty o]

I only work 87 hrs in a 7 day period, I feel like a slacker.

lol, yup everyones job is always harder than anyone else's.

[Mumblypeg]

Yes it is. I've been lucky. Being in the military & being able to have small farms/ranches most of the time. Working full time, going to school, running a farm & bleacher butt from 3 kids keeps you busy.

Fixing fence cause of those dam angus & fixing fence cause of those gd dam angus & fixing fence cause of those bleep bleep angus, really sucks.

Really miss the horses & cows + a couple sheep & pigs. We talk about fencing some of our acreage frequently & putting some livestock on it. Then we think about it. Then we laugh about it. Then we forget about it.

But, I sure wish I could still ride, just to busted up. Rode my first bucking horse at about six. Had my Appy stud for 33yrs. Just loved that old horse.

Sure could use some of those Simental x cows throwing 100+lb calves now with beef so hi. Think the highest I ever got was $57 or 58.

Don't know how people can make it with pigs now (or for the last 30+ yrs) unless you grow your own grain. I had a farrowing operation & grain from the farmers went from $17 to $55 in less than a year & the price of wieners went up only $2 & grain never came down. Couldn't do any butcher hogs except for our own consumption after that.

But still miss the old farm. Best life in the world.

I work on a friends farm many days now. He and I both retired from LE. I'd rather do that now than fool with drunks and crazies. Cows don't talk back much... I can string some barbed wire and look back at what I've done. He always says " Fences are for honest cows." LOL. It's more about the trees that fall on them around here than the cows... and the deer mess them up a lot too. Oh... and we have a horse but the 4 wheeler carries more and I don't have to feed it when I'm not riding it! I never get home before dark though but I'm not complaining! Just watch out for the cows that have a funny look in their eyes.....

[starmac]

Never really had trouble with deer and fences, they usually jump them. Antelope and elk are a whole nother story. An antelope will not jump them, but goes through them, elk will halfway jump them and ride them down.

[Mumblypeg]

You know Duke, all you have to do is invite that waiter over on one of his days off and let him see if he likes the job..... that way they won't have to re-hire him when he goes back to waiting tables... :-)