Ranching for a Reason

Dear Reader,    

Some women are born into ranching, some women marry into ranching, and some women discover that ranching has a calling on their soul. No matter what gate a woman enters into the ranching world, there is always a lot for a ranch woman to learn. Not only about the caring of livestock, equipment, and cowboys, but the everyday little tricks of the trade that make her life a little easier. These tricks are often passed from generation to generation of ranch women, but sometimes a ranch woman finds herself without the help of a mentor. So, she must scour the library and the internet for little nuggets of wisdom that may just fix her problem. Maybe you are a ranch woman who is up to her elbows in children and horses, maybe you are a young ranch woman who has just returned from college, or maybe you are a new ranch woman who is wondering just what you have gotten yourself into. Regardless of where you find yourself in ranching, hopefully here you can find some information that you are looking for or just some encouragement for your everyday life. 

Ranch Woman’s Tip: Remember you love your family.

              Ranching can be a high stress job, and sometimes ranchers are the only ones who realize that. Yes, ranchers do live at a slower pace of life compared to those who live in town, but things on a ranch can still get… well, ranchy. A simple chore, such as rotating pastures can soon turn into cows running in three directions, dogs chasing the wrong animals or going MIA, and horses deciding to become unbroke. Situations like these can cause a rancher to reach peak stress levels in a matter of minutes. With tempers flaring, cattle panicking, and kids forgetting how to ride, the whole universe feels like it is out of control. When the cows are finally put away, the dogs finally trailing behind the horses, and the horses and kids retrained, and you finally have a chance to assess your adrenaline fused emotions… that is a good time to remember that you love your family. That’s who you are doing everything for anyways. They are part of the reason that you chose to live this lifestyle. Your husband may be the reason that you left the city or your family’s ranch, or maybe you live out here because it is a good place to raise your kids. Remember why you made those choices and that by doing what you are doing, you are living out the love that prompted you to make those choices.

              Ranching doesn’t just stay on the ranch, sometimes it requires you to venture out into civilization, and even that can be stressful. It can be hard to remember that you love your family when you are running errands with your siblings in town and it is getting late. Emotions are probably a little strained at this time, but you are doing a somewhat decent job trying not to fight while remembering everything you are supposed to get at the store. But your fragile “in control” persona can crash to the floor when you get an unexpected call from your dad saying that you need to get a part from the mechanic shop a couple towns over.  A town that happens to have a booming population, with the mechanic shop located on a road that did not expand with the booming population. “But it’s okay!” you tell yourself as you navigate your ranch vehicle with questionable power steering down a road clearly not made for ranch trucks. Really though, it’s not that you mind doing this stuff for your parents, it’s just that you didn’t have time to mentally prepare for driving in the city, because where you are from three cars in front of you and passing 10 on the way home is considered busy traffic. While driving through traffic and trying not to make people mad, you might start to think about your life choices.  Maybe you start to reconsider coming back to the ranch after college, maybe you should have gotten a job off the ranch that allowed you to drive a small car, but your family is part of the reason that you came back. You missed whispering inside jokes to your sisters and secretly missed your brother asking you to help him catch his horse. Yes, you came back because ranching is in your blood, but you also came back because your family is what makes ranching worthwhile.

              Remember you love your family when the only thing that feels good right now is screaming at the heifers that just broke out of the pens at the top of your lungs and you are shaking with anger. Remembering that you do, in fact, love your family in moments of high stress or intense fury helps bring things back into perspective. It reminds you that life is bigger than the current crisis of the moment. It reminds you that the world is not ending, even though you feel like your breath has been snatched away. Don’t worry, your breath will come back, and your family will be waiting for you.