Strommen Ranch

Ranch Hand Intern

May - August 2019 • Fort Rice, ND

What I liked

I had an absolute amazing time this summer. Aaron and Sheyna were amazing to work for and their three kids definitely kept things interesting! Their oldest is a sophomore in high school, their middle is an eighth grader and their youngest, will steal your heart and he is in the second grade. One of my favorite jobs this summer was "cake" breaking the heifers. Cake is like a treat that is full of extra vitamins and minerals that the cattle might not be getting enough of in the pasture. At first the heifers were curious, they would slowly come towards the piles I made and smell around, but by the end of the summer all I would have to do is turn the ranger off and yell "come boss" and those girls would come running! A couple of the heifers would even eat the cake out of my hand. Another part of the job that was always exciting was watching the calves grow and flourish into beautiful calves! The Strommen's have an incredible herd and their calves really show how great of genetics they use!

What I wish was different

Not going to lie, the house they provide for the interns is a little run down and defiantly not the best, but it was manageable and I would only spend enough time in there to sleep and have breakfast, for everything else I was up at the main house! Other than that, I do not think I would change a whole lot. It was a lot of long days and hard work, but the experiences and the skills I obtained from working there are irreplaceable!

Advice

Come to the job ready to learn and expecting to have some long days! I wish I had taken more initiative to ask questions about some of the projects we worked on and written down some of the most exciting things I learned over the couple months i was there.

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