Ranching Income and Work
Ranching is hard work and you may have long physically strenuous days. Cattle must have daily food and water regardless of the weather. You must process payroll for employees, keep structures in good repair, monitor the health of your livestock, and secure buyers for your cattle.
Ranching can also be a physically demanding job, as it often involves a lot of hard work in often challenging conditions. Wages typically start from $21,471 and go up to $41,624. In 2016, the Census Bureau reported that 85.8 percent of farmers, ranchers and agricultural managers are male, earning an average income of $55,803 per year. Those in the bottom 10 percent of wage earners make around $35,360 while those in the top 10 percent earn over $135,900.
Ranchers can make anywhere between $70,000 to $140,000 a year on average. There are many factors that come into play when it comes to producing income from ranching. The size of your ranch will make an impact. Large cattle ranches make the most money because of the price of a cow.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary of a rancher in 2019 was $71,160. Ranching is a complicated occupation that requires ranchers to perform a variety of different jobs. The work of a rancher depends on the specific type of ranch jobs and ranch in question.
Starting a Career in Ranching
How do I start a career in ranching? Starting a career as a rancher involves gaining hands-on experience in animal husbandry and farm management. You’ll need to learn about livestock care, crop cultivation, and business operations. Consider agricultural courses or apprenticeships to build a solid foundation in these areas.
Opportunities and Challenges in Ranching
Many of our alumni get into ranching from scratch by custom grazing cattle on leased land. This is often a model with a strong cash flow and can allow the operator to build reserves that can be used to invest in livestock or real estate. This certainly isn’t a utopia. There are the challenges of finding leases, managing landowners, developing good grazing infrastructure and many others. The skills necessary to be successful in this path include: People Skills – managing landowners, marketing yourself as a lessee and custom grazer, putting a team together to do the day-to-day. Grazing Skills – planning, implementing and monitoring land health and reporting back to landowners.