Hiring an Apprentice

I have never hired another person before, yet I agreed to hire an apprentice.

I’d like this apprentice to help me expand my direct marketing efforts and work on improving the business of the ranch.

That means everything from tightening up my grazing management so the microbes in the soil thrive to writing down troubleshooting steps for each of my water troughs.

The troubleshooting steps for getting the sheep back in are clear already: Find the sheep, find the hole, patch the hole, open the gate, return the sheep, watch for them to make another hole.

In return for helping me, I get to teach an apprentice how to fix fence, how to stack bales, and how to observe.

I’m pretty sure that observation is the key attribute of a successful rancher.

I’m working with a non-profit organization that finds eager apprentice applicants and willing ranch mentors.

Last week, I interviewed four people.

Thank goodness for Zoom.

One woman resides in Georgia, another in Florida, a third in Pennsylvania and a young man usually lives in California, but is interning in Washington right now.

It might be simpler for me to search for an experienced ranch hand -- one who knows how to find her way along dirt two-tracks, check the water as she passes, throw a saddle on a horse and then cut out a cow that needs help calving.

In fact, the non-profit organization seems to think I need that type of skilled person.

Really, I can teach those aspects of ranching and I can show a person how to plan backward to avoid a predictable wreck.

I have plenty of experience with the consequences of not avoiding predictable wrecks.

I want this apprenticeship to be a two-way street. I’ll teach basic livestock handling and grazing management.

No doubt, my fencing with yellow twine class will be a hit.

But I have never employed a person so I need to learn to be a boss.

Some people might say I’ve been practicing that skill for a long time, but never formally.

The apprenticeship will last from March through October.

The hard end date reassures me.

The hard start date concerns me.

I sincerely doubt any of the candidates have experienced frostbite.

Yet.

If the old adage that a foggy day brings snow or rain in 90 days, an apprentice will fall into a snowdrift on the first day.

The shifting polar vortex compounds that likelihood.

I expect a trial by ice.

So far, winter has allowed me to catch up on some projects, but I’m saving some for my apprentice.

The 36 rolls of woven wire that I hope will keep the sheep out of my neighbor’s grain sit ready to be unrolled and fastened to posts.

The poles I bought two years ago are stacked next to the corral, waiting for ready rod and bolts to put them in place and reinforce the woven wire.

I have 20-foot hog panels waiting to be placed where snow drifts knock the fence down each and every winter.

I hope the person I hire is strong.

This hiring process forced me to think about what I need from an employee.

I need tenacity, initiative and creative troubleshooting.

Those traits might or might not appear in a Zoom interview so I asked each applicant to look for a hole in my operation, a place that could use some improvement, and then offer reasonable solutions.

Yes, that should be an easy task. I have plenty of areas that could use improvement. I’m trying to go easy on them.

After all, I want them to feel welcome. I want them to feel like a good fit around here.