Ranching with kids
The reality is being a parent and a entrepreneur isn’t easy, and I would argue that being a parent and ranching is even harder. Today’s blog is all about parenting, managing a ranch business and how to find balance.
To give you some context I will tell you all a little about our small family. Mandy and I have two young boys, Jack four years old and Max six months old. My full-time occupation is managing the ranch business, Parker Creek Ranch. On the side I also consult for other ranchers with our consulting business, Ranch Consulting & Marketing Solutions, LLC. Mandy has significantly more on her plate. She is a education consultant for the Welder Wildlife Foundation Rangeland’s Curriculum, Chair of the James G. Teer Leadership Institute, conducting a research project with SARE and AgriLife Extension Service, helping on the ranch when she can and most importantly taking care of our children. Don’t get me wrong I help with the kids a lot, but not to the extent that mom does. Simply put there are things that she can do that I can not. Jack now attends school so he is away from home four days a week. As we all know farming is a seven day per week job that never stops.
First and foremost it needs to be understood that the ranch is a business. It is how we derive most of our income for the family. In a perfect world I would love more than anything to work on the ranch with my kids. The reality is most of the time I’m driving around checking livestock, packing and delivering orders, working in my office, building fence and all of the other normal farm activities. Having the kids with me would be the ideal, romantic world, but that simply doesn’t work. Our children are young and young kids want to play. Some children may be able to entertain themselves playing in the dirt, and that works occasionally for a minute or two. Beyond that it does not work out like you want it to. Another huge concern is their safety. Ranches can be dangerous places. In fact, farms/ranches rank among the most dangerous occupations when it comes to injuries and accidents. Ranch work often involves tractors with implements, cattle that are large and scary for a kid and everything in South Texas wants to poke or sting you.
In the past I have done a terrible job balancing work and family life. Until recently I would work 14 hour days on a normal basis. On a yearly basis we were producing ten thousand meat birds, one thousand turkeys, a hundred head of cattle, and three thousand laying hens. Even though we had employees it was a long daily grind on the ranch. The work was endless. I’m a early riser often waking up at 4:30 on a normal day. Until recently it wasn’t uncommon to be working in the poultry processing facility until 9 or 10 PM. Working those kind of hours put a lot of stress on my relationship with Mandy and ultimately my kids. Over the past six months or so I have shifted my mindset and become much more conscious about how much time I spend working. I try my best to be done by 5 PM even if I’m in the middle of a project. My mentality is that there is always work to be done on ranch and the difference of one hour or one day ultimately makes little difference. That time is much more precious and valuable spent with Mandy and the kids.
I really do dream about my boys working alongside me someday. I wish more than anything for them to gain appreciation for a hard days work. It’s a work ethic that was instilled in me as a kid, that if you work hard good things will come. In time I am sure they will be able to help on the ranch, but that time is not now. That being said Mandy and I involve them when we can. We all go collect eggs in the evening around sunset and Jack is more interested in catching chickens rather than gathering eggs. Jack is learning to drive the RTV, so he sometimes helps me roll up and set electric fences for the cattle. Max, at six months old is just along for the ride if the weather is cooperative. Jack is learning already that if he helps he will be rewarded. We make it a point to pay him something so that he may begin to understand that this is how we make our living (For those of you especially with older kids, pay them! It’s the right thing to do for many reasons). There are so many benefits and lessons learned raising kids on a ranch that it’s hard to list them all.
There are a lot of folks out there who will argue that ranching or farming is strictly business. Don’t get lifestyle involved. I would say to them that simply isn’t the reality when you live on the ranch. Perhaps it would be different if we lived in town and the ranch was physically separate. For us that simply isn’t the case. First and foremost the ranch is a business, but it’s also a part of our lifestyle. If your an entrepreneur and have children be conscious of your work-life balance. When it’s time to work don’t feel guilty about not doing it with your spouse or children. Treat it as you would any other job. When you aren’t working it’s equally as important to give your spouse and children one hundred percent of your time and energy. I hope this helps those of you out there struggling to find balance.
Questions or comments please feel free to reach out. Send me an e-mail to mail@parkercreekranch.com.
