This isn't Recreation

In several weeks, I'm putting on a webinar for agency and nonprofit staff entitled, "Working with Ranchers." In preparation for the workshop, I polled a number of my ranching friends, asking them, "What would you want folks to know about ranching?" One of my friends responded, "It would be useful if they realized that it is a business, not a recreation." I was reminded of this comment today as I talked to a homeowner in the community where we graze our sheep all winter - she asked us to avoid 3-4 days worth of grazing on her property so her son could have a paintball battle with his friends.

Our sheep enterprise is very part time - we only have about 100 ewes. By my estimation, we'd need to be running at least 500 ewes to generate enough revenue to pay me a full time salary (albeit, less salary than I make now). But it is a business. We track our income and expenses. Our capital purchases (like equipment or dogs) have to increase revenue or decrease expenses. We generate a profit (a small one, but a profit nonetheless).

From the outside looking in, I suppose, the fact that we spend our Saturday mornings (not to mention the other days of the week) building fence rather than walking our dogs or having paint ball battles suggests that we're recreational sheepherders. I don't mean to suggest that we don't recreate - I love to fish, hunt, and backpack. For the last month, I've been sawing lumber with a chainsaw mill - purely recreational. But our sheep are a business, which I guess is difficult to fathom.

Losing 3-4 days worth of feed isn't a huge problem. I'm also aware that we're grazing on other people's property. But part of running this as a business, at least for us, is that we plan our grazing. Our planning is both short term (where will we be during the 6 weeks of lambing season) and longer term (will we have enough forage to come back to next fall). If we didn't run this as a business, I guess we'd just buy hay when we ran out of grass. As it is, we'll need to use 3-4 days worth of spring grass that we'd normally have saved for the fall.

All of this brings me back around to the workshop I'll be leading in 9 days. Working outdoors with livestock seems bucolic to many - I get that. And I'm probably guilty of giving my non-ranching friends the impression that most (if not all) of the rewards I enjoy from raising sheep are entirely recreational. I guess what I hope folks take away from the workshop is the fact ranching - like any other serious business - requires attention to detail, a focus on profitability, and a great deal of hard work.