Winter Range Livestock Herder
Employer
40924 County Road CC-40
Saguache, CO 81149
United States
Job description
Required to be available up to 24 hours per day, 7 days a week and spend the majority of workdays on the range. All job duties are
closely and directly related to the production of livestock.
Perform any combination of the following tasks to attend to livestock on the range during the winter season: administer emergency minor medical care to sick/injured pregnant animals using roping methods to gently immobilize animal without causing undue stress; assist with supplemental feeding (when weather or quality of forage precludes use of range forage); break ice over frozen water sources; detect direction from which the wind or prevailing storms are coming to keep livestock gathered and safe; detect through winter tracking methods where other rancher(s)' livestock has been to avoid overgrazing of forage; feed supplemental rations; feed, water and tend to the dogs (both guard and working dogs) and horses; guard against predators prevalent during the winter months using appropriate tracking, trapping, and hunting methods ; guard against predatory animals and from eating poisonous and/or noxious plants; herd livestock to appropriate grazing areas using winter trailing methods to avoid undue stress; intensely monitor and treat both mother and young vulnerable to the colder temperatures and sickness; lift and stack bales of hay and sacks of grain and mineral onto a feed truck or wagon; maintain and set up supply wagon in appropriate direction to provide wind break/shelter/protection for horses & dogs; make sufficient water from snow for horses/dogs at camp; move pregnant livestock at a pace sufficient to ensure they receive ample water/forage during daylight hours before bedding down at night; operate camp stove appropriately to provide/conserve heat in extreme cold/high winds; properly hobble camp horses; properly
use/store food supplies for herder/horses/dogs; repair and/or maintain fence and facilities to ensure the safety and health of animals and forage; report to rancher dehydration & other indicators of deterioration in body condition/behavioral changes indicating malnutrition; report to rancher on water/forage/weather conditions; use proper animal husbandry skill to prevent hypothermia/abortion/death.
Perform any combination of the following tasks to attend to livestock on the ranch during the winter season: administer emergency minor medical care to sick/injured pregnant animals using roping methods to gently immobilize animal without causing undue stress; assist in the maintenance of tools, equipment and handling facilities necessary to production; assist with loading and unloading livestock according to shipping schedules; break ice over frozen water sources; feed, water and tend to the dogs (both guard and working dogs) and horses; intensely monitor and treat both mother and young vulnerable to the colder temperatures and sickness; lift and stack bales of hay and sacks of grain and mineral onto a feed truck or wagon; repair and/or maintain fence and facilities to ensure the safety and health of animals and forage; use proper animal husbandry skill to prevent hypothermia/abortion/death.
Special Requirements
Required to: perform tasks capably and efficiently without close supervision, spend the majority of work days on the range, live and work singly or in small groups of workers in isolated areas for extended periods of time, to ride, handle and tend horses in a manner to assure the safety and health of the worker, co-workers, horses, dogs and livestock, to operate equipment and machinery required to perform job duties indicated in a safe and responsible manner, to maintain equipment and machinery to a standard established by the employer, work outdoors in all types of weather and may experience occasional exposure to hazards such as poisonous snakes, biting insects and extreme temperature, maintain and manage remote housing locations in a safe and responsible manner, attend animals during all hours of the day as required for their safety and well-being, work with and around farm machinery such as tractors, UTVs and ATVs for supplemental feeding purposes and movement of livestock,