Open Range Winter Herder

Job description

Around the 1st of November as we gather the sheep from the high country to prepare them to be moved to the west desert 250 miles west of the home ranch. The sheep are corralled then treated for lice with pour on then vaccinated for C and D with Tetanus. They are then loaded on 10 semi trucks and hauled to the desert. Once they unload the sheep they must be closely herded to keep them from grazing on areas where there are high concentrations of halogeten a poisonous plant if eaten before the sheep could be gradually allowed to be acclimated to it. This is a three day and night vigil. Once the sheep have acclimated, they have to be retrained to bed down by the sheep camps and staying the night without straying. The Open Range Winter Herders will haul water and place the water in fiberglass troughs to water the sheep. Each sheep needs a gallon of water per day and this amount increases to a gallon and a half when Spring weather gets warmer. The water troughs must be moved every other day as the sheep continue to more around the 88000 acre permit.

The Open Range Winter Herder is responsible to move the sheep up off the bed ground in the direction designated for the flock each day. The herder can come back to camp and rest until noon then will go back out and and ride around the end turning them back a little so they don’t go too far in one day. He can again return to camp until late afternoon when he goes out and brings them back to bed at camp.
When/If a snow or dust storm arises, the herd must be gathered and bedded or in some cases corralled to keep them from wandering off during the storm.
The herders job is to move the sheep in grazing patterns to best utilize the feed , not overgrazing some areas while missing others. If snow comes, the sheep must be handled in such a way to get the most out of it’s use.
Once the bucks are put in the herd the herder must spend more time with the sheep to keep the herd mixed so the bucks don’t always stay at the back of the herd.
Occasionally, the Open Range Winter Herder must gather the herd and pull out sick lame or old sheep to be taken back to the ranch. The herd must be counted from time to time. The herder must always watch for predators and contact ADC trapper. The Open Range Winter Herder watch out for poisonous plants. In the spring the sheep are gathered, and trucked to the home ranch.

We go out in the fall around the 15th of November and come home by the 1st of May

Worker must be able to lift and carry items weighing up to 100 pounds. Most duties are performed out-of-doors and entail exposure to extreme heat and cold; dust, rain, snow, wind; and herding hazards; poisonous snakes and predators common in range lands. General supervision will be provided by the ranch owner. The open range livestock worker will be required to be On-Call 24/7 and live and work on the range more than 50% of the time.

Special Requirements

None