An Internship Worthwhile

#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk

Throughout my internship at, I gained experience and insight into various areas and aspects of the operation, as well as, got hands-on time with equipment and techniques that I have never used before. It was an amazing opportunity and experience and I am very grateful to the GrowinG program for, and to everyone at my host ranch.

My internship started off with farming, something I personally did not have experience with. Because of this I was very excited to finally understand what all goes into successful farming, and get time to actually run the equipment, prepare the soil and plant seed. I got time running a disc, field machine, roller packer, and finally seeding on multiple fields. I also got to learn about common farming practices, especially when it came to dealing with tricky soil such as we had, and how switching your plant species every few years can help unlock the potential of the soil.

Fencing was another big aspect of the early stages of my internship, and while it is tedious, it is incredibly important. After all, in many cases a fence is the only thing keeping your herd off the highway, or from mixing with another large herd of cattle – that would be a nightmare to sort, epecially after bulls are released into the herd. I have experience fencing so that benefited me and my host, as I was able to go out and get many miles of fence checked and fixed. For something that many people don’t enjoy doing, I don’t mind being out working fence and
enjoying the outdoors.

A few different brandings occurred during the first half of the internship, which are always a blast to help out at. We had two brandings of our own, mainly finishing up later-born calves that weren’t part of the bigger branding that took place before I arrived on the ranch. Along with our brandings, we helped out on two bigger brandings up at a ranch in Montana. That was a great privilege to come along and see the differences – not only in the country, but in the strategies and techniques used for gathering, sorting, and branding.

The first cutting of the haying season was also a very time-consuming part of the internship, being the only cut of the dry-land hay fields and the first cut of the irrigated ground, it is the biggest cut of the year by far. This meant many days of cutting, raking, baling and hauling. I got lots of time running each piece of equipment and learning each step of the process, and although it can be frustrating, it is very rewarding when all of your bales are finally stacked and you know you have provided the winter feed for your herd.

As on any operation, there was lots of time between each major stage of the summer in which you spent your time getting anything repaired that you can, making improvements, or preparing for winter or future projects. I learned a lot even in these times of busy work, and gained skills that will undoubtedly help me in the future.

Some of the major learning points for me were in the farming/haying aspect of the operation, not only in how to operate all the equipment, but also the strategy and reasoning behind each step. A concept or idea that I would challenge would pertain towards giving shots and vaccines at branding. I have learned that it is best to separate the shots by at least 4 inches to prevent “mixing”. At the ranch in Montana, they gave them all in the same place, which leads me to think that some of the effects of the vaccines they were administering were being negated by other drugs. The questions that I still have all revolve around the marketing side, such as when is it advantageous to focus on wholesale and self-marketing? And finally, I plan to use everything I learned this summer in the future, the good and the bad experiences. From the farming and haying, to running down bulls in the pasture, this internship will be extremely helpful to my future in the industry.

Submitted by: Colby Barker
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team