What do you do on your ranch to support the youth of the team?
Sometimes, it’s harder to do the job when kids are involved. This makes it easy to tell them to go home or leave them with someone else while you go get the work done. I certainly know there are times when this is necessary. However, if we want agriculture to be sustainable, we need to involve the next generations of ranchers. We need to show them the ropes. We need to show them how to do things that keep the ranch running. We need to explain why we do the things we do. And most importantly, we need to treat them with respect while we are doing all this. If they always feel like a nuisance when they are tagging along, they will learn to resent ranching. If they always feel like Mom/Dad/Grandma/Grandpa is crabby when they are ranching, they will think ranching is a real drag.
These kiddos need to know that ranching is the career we chose because we love it. We owe it to the next generation to teach them the realities of ranching, while also romancing them about the lifestyle.
So let me know in the comments what your Youth Education Program looks like. What do you do to teach and involve the kiddos on your team?
Comments