The best way to hire a ranch manager

Managing a large piece of land is no easy task. Hiring the right ranch manager isn’t either. But landowners can make the hiring process a smooth one by considering several important questions before hiring a ranch manager. The pros who help landowners connect with the right managers say that owners need to first determine the purpose of their properties.

By: Dan Rafter

Does the land need to generate income from livestock or crops? Does it need to bring in tourists? Is it a miniature resort for friends and family members? Or is it simply a rural retreat for its owner, a place to escape from the “real” world?

Owners who clearly identify their land’s purpose are in the best position to hire the appropriate ranch manager for their acres, say those who specialize in land staffing.

Ryan Esch, ranch placement counselor with Heartland Caregivers – a domestic-placement agency near Missoula, Mont., that helps landowners hire ranch managers and ranch hands – said that ranches can fall into many categories. Some are working ranches, others are commercial recreational ranches and still others are rural properties whose owners use them as private retreats. Each type of ranch requires different talents from their managers, Esch said.

Working ranches require managers to have extensive experience with the property’s cash crop, whether livestock, grain or a different agricultural product. Owners of recreational ranches, though, have different needs. They are not looking to turn a profit from their properties, but do need ranch managers with strong hospitality skills. Their managers must be able to match the right horse with the right rider, focus on property upkeep and posses the basic handyman skills to repair fences and keep the ranch inviting.

“People realize more now that it is important to hire a high-level ranch manager,” Esch said. “The ranch hand in general is slowly becoming more appreciated. Out-of-state owners need to keep a close connection with their ranch managers to understand how the property is operating on a day-to-day basis. So they understand how important a talented and professional ranch manager is. Owners in state see for themselves everything that a ranch hand or manager does for them, their family members and their guests. So they learn pretty quickly to appreciate them, too.”

Gene Kilgore, owner of Ranchweb.com and the author of several books on ranch living, said that landowners should be interviewing managers long before they purchase a plot. Some pieces of land come with their own managers already. In these cases, it’s important for the new buyers to talk often with the existing manager. The new buyers may find that they want to retain the manager who’s already onsite. And even if they don’t, they can learn much from the manager about any peculiarities and nuances of the property.

“Once you’ve bought a property, you are now the steward of it,” Kilgore said. “The big thing is taking care of it. It’s a heck of a lot easier to care for something when you know a little bit about it. That’s a lot better than buying it and having to learn everything from scratch.”

Once it is time to hire a ranch manager, landowners should again consider the needs of their ranches. Many owners are interested in rejuvenating their land, re-introducing native plants, shoring up streambeds or building onsite fisheries. Managers on such sites have to be familiar with these more holistic aspects of ranching.

Ranch managers today also may have to deal with representatives from the various governmental bodies that are interconnected with land management, Kilgore said. Landowners need to consider a ranch manager’s tolerance for bureaucracy and red tape in such instances.

But whatever landowners expect from their ranch managers, experts say, they should always submit potential new hires to full-screening background checks.

“It’s the same as in any hiring you might do in any business,” Esch said. “You want to have a good idea that the people you hire are who they say they are.”

The good news is that it’s easy to find potential ranch managers. Esch recommends that landowners turn to the Internet. There are several sites, including both Kilgore’s www.ranchweb.com and www.duderanchjobs.com and Heartland Caregivers, www.heartlandcaregivers.com, that will help landowners find qualified ranch managers and hands.

Both Kilgore and Esch agree that landowners who skimp on the hiring process will eventually give themselves headaches.

“In my experience, there have been a number of very successful and very rich individuals who get into the ranching business and have struggled because of the challenges of either finding the right ranch manager or keeping the right ranch manager,” Kilgore said. “It can be a huge burden. It can be monumental.”

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