Livestock breeders raise animals for food, fiber, or labor. They handle everything from small family farms to large commercial operations, and must supervise the care and feeding of animals, as well as breeding, veterinary care, waste management, and more. The work is physically demanding and requires long hours.
Livestock breeders raise livestock, animals raised for fiber, food, or labor. A livestock farmer can handle anything from a small family farm to a large commercial farming operation, handling animals such as goats, chickens, horses, sheep, cattle and turkeys, among others. Some livestock keepers learn their trade through apprenticeship, usually on a family farm, while others acquire skills through training at vocational schools and colleges and on farms that accept employees interested in learning the agricultural trade.
The average rancher tends to wear a lot of hats. He or she is involved in raising livestock, making decisions about when to breed, which animals should be bred, and how breeding should progress to bring out positive traits or preserve a lineage. The farmer can also collect semen for sale on other farms or artificial insemination on a farm where the animals are not raised directly. During pregnancy and labor, animals are closely monitored for signs of distress, particularly if they are highly valuable. Livestock breeders keep meticulous records on breeding and genetics with the goal of raising healthy animals and keeping track of the animals in their care and the animals they sell.
On a day-to-day basis, a rancher supervises the care and feeding of the animals. He or she may provide basic veterinary care for injured or sick animals, follow a veterinarian’s recommendations to help specific animals recover from illness, or hire a veterinarian to deal with emerging health issues. The farmer also handles feed and supply orders, walks on fences to ensure animals are properly confined, keeps barns and rearing areas clean and organized, handles waste management, and delegates various tasks to workers.
In the case of animals raised for meat, the farmer supervises the slaughter or arranges for the animals to be sold to a slaughterhouse or feedlot. Dairy animals, such as cows, also require special care, including milking and daily milk processing. Animals used for fiber, such as sheep, must be sheared regularly and may require special treatments to maintain fiber quality, another task that falls on the livestock farmer’s shoulders. If cattle ranchers are working with animals bred for their work, they also participate in training and selling or renting them, whether they are oxen used for plowing or for recreational riding.
The cattlemen’s work is never done. They tend to wake up very early to start tasks on the farm from milking to ordering food and go to bed late after putting the animals to bed and dealing with paperwork that could not be completed during the day. . This type of work is also very physically demanding, as livestock keepers must be able to handle large and sometimes recalcitrant animals, as well as transport heavy loads of feed and manure.
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