Hi,

Myself and the missus are thinking about moving to Canada for a year to work our way around on cattle properties. Where can we look for this kind of experience?

Also, if we decided to stay longer, are there visa's available to people working on a farm? I know there's some available in Australia.

Cheers

What are you going to do on cattle farms for a year?

In winter the cattle are driven to feed lots. Throwing hay isn't a full time job.

In spring cattle are driven to pasture and left to graze through until autumn.

If you're not a competent western rider, can't rope/rein cattle or haven't experience on a working ranch, what are you going to offer the ranch owner? It's hard, low paid work.

I've friends that own cattle ranches and you're going to need specific skills and experience to persuade them you're of any value to them.

My missus grew up on and now part owns 2 farms here in Australia. She grew up on horses and is a pro. I cant ride too good myself but have done heaps of other work on the property - fencing/cattle work etc.!

I guess I hadn't thought about the extreme seasons in relation to workload on a property over there! So what do THEY do during these times? If it's anything like here, there's ALWAYS work to be done on a farm even if not cattlework.

One ranch I know operates on c10,000 acres. The land supports one head per hundred acres. They employ 2 staff for 6 months of the year to help with calving, haying and fencing/maintenance. The other 6 months they cope on their own. Once the snow hits there's nothing to do except throw hay and keep an eye on health issues. Winter is a quiet time wrt ranch work.

Thanks for the info!

We are looking at going out in May/June next year. Perhaps we could look at something like this for the 6 months!

One of our properties is 70,000 acres which in good times can support about 2,500 breeders, the other about 13,000 acres is on greener pasture.

The Douglas Lake Ranch is the largest locally, at over 500,000 acres. It employs around 70 cowboys and supports 20,000 head. That's the sort of operation you need to look at. Family run ranches aren't likely to be interested or necessarily have accommodation or horses for you.

http://www.douglaslake.com/

I have to agree with RICH. Times are pretty hard for cattle at the moment and unless it's a big operation and you've got something special to offer then it's going to be hard finding work. You might get lucky and find some ol timer who needs a lift but paying you will be a problem.

On top of that in order to get a work permit (unless your already PR) your potential employer has to convince the govt. that there isn't a Canadian that can do your job.....and in the cattle line that's unlikely.

It took me 3 years to finally get over to a ranch here but then I work with sheep, if it had been cattle I suspect I wouldn't be here.
Sorry, don't want to sound too discouraging though so keep researching and asking questions even if it's on a holiday, you have to really want it!! Good luck

You really think she would thank you for that?

I'm not sure about getting a visa, but there are jobs available - predominantly in Quebec and Alberta.

Are you by any chance under 31/35 (dependant on the Country you are from)? If so, you could perhaps get an International Experience Canada (IEC) working holiday visa.

http://ca.indeed.com/Beef-Cattle-jobs

http://www.workingincanada.gc.ca/rep...abs_container2

This company have a few ranch jobs in Alberta: http://agemploy.com/job-postings

Try move over recruitment they offer visa for skilled diesel mechanics for machinery dealers like case and john Deere' also for truckers and farm workers good luck