What Kind of Jobs?

[ploughshare]

My education is Animal Science/Chemistry(pre-vet).  My career is Health Physics. My passion is Angus.

 

[bs372280]

Deputy Sheriff by night and concrete worker on my days off!!  Its perfect love my jobs don't quite know which one is better

 

[braunvieh]

My husband works full time from home remotely for a pet food company doing IT work and computer programming. He is the only employee that has this situation where he works at home most of the time and we live 4 hours from the office! I am a full-time rancher and we don't have enough cattle to support ourselves so his day job is a must.  I also help my 72 year old dad with his cattle herd and other family farm duties! My husband and I together build websites for a little extra income and my husband is a college volleyball official (for his splurge fund)!  I got a degree in Agbusiness and didn't do anything with my degree for 10 years until we moved back and got more serious about our cattle. But had I not went out and "explored" other jobs and careers I would not have had the appreciation for where we are now. I definitely was one of those that had to leave to appreciate and love what I had growing up!

Neat post!

 

[Silver]

have a 3,000 acre cattle/crops operation in Southern Idaho. We have about 250 pair of black angus. We feed about half of our calves out and sell the other half right after weaning. We farm about 1,800 acres to pay the bills. Its all about corn, sugar beets, beans, wheat, barley, alfalfa. We may have famous potatoes, but they don't fit our bill.

 

[Aussie]

Worked for 20 odd years buying cattle for a packer and feedlot. Last 5 years for a change vegetable field officer for McCain. Now thanks to Globalization all McCain veggies over here will come from China so I stay home with my cows and kids. Some days good some not.

 

[Davis Shorthorns]

I have a BS in animal science and I work as a Agriculture tech at Kansas State University.  Basically I am a farmer from 8-5 with a steady paycheck.  It isn't the best job, but I get to spend time with my cattle and the benifits are really good. 

 

[FutureBreeder2013]

Im actually looking at Kansas State as an option.

 

[linnettejane]

high school math teacher, grad student (1 more year!) in principalship, mom, wife, farm hand

 

[irh]

My husband is a heavy equipment operator for 25 years, I stay home and work with the cattle, goingto be working with 7 calfs and two heifers getting ready for our fair and the Western Ohio Club Calf sale.  Our son helps in the evenings, gives me a break.  My husband works to run the farm, darn shame used to be able to live off the farm back in the days of my mom and dad, when they farmed.

 

[oakview]

I went to college for three years after high school, then returned to the home farm to raise Shorthorns, hogs, and typical Iowa crops.  The early 80's put an end to that and I returned to college and got my Ag Ed degree.  I worked as a sports editor and ran a printing press to help pay the bills during that time.  Since then, I have worked as a high school ag teacher/FFA advisor, Community College program coordinator, and have been in banking for the past 18 years.  I have enjoyed everything I have done and have met some wonderful people along the way.  The one constant for 47 years has been Shorthorns.  The herd has been greatly reduced twice, once in the 80's out of necessity and the other time in 2003 when we purchased the home place from my parents.  I've had fun rebuilding both times and still have descendants of the first cow I 'bought' in 1963.  Life happens and I've had to cut back to 30 cows, but they remain my therapy.  Keep your eyes and options open along the way and enjoy. 

 

[Will]

I have a degree in Animal Science.  I hate to say it but the good animal science jobs are few and far between.  I own two insurance agencies and a few rental properties. My wife teaches high school family consumer science. She is very passionate about it and finds it very rewarding.  Our family run a set of registered shorthorns about 60 head.  We also do some hay.  With land prices it would be impossible for us to start farming from scratch. 

 

[Sammy]

When deciding a major for college I recommend that you think of it as an investment in time and money toward making a secure income so that you can do the things that you like to do and be where you want to live - too many people that I see get what is essentially a worthless degree in something that they like, or is easy,  and then are in debt with school loans, or have squandered the parents money, and then can't find a job making squat - counselors and professors at these colleges will talk up their programs/degrees as they need to "sell it" so that they will have plenty of students to secure their own jobs - college might not be for everyone either as there are many, many very successful people with vocational or technical training with college graduates working for them - there are lots of college grads with degrees in teaching, psychology, sociology, and yes animal science working at menial jobs for little more than minimum wage - learn a skill or a profession that is always in demand and is needed everywhere -

 

[chambero]

Do a search on here for past posts on college degrees.  In my opinion (and this comes from someone that loves cattle), Animal Science degrees are next to useless as far as helping you get a job UNLESS
1.  You want to be a vet
2.  You come from a family with an existing agricultural business or large assets (a big ranch)
3.  You know exactly what you want to do with it and who you are going to work for.

It is not a good one for the "get a degree and then find a job" approach.

You probably already know most of what you would learn.

I had a college professor get a hold of me when I was a freshmen and gave me this very advice.  I took it and never looked back and now am a partner (one of 37 owners) of one of the oldest engineering firms in Texas thanks to that professor, 4-H in general, and an an "ag scholarship" from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  I work with the environmental aspects of infrastructure projects such as dams, large water pipelines, transporation systems, and other things people use every day.  Like others - it helps the rest of my family stay in the cattle business.

 

[marsh]

I work as a sales rep for an Environmental, Health & Safety consulting firm.  I am also the Director of thier Loss Prevention branch which deals in reducing accidents and injuries in manufacturing.  The firm deals mainly in manufacturing dealing with EPA and OSHA and we are heavily involved in auto manufacturing.  My schedule is pretty flexible most of the time and I tend to schedule heavy most of the year so I can have some flexibility during calving, breeding, and showing calves to people.  My wife is a registered dietician and works 2 days a week and spends the rest of the week with the children.  We make enough money to live pretty well and support my addiction of trying to raise and sale some very nice show animals every year.

 

[oakie]

Do a search on here for past posts on college degrees.  In my opinion (and this comes from someone that loves cattle), Animal Science degrees are next to useless as far as helping you get a job UNLESS
1.  You want to be a vet
2.  You come from a family with an existing agricultural business or large assets (a big ranch)
3.  You know exactly what you want to do with it and who you are going to work for.

It is not a good one for the "get a degree and then find a job" approach.

You probably already know most of what you would learn.

I had a college professor get a hold of me when I was a freshmen and gave me this very advice.  I took it and never looked back and now am a partner (one of 37 owners) of one of the oldest engineering firms in Texas thanks to that professor, 4-H in general, and an an "ag scholarship" from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  I work with the environmental aspects of infrastructure projects such as dams, large water pipelines, transporation systems, and other things people use every day.  Like others - it helps the rest of my family stay in the cattle business.

  Wish I had run into you 7 years ago

 

[gatorbait]

I remember my first day at UF in Intro to Animal Science 200+ people. The professor asked who was going to vet school 150 people raised there hand... He then crushed us by laughing and telling us not even half would get in. It was true less then half my friends got in. hahahaha

 

[chambero]

You don't have to be an einstein to get in to vet school, you can't be self destructive.  Show up to class, work at it and let the professors know you care, do the internships and you can make it.  Almost all of those half that didn't make it probably never took care of the showing up to class regularly for four years part.  You have to want it to get it - just like anything else worth having in life.

 

[LostFarmer]

My grandmother (school teacher and farm wife) asked me when I was about 6 what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I told her a farmer.  She lit into me like stink on a cowpie.  I was told that I would never be allowed home to the farm until I had a means to support a family outside of the farm.  She told me later that you farm because it is a passion and you can't do that if you are always just hanging on to make a living.  At 6000 feet elevation and snow possible 10 months of the year it would be tough to make it on only the farm.  I am a structural engineer designing buildings, bridges and numerous other things.  We bought grandma's house from the estate and have remodeled to make it function with 4 kids.  The farm is my parents (dad a tax accountant, and mom a teacher) and my kids and I are the labor to make it happen.  We farm 160 acres of irrigated hay and pasture ground and another 210 of dry land small grains, and run 45 mother cows and 20 to 30 dairy heifers that we feed out.  In this area farming and ranching is not much of a living but one heck of a way of life.  LF

 

[ZNT]

Well, I had to chime in on this one.  I have a BS in Animal Science from the University of Nebraska, and even though it has not given me that "EDGE" in the world outside of Agriculture, I still don't regret it since it did give me the knowledge that I use every day in the area that I love.  If you are looking for a degree that can help you in both agriculture and the non-agriculture sector, I would look at Ag Business.  The only difference between Ag Business and regular Business majors are the examples that are used in the classes.  Just like my Ag Physics class used center pivots as an example instead of a merry-go-round.

That said, my other job is a train crew planner for a major railroad. My territory includes the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota.  Several other college majors could have held more clout when I was interviewing with the railroad, but really when it came down to it, it was a good GPA, my background knowledge in managing a farm and ranch, and a great score on their interview tests that got me the job.  Whatever you do in college, do it well!  And be involved!  Just going to class won't cut it.

Of course, my real love is cattle, so our family raises mostly Maine Anjou and Chi genetics.  Our cattle is something our family does together, including a lot of the custom work we do.  My wife does not have an outside job, but stays very busy keeping the family going, homeschooling our 7 year old daughter, helps out with the cattle chores, records, and website, along with a million other things.  Our latest endeavour is a marketing/management agreement with an influential breeding in the Maine Anjou breed.  Will give more updates on that later this summer.