What is your name and trade?

Karin Lindquist, Farming

Describe job requirements and tools you are required to have:

Some experience with mechanics with tractors and other machinery.
Ability to drive large machinery i.e. tractor and large trucks.
Cattle handling experience as well as knowledge of feedstuffs, basic animal health and management.
Record keeping, financial and lots of management.

What kind of experience do you have (training, on the job, military)? How much would recommend others have?

Grew up on a farm since I was born, so I have worked on the farm since I was old enough to hold a cattle prod and drive the tractor, which is 20+ years experience.
I recommend that others have a year or so of farming under their belt before they decide to go into the trade.

What made you decide to enter your particular field of work?

Family influence, primarily by father and grandfather.

What kind of education is required or would you suggest?

At the least, grade 12. However, college institutions that have agricultural certificate programs are THE highest level of education one should have if they are to go into farming.

How long did your trade education take to accomplish? Is continuing education required?

You are always learning when doing farming, no matter how long a certificate program lasts.

Are there special skills one needs to enter your field of work?

Yes…if working with livestock, one should have a mentor who has 30+ years of experience in the area of expertise they are interested in. A novice can’t expect to know how to work cattle just by getting in the pen with them.

Briefly describe your typical day on the job – hours worked, challenges, etc.

-A loaded question…hours worked depends on the season. Fall (harvest time) you can work a good 18 hours in one day. In calving season, sometimes longer. On slow days, as in the winter time, a “working” day is only 3 or 4 hours long, or 2 at the least if all you are doing is feeding cattle in a winter storm.
-Challenges? Mostly the weather. Others include mechanical breakdown, a sick animal that needs to be separated and treated, cow trouble calving, dangerous livestock that put you over the fence, etc.
-No day on the farm is the same. Every day is different.

What was the best advice you received about your job and trade?

Murphy’s Law will always preside on the farm or ranch: Things that can happen will happen, be they bad or good.
90% of the work is hard, difficult work; and only 10% is satisfaction of a job well done before going onto the next problem on your endless list.

What advice would you give to someone interested in entering your trade?

Start small. Don’t expect to get the best cows and the best tractor or the best grass when you start up. We always start at a low spot, then work our way up. It’s tough slogging, but with the right motivation and your absolute love for farming, you will succeed.
Farming, especially raising cattle, gets you little profits, if any. You have to LOVE what you are doing to be crazy enough to do it and do well at it.

What is the best thing about your job or what do you like the most?

No day is the same on the farm. Variation is always great, especially when there’s the weather to make things interesting.
Checking cattle…going out to the pasture and having them come up to greet you or to see what kind of treat you brought them this time!