Current Internship Status

✔ Position Open

Paid grazing internship available (and possible college credit) on regenerative ranch in Northern Idaho.

About the Ranch:

Castle Rock Ranch is a grass-based operation that balances multiple hospitality businesses with our beef and cattle operation. We graze irrigated and dryland acreage East of Coeur D’Alene Idaho in the mountains that straddle Idaho/Montana. Our main base of operations is on the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River, one of the most spectacular river valleys in the Inland Northwest. If you enjoy swimming, fly fishing, hiking, backcountry exploring, or riding horses, this is a hard place to beat. We’re within striking distance of some of the best wilderness in Idaho, Montana, and Eastern Washington. We have a small cow/calf herd (25 pairs) that we keep year round where we are developing low input genetics, and run stockers (between 50 and 150 depending on the year) from the beginning of May until October. We use management intensive grazing (or adaptive grazing, or whatever you want to call it) with virtual collars ( https://www.halterhq.com ) in addition to temporary poly wire reels and single wire high tensile fencing. We direct market about 50 grass-finished beeves locally every year by the quarter/half/whole and market stockers depending on opportunities. We also host weddings, guided horse back trail rides, and run a summer camp for girls. We are a first generation agricultural operation, so we have a lot of knowledge to offer about entrepreneurship, and starting businesses from the ground up. We believe in being part cutting edge, but we also love tradition. 

The job:

We are looking for people to help with cattle, horses, ranch management, and hospitality. The work will be varied, and will include all of the above to some degree no matter what position you are in, but we are looking for someone to be responsible for irrigation and cattle, and a separate person to manage our horse herd but with lots of overlap between all the positions.

We can sculpt a position based on your interests and skills, but the following list is a variety of roles you may participate in. The work is extremely varied day to day: working with the cattle (moving cattle every day, checking water lines, mineral tubs), helping with the irrigation (atv dragged pod lines and a wheel line), leading or helping with trail rides (usually 1 - 4 times a week), leading activities at summer camp, working with/helping to manage a string of horses. Again, this list takes 5 - 7 people to do, but we like to have a 'lead' in each category. 

Room and board are included, plus $400/week. The food is awesome, the work is fun, most people have the time of their lives, but we’re not going to sugar coat - it can be hard too.  The people who thrive here tend to be energetic, hard working people that smile no matter what is going on and are open to new ideas. We don’t care about gender, sexuality, size or experience, you just need to be a willing worker with a positive attitude, able to adapt as the situations call for it. 

About Us:

Albert and Jordan have three energetic, feral kids who believe shoes are optional and mud is a personality trait. We are passionate about horses - we have a small herd of 10 - 12 head of homebreds and mustangs, but experience riding is not necessary; we do a lot of walking and utilize atv’s as well as horses. We grow most all of our own food, we have a huge garden and raspberry and blueberry patch, and are good cooks. We believe in working hard, eating well, and building something meaningful for the long haul. Life here is rarely boring - we’re a little bit ranchy, a little bit coastal, a little bit hippie, a big permaculture and we believe in lengthy conversations that are never boring. 

What you can expect by the time you leave: 

You will learn a lot about managing cattle, livestock handling, managing pasture, improving productivity, real-time decision making, and inter-personal skills.  You will eat (and maybe cook) really good food, have a lot of fun, and be very tired most days. You will be tired of Albert talking about ecology and cows. You will grow in ways you didn’t know you needed to. You may just have the most memorable summer of your life. 

Thanks!