Wyo Tech Ranch Program

WyoTech was founded in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1966, with a goal of providing a top-notch, concentrated training program that prepared students for the growing demand for technicians in the automotive and diesel industry.

WyoTech has helped nearly 60,000 graduates obtain training and pursue great careers with an endless list of companies located across the globe. What has always made WyoTech different is the way the curriculum is designed and delivered. Our students attend class and shop for 8 hours and 15 minutes a day. This allows our students to complete their programs sooner and prepares them for the schedule they’ll encounter when they go on to their career. WyoTech also focuses on developing “soft skills,” like customer service, professional demeanor, appearance, and a heavy focus on attendance.

Under the leadership of rancher and businessman Jim Mathis, WyoTech has seen wild growth and success.  With a nearly 7,000% increase in enrollment over 5 years, it was time to explore a program unique to the trade industry and fitting for the WyoTech culture and geographic location.  A 12-month ranch operations training program was developed.

Jim Mathis, the President of WyoTech, has been involved in ranching since the age of 14. This led him to WyoTech in the 1970’s, where he learned the mechanical side of ranch equipment. Jim’s experiences eventually lead him to own his own cattle ranches. He spent countless years using the wisdom from the ranch in his business dealings and managing people. The professional and personal development lessons learned on a ranch is a passion Jim brings in this one-of-a-kind program alongside the day-to-day, hands-on experience required to maintain a ranch over the course of a year.

Jim wanted to build a program that provided not only the tactical elements of the physical and mental labor required to operate a ranch, but also the non-tangible wisdom only engaging with nature, livestock, and ranch-oriented challenges can provide. This is about building skills as well as building grit and wisdom that can be used in every aspect of life.

WyoTech’s hands-on ranching program has students eating, breathing, and sleeping, the ranch life. This will be an experience like none other, where students will be responsible for all aspects of the ranch. This will not be a typical agriculture program, where theory leads with very little hands-on experience. This will be hands-on, with the theory being explained as you drive to and from the ranch, after feeding, when it’s too cold to be out fixing fences, or at night as you are paying the bills for the ranch.

The training will consist of the day-to-day operation of a typical Wyoming cattle ranch across all four seasons on a Wyoming Ranch. The training and experiences can be adapted and used in other types of ranches and farms, but the ranches are in Wyoming and training adapted to the ranch(es) we are responsible for.

No experience on a ranch is required. This program will support the inexperienced beginners as well as those who bring ranch or farm knowledge to the table. Life on the ranch is never short of work and problem solving, all skill levels are welcome to apply to the program.

The program is built in six-week phases covering all four seasons and includes content from fencing, irrigation, and equipment operation to animal health and artificial insemination.

For more information about hiring participants after completion or attending this program, please visit Ranching.WyoTech.edu.

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