CountryCore Series: The Ranch Hand (WLW)

Chapter Two

Chris climbed back into her truck after changing into fresh clothes and turned it on, before putting it in gear. She was ready to do some actual work. Distraction after distraction had come up when she'd decided to run away from that meeting earlier and now karma was kicking her butt. After she put the truck in gear and drove down the pebbled road a bit, humming to the gentle oldies music coming from her radio all the while, she looked over the pastures in search of anything that may need attention.

If she were still a novice, Chris probably wouldn't have bothered to even change her clothes since she was going to get dirty in the pig barn anyway. After learning so much in college and from early experiences when she took on the family business, however, she knew it was more than necessary. If she introduced anything foreign into the barn or if one of the swine, most likely Hairy, tried to lick the food from her clothing, they could get sick. That wasn't something she, as primarily a swine rancher, could afford.

They bred, sold and slaughtered Yorkshire and Large Black's swine, holding around six-hundred at a time on a thirty-six acre patch of pasture; numbers that she was always working to increase. She'd contracted a large barn built near the middle of her land and installed a few other things herself with the help of Dan while also making sure the swine could have time to graze and relax outdoors. Having more sow than boar, they prided themselves on the biosecurity enforced in both the pig and goat barns. It led the teams in an efficiently clean fashion and was safe for the animals. As long as they kept to the biosecurity checklists and followed certain regulations like keeping the new livestock isolated from the current livestock for thirty days after their arrival, then they'd be fine.

Chris prided herself in having not only the best environment for her livestock, but for her staff as well. That was why she'd pushed for The Barracks to be built in the first place. She wanted her staff to know that while she wasn't the best at making her feelings known verbally, she appreciated all the work they did. If they ever needed a home, they'd have one. This was still a family oriented ranch and the staff, all sixty of them...now sixty-three, were a part of that family.

In return, her attitude toward them made a stellar impression.

The staff went out of their way to help each other and everyone looked out for one another just as Chris did for them. She didn't tell them much other than what to do if they asked and needed direction. Or to tell them of some big news and give small comments on their work when she knew they could do better, but they knew she valued them. She could see it on their faces and that was enough.

After her parents passed away three years back, Chris had a very hard time letting people in. In fact, she'd only hired around one new person herself each year since the grand reopening and hadn't planned on changing that. Yet Dan, of course, had his ideas and took over in that department. In the end, she agreed that him taking over all of the new staff's hiring and training was for the best.

As Chris pulled up to the changing rooms beside the pig barn, she turned off the truck and let her head fall back against the seat's headrest. She just needed a minute. Just one more minute to level her thoughts and get back to the basics.

Why did I have to meet the newcomers today? Chris hadn't wanted to meet them until they'd settled and were excelling in one of the many positions through which they'd have the opportunity to rotate on various shifts. In all honesty, she should have known that it was a ludicrous idea to think that she wouldn't have to meet any of them until she was ready. Clearly, she would have to in order to gauge just how well they were learning to handle themselves on the ranch. She'd just hoped she would have had more time to prepare.

It also didn't help that she was thinking of moving forward with a gigantic decision that would change several lives and the possible overall vibe of the ranch. She felt submerged in all these new things like she was suddenly being sucked into the current just after the drop off at one of Galveston's many beaches and couldn't come up for air.