Range Winter Sheepherder
Cunningham Sheep Company
📍 Echo, OR · Umatilla County
- ✔ Housing provided
- ✔ Daily transportation
How to apply
Contact the employer directly. Mention the job title and the case number. Case number: JO-A-300-26201-110616
- 📞 Phone: +1 (541) 240-1145
- ✉️ Email: sheepresume@gmail.com
Employer instructions
Open Job Order, please contact Local State Employment office. The employment office will refer each applicant to Cunningham Sheep Company. Cunningham Sheep Company will conduct a full telephone interview with the applicant. The office hours are Monday - Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Pacific time 541-240-1145. All employers must continue to be open to any qualified U.S worker regardless of race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, handicap, or citizenship. No strike requirements - The worksite does not currently have workers on strike or being locked out in the course of a labor dispute. Western Range Association and its rancher members maintain a strong commitment to providing a safe, efficient, and productive work environment. An employee's involvement with alcohol and drugs could be extremely dangerous to all employees and others, and disruptive to the workplace. Use, manufacture, distribution or possession of an illegal drug, or misuse of a prescription drug is cause for termination. Any person found to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs while working will be terminated. At the employers expense, all applicants may be required to complete pre-employment alcohol and drug testing. Failure to consent to requested testing, will result in disqualification of the applicant.
✉️ Application email template in English
Replace what is in brackets [ ] with your details. If the employer asked for another way to apply, follow their instructions.
Subject: Application for Range Winter Sheepherder (H-2A) - Case JO-A-300-26201-110616
Job duties
Original text, as filed with the Department of Labor.
Must have 3 months acceptable experience with 800-1000 head flocks and/or one acceptable reference. Herder will be required to maintain the herd so that the animals disperse in large open areas. Herder attends sheep flock grazing on range or pasture and will round up strays using trained dogs. Herder beds down flock near evening campsite. Herder guards flock from predatory animals and from eating poisonous plants. Herder will be required to examine animals for signs of illness and administer medications, insecticides, vaccines and drench sheep according to medication instructions. Herders may perform duties including herding, trailing, sorting and loading sheep onto trucks for transport to new range or market. The herder must be able to identify approaching storm periods and make precautions to prevent the herd from drifting against a fence line where they pile up and get drifted over with snow and freeze to death. The herder must be experienced in handling extreme winter conditions on the range to prevent death in sheep and dogs. Due to animals exerting more energy during the winter months, especially in extreme winter weather, the herder will need to monitor the nutritional needs of all animals throughout the winter. Herders must ensure that animals have access to unfrozen water and must distribute emergency supplemental feed, as needed. Herders will assist in lambing, docking, castrating and shearing. The following lambing duties will be required: Move pregnant ewes to lambing grounds; identify signs of ewes going into labor and potential problems during the labor process; know how and when to assist during difficult births; be able to properly constrain ewes for difficult births; be able to graft orphan lambs to mothers. Herders must have the ability to safely catch lambs with a hook. Herders will assist in branding, castrating, vaccinating, tagging and worming. Herders must also be able to identify herd health issues, including but not limited to malnutrition of ewes and lambs, prolapse and mastitis. Herders will provide water to animals, which may require minor maintenance of water troughs and water lines. Herders will haul water in a truck, as needed, to supplement animal water needs. Herders will feed hay, pellets and rations during lambing. Herders may be required to work around and with tractors during feeding on the lambing grounds. Herders may perform general repairs on fence, livestock facilities and general ranch maintenance that is closely and directly related to the herding and/or the production of livestock. After lambing, herders will disperse livestock onto the range to reduce overcrowding and increase the success of mother and lamb bonding. Herders will provide supplemental feed for the ewes and lambs, if the range has insufficient forage. Herders must continually protect vulnerable livestock (ewes in labor & lambs) from predators. Herders will move ewes and lambs to summer range land. Some work/tasks may occur off the range, but more than 51% of work will be performed on the range. Western Range Association and its member ranches facilitate practices of good animal husbandry. Herders that are found abusing, neglecting or abandoning livestock entrusted to their care may be terminated for cause. If the negligent/abusive actions of an employee result in the loss/death of livestock or cause harm to another person, the herder may be held accountable for these actions. The herder will live in the employer provided range housing. The herder may also stay in fixed housing facilities during the lambing period. Said housing will be clean and in good repair at the time it is provided to the herder. The herder is responsible to maintain the housing unit in a reasonable level of cleanliness, in order to avoid flies, mice and other vermin. The herder is responsible to alert the employer of damage to the housing unit within a reasonable amount of time. Hours worked footnote: On call 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Requirements
| Education | None required |
|---|---|
| Experience | 3 months |
| Other requirements | Lifting up to 50 lb Drug test |
Benefits and conditions
| Paid | Other |
|---|---|
| Pay details | Employer shall provide housing and board in accordance with the rules and regulations of the federal government of the United States of |
| Housing type | Employer-provided (including mobile or range) (Echo, Or) |
| Housing | Six mobile range units. The employer will provide sufficient housing that meets the applicable standards to those that are not able to return to their residence within the same day. |
| Meals | Housing contains free and convenient cooking facilities and employer will provide three prepared meals a day or adequate food, free of charge, based on the requisition by worker, for workers to prepare their own meals while in camp or on the range. Employer may at times provide prepared meals for workers consumption. Employer will provide worker a minimum of 4.5 gallons of potable water per day per worker for drinking and cooking purposes. Additional clean water will be provided to meet the workers laundry and bathing needs |
| Daily transportation | Workers are on the range 51% or more of the time, therefore daily transportation is not needed. For the period of time the worker is off the range, transportation is provided by the employer. |
| Travel to the job | Transportation from point of recruitment to worksite and from the worksite back to the point of recruitment will be arranged and provided by Employer. Employer will reimburse worker for subsistence costs during travel to worksite no later than the end of the first pay period upon presentation of receipts and from the worksite at the end of the job based on rates established in the applicable regulations. |
| Pay deductions | Federal and State Income Tax withholding's may be deducted from wages. The employer will deduct a portion of Workers Benefit Fund Assessment from worker pay as specified in Oregon law. The employer will deduct a portion of the Transit Tax from worker pay as specified in Oregon law. The employer will deduct a portion of the paid family medical leave as specified in Oregon law. |
| Case number | JO-A-300-26201-110616 |
|---|---|
| Official occupation | Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals (45-2093.00) |
| Employer's agent or attorney | WESTERN RANGE ASSOCIATION |
| Posted | Jul 24, 2026 |