SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo has created a series of classes designed to provide hands-on experience to anyone interested in working on a ranch or around livestock. The college offers five classes that give students real world experience on existing ranches and facilities. Emphasis is placed on the use of regenerative, holistic and sustainable practices to address practical, environmental, cultural and ecological challenges.
The classes were created in response to a request from local ranchers, says Shelly Ingram, Cuesta’s Associate Director of Instruction-Ranch Education.
“They had people who wanted to work for them but had no previous exposure to ranching or livestock,” she says. “These classes are an opportunity to get hands-on experience handling animals and learning some of the skills required on a daily basis around a ranch.”
Classes include:
Students completing four of the five classes obtain a certificate in Essential Ranching Skills.
All classes, offered at no charge to the student as non-credit Vocational Education classes, are a mixture of hybrid online and in-person and completely in-person instruction. The in-person portion of the class takes place on Saturday mornings at local ranches or on a 75-acre property owned by the college that is directly adjacent to the Cuesta San Luis Obispo campus.
“We wanted to give students the opportunity to see how things are done at a variety of facilities so that they fully understand why they are doing things and are exposed to different ways of handling similar situations,” says Ingram. “We have been extremely fortunate to have local grazers, ranchers and producers as well as the staff at Cal Poly offer their time and open their facilities to our students.”
Students get the opportunity to work with horses, cattle, sheep and goats as well as receive instruction in interpreting land-use regulations and creating grazing plans over the course of each six- to eight-week class. The 75-acre property owned by the college has also served as a good example of how the use of grazing animals can promote a more sustainable ecosystem and help to mitigate fire danger. It has allowed Cuesta to be part of a nationwide study gathering scientific data related to soil health and grazing conducted by the Ecdysis Foundation. (Info: https://www.ecdysis.bio/ )
“We have been able to have students work directly with a local grazing contractor, giving them a chance to learn about grazing plans, animal handling, construction and effective use of temporary fencing, and what grazing can do to change and improve soil health,” adds Ingram.
Cuesta also offers offer blacksmithing classes through the Community Programs Division and is always expanding the ranch-related classes through this area of the college.
Cuesta already has a well-established series of Agriculture classes including Ag business, Ag economics, farm machinery and mechanics and a complete Plant/Soil Science facility at the North County Campus in Paso Robles. The school recently expanded the for-credit offerings related to Agriculture by adding Animal Science classes to the schedule online and in-person at the San Luis Obispo Campus with a goal of establishing an AA transfer degree in Animal Science in the near future.
In addition the college has continued its commitment to the existing Rodeo team that had been led for many years by volunteers, Clint and Connie Pearce, when it hired an Associate Director – Rodeo & Ranch Operations in 2025.
MORE ONLINE: https://bit.ly/604cuestaag
RANCH ED CLASSES
Shelly Ingram, Associate Director of Instruction, Ranch Education
Direct: (628) 888-4012
COLLEGE AG PROGRAM
Amy Stapp, Division Chair, Agriculture
Agriculture Business & Business Faculty, Cuesta College
805-704-4728
Cuesta Ag Video: https://bit.ly/cuestavideo
CUESTA COLLEGE RODEO
Tyree Cochrane, Associate Director, Rodeo & Ranch Operations
Office: (805) 592-9684 | Cell: (805) 503-9935
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