Lloyd Thompson kept busy for a few years building a new house, but then boredom set in, prompting him to find another job
Lloyd Thompson sold the ranch in 2011, but didn’t retire. Instead, the southern Saskatchewan rancher spent a couple years building a house along the Souris River and then decided he needed something more.
“I woke up one day and decided I needed to do something. When you have been busy and active all your life you need something to do. I am too lazy to exercise. The only way to keep myself from being bored was to go back to work and have somewhere where I had to be at 7 o’clock.”
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A few years earlier, Thompson had bought shares in a service company in the energy business. Like all new employees he started in the field driving trucks, learned how to operate a vacuum truck, hauled gravel and sand and tried to understand how the oil patch worked.
“I knew about pipeline right-of-ways because I had negotiated with pipeline companies all my life. I knew what the blue stakes meant and the red stakes meant,” said Thompson.
Just like on his Carnduff, Sask., ranch, jobs needed to get done in his new job. On his ranch, the cattle needed to be fed every day and the equipment used to feed them needed to be in shape. In the oilpatch, trucks need to be ready to go to regular jobs and at other times there are last minute crises that need to be looked after.
“There are always trucks that have to go to work and be in shape to go to work.”
While he rarely drives trucks anymore, Thompson, 73, spends his time looking after the shop.
“Most of the time I look after the guys in the shop and keep trucks running.”
It was a combination of factors that led Thompson and his wife, Jean, to sell their farm. While fighting a grassfire one day, Thompson fell into a badger hole and was stuck for hours until someone found him. He realized a change was needed.
“I decided if I was going to enjoy my old age, I better retire. So, we ended up selling the ranch and we built a new house.”
Earlier, two of his four children died in accidents and he had a bitter ownership dispute with a brother he ranched with. Thompson ended up buying the ranch and operated it for the next 10 years with his wife.
“We had a good time. Things were good. We went through BSE and stayed alive. We sold the ranch in 2011. Bought some land and built a new house. When the house was built I woke up one day and said I have nothing to do.
“The moral of the story is ranchers are a pretty tough breed of people and they will survive. They will do what it takes to get it done.”
Thompson said one of the keys to a successful retirement is to embrace new technology, both on and off the farm.
“If you are willing to take on that new technology when you sell the farm there is always someone looking for you to help them with seeding and harvest if you can handle the new technology,” he said.
“It depends on how old or young you want to be. A lot of the physical work is gone. The mental and long hours are still there in both the oilpatch and the farming, but can you handle the new technology?”
