craigdailypress.com

It used to be being a cowboy was a full-time job.

It not always is so now. Being a migrant cowboy, also known as an H-2A worker, is a nine-months-a-year job.

H-2A is a government classification for nonimmigrant agriculture workers. Livestock workers receive nine-month visas through the program. Sheepherders can receive three-year visas.

The restriction on the time foreign livestock workers can stay in the United States is creating a hardship on some ranchers.

Kandy Kropinak comes in contact with livestock workers in the course of her job at the Colorado Department of Labor. It's her job to make sure the boarding situation of migrant workers is livable.

At a meeting in January, members of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association began discussing whether the time frame for hiring livestock workers needs to be extended. The association formed a subcommittee to begin looking into the issue.

"The industry has changed to where they need livestock workers for longer periods of time," Kropinak said.

Ranchers like to have the workers available during calving season, but they like them to be on hand when it's time to ship cattle, too, she said. But three months barely pass between the seasons, and if complications arise while the workers are traveling, they could be late to work and miss important jobs.

Moffat County Commissioner Darryl Steele has asked Derek Wagner, area director for U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, whether the senator could either pass legislation or amend regulations to extend the visas for migrant livestock workers. Steele also has spoken to U.S. Rep. John Salazar about extending the visas.

Constantly changing workers can be difficult for a rancher, Steele said. When a rancher gets good workers, he likes to hold onto them.

But under the current system, importing labor is often the luck of the draw.

"It's bad for ranchers, because you have to lose a good employee," Steele said.

The reason ranchers can get only nine-month help is because that's all they asked for when the government was creating the visa program, Kropinak said. Sheep ranchers can hire workers on three-year visas, because that's what they originally asked for, she said.

Steele also asked whether the senator could work to expand the jobs that a person classified as a livestock worker could perform. Under current regulations, livestock workers can only fix fences and work livestock, he said.

A related worker program for seasonal and temporary nonagriculture workers already is generating talk in Washington, D.C., Wagner said.

"There's a lot of discussion on (Capitol) Hill going on about this program specifically," he said.

Seasonal and temporary non-agriculture workers can receive H-2B visas.

Such workers often are imported by vacation resorts and landscapers.

But in 2004, the cap was reached for the first time. Resorts grabbed up many of the visas, leaving landscapers and other seasonal businesses short on help, Wagner said. Congress is discussing expanding the program to avoid shortfalls in seasonal industries.

Steamboat Ski Corp. employs seasonal workers on H-2B visas as cafeteria workers, lift operators and sometimes ski and snowboard instructors, Steamboat spokeswoman Heidi Thomsen said.

But the cap hasn't affected Steamboat's ability to obtain seasonal workers, Thomsen said.

The program's fiscal year runs from October to October, and Steamboat only hires seasonal workers in the winter, near the beginning of the fiscal year.

Steamboat actually employed more H-2B workers this year than in previous years, she said.

Ranchers who want an H-2A worker must request permission to bring one into the country through the Department of Labor.

Ranchers must prove that they have to bring a worker into the country because they can't find anyone else willing to work for the sum the rancher can afford to pay.

Ranchers can contract an H-2A worker through various associations. Ranchers pay for the worker's transportation to the country as well as food and board.

Rob Gebhart can be reached at 824-7031 or rgebhart@craigdailypress.com.