Parker Ranch
faces lean years

More than 20 workers and
the top manager agree to
voluntary severance packages

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

WAIMEA, Hawaii >> About one-third of the work force of the 225,000-acre Parker Ranch has accepted voluntary separation pay packages, including the ranch's top manager, David Ramos.

Also leaving is Robert "Robbie" Hind, in charge of livestock marketing and ranch resources, such as a quarry and timber operations.

Among the staff of 76, somewhere between 20 and 30 have accepted paid separation, Ramos said.

Since the voluntary packages were announced in January, some people feared it signaled the end of the ranch.

Ramos responded, "The ranch will be here for a long time."

Two plans were announced in January.

Long-term employees like Ramos, 54, with the ranch for 25 years, will receive two years of pay and other benefits.

Shorter-term employees get four months of pay and benefits.

Those accepting the packages had until last night to withdraw.

Ramos said no one factor induced him to take the package, but the prospect of more relaxation was a consideration. He said he intends to remain in the business world but has no specific plans.

The ranch said it created the packages to respond to an expected drop of $600,000 in income this year.

Trustee Carl Carlson said cattle prices run in a 10-year cycle. The industry is at the top of the cycle now, and Parker can expect income from cattle to decline in the next five years, he said. The ranch has to prepare for those lean years now, he said.

"This not a quick fix," Carlson said.

Even some of the people taking the package were puzzled by how Parker could save money while continuing to pay their salaries.

"How does an employer do that? It's like having your cake and eating it, too," said 12-year-ranch veteran Bill Whitehead, the head of ranch maintenance, receiving the two-year package.

Ramos said that the ranch, although paying salaries, will not have to pay associated costs like Social Security.

Whitehead said: "It's an incredible package. It's hard to pass up. The ranch has always been very good to its employees."

But some doubted that the change is good.

"This was the dreaded week so many in our Waimea community feared: the end of an era with Parker Ranch," said community leader Patti Cook.

State veterinarian William "Billy" Bergin worried about the animals.

Bergin spoke out in 1998 when drought killed several hundred Parker cattle. Now he is concerned that fewer ranch hands may mean less care for the 17,500 mother cows making up the core of the ranch's business.

Carlson responded, "The animal welfare and animal care is more important to us than to anybody." Cattle are the "production unit" at the core of the ranch business, he said.

Although the ranch was criticized for cattle deaths in 1998, it got no praise when the drought continued in 1999 and 2000 without losses, he said. "Hopefully, people learned from 1998," he said.