The daughter of pioneer Ree Drummond gave up her corporate job to become a cowgirl on the family ranch

Paige Drummond, daughter of pioneer Ree Drummond, has returned to her roots on her family ranch.

Ree, 55, who has five children with her husband Ladd, previously revealed that Paige was the first of the Drummond children to return to her hometown of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where she worked full-time as a cattle rancher alongside her father.

In a story first published in the Fall 2024 issue of The Pioneer Woman Magazine and later shared on Ree's blog, Paige explained her decision to quit her corporate job in Dallas and embrace the cowgirl lifestyle.

According to the magazine, Paige found working in an office all day to be too stuffy after growing up on the sprawling Drummond Ranch.

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“When I was younger, I never thought I would ever work here on the ranch again. I had already written it off,” Paige explained in a video in the blog post. “When I was younger, I didn't enjoy it as much, but as I got older, went to college and then started working full time, I realized how much I missed it and that I just wanted to come back here and give it a try.”

She continued, “My dad was like, you know, you don't have to stay here forever if you don't want to, but you'll never know if you like it if you don't like it. Just try it. So that's kind of what I'm doing right now. And so far, it's been great.”

Although Paige is the only woman among Drummond's ranchers, Ree said raising her youngest daughter laid the foundation for her role.

“She can really keep up with the cowboys,” Ree said in the post. “This isn't the first time she's learned it. She's grown up with it.”

Ree Drummond and her husband Ladd have five children together. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Pioneer Woman Magazine)

In the video, which shows Paige rounding up cattle and working in the pens, Ree and Ladd's youngest daughter admitted that life on the ranch is challenging.

“It's hands-on work,” she said. “It's physically demanding. It's tiring. You get kicked by cattle. I have bruises all over my legs. It's definitely something where you feel and see the physical strain.”

“Luckily, no one treats me differently than anyone else,” Paige continued. “They don't expect me to take it easy, so I have to work just as hard as everyone else.”

Paige said getting up early to start her workday was the “hardest part of the job.”

Paige Drummond said working on a ranch is “physical” and “strenuous.” (Instagram by Paige Drummond)

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“This job involves doing that several times a day at 4 a.m. and then working 12 to 13 hours a day. It can be pretty exhausting,” Paige said.

However, she said she was “grateful” and loved being “out in the country.”

According to the blog post, a typical workday for Paige begins with her waking up at 3:30 a.m. to feed the horses before saddling her own horse and driving over an hour to her work land in Kansas, where she cares for, vaccinates and brands calves.

Paige said she wanted to make it clear that life on the ranch is not as idyllic as it is portrayed on television.

“I don't think many people understand what it's really like,” she noted. “Ranch life is glamorized on television.”

Ree Drummond's daughter said the type of work she does on the ranch is “glamorized” on television. (Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

“You see people riding and it looks wonderful,” Paige added. “If you could ride all day, every day, everyone would want that job.”

“But 90% of the time it's just hard, hard work. You get kicked, you get manure on, you fix fences, you handle livestock… it's a time-consuming, tiring – but rewarding – job.”

Paige explained that her father had required all of his children to help on the ranch since they were children.

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“He definitely wanted us to work,” she said in the video. “When we were kids, we worked quite a bit. We were also homeschooled, so we had a lot more opportunities to go out and work with him.”

“But I'm learning new things that I didn't do as a kid, like taking care of things myself that I wasn't responsible for when I was younger. So it's definitely very different.”

Ree Drummond said Paige lives in her late grandparents' house. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Pioneer Woman Magazine)

Although Paige said she was “proud” to be the first of the Drummond siblings to return to work full-time on the family ranch, she believed her brothers would follow her example.

In addition to Paige, Ree and Ladd have 27-year-old daughter Alex and sons Bryce, 21, Jamar, 21, and Todd, 20.

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“They're definitely coming back,” she said of her brothers. “I'm looking forward to when they get older, finish college and come back here. It's just cool to be able to do this with family.”

In an interview with People magazine in June, Ree explained that Paige, who recently got engaged to boyfriend David Andersen, had returned to the ranch but was not living with her parents.

Paige Drummond is the first of the Drummond children to work full-time on the ranch. (Instagram by Paige Drummond)

“She actually lives in town, in the house that was my in-laws' house,” the Food Network star said. “So it's kind of nice that we still have the house, didn't sell it, and now she's moved in and made it her own.”

Ladd's mother Nan died in 2018 after a battle with cancer and his father Chuck, also known as Pa-Pa, passed away in 2021.

“How long she's going to stay or whether it's just going to be a season of her life or forever, we don't really try to predict or think too far ahead about that,” Ree told the outlet.

Ree Drummond said Paige could “hold his own against the Cowboys.” (Tyler Essary/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

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In the video, Paige explained that she wasn't sure if ranching would ultimately become her permanent occupation.

“I could definitely see myself staying here,” she said. “I don't know, I'm not sure, but right now it's great.”