Paige Drummond, daughter of pioneer woman Ree Drummond, has returned to her family’s ranch.
Lee, 55, who has five children with her husband Rudd, previously revealed that Paige was the first of the Drummond children to return to their hometown of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, to work full-time with her father as a ranch handful.
In a story that first appeared in the Pioneer Woman magazine Fall 2024 issue and has since been shared, Lee’s BlogPaige detailed her decision to quit her corporate job in Dallas and embrace the cowgirl lifestyle.
According to the magazine, Page, who grew up on the sprawling Drummond Ranch, found working in an office all day stifling.
‘The Pioneer Woman’ star Ree Drummond reveals secret to losing 55 pounds: ‘I had to start’
Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond’s daughter (right) quit her corporate job to work as a cowgirl on her family’s ranch. (Getty/Paige Drummond Instagram)
“When I was younger, I never thought I’d come back and work on a ranch. I kind of gave up on it,” Paige explained in a video on her blog. “I didn’t really like working on a ranch when I was younger, but as I got older and went to college and started working full time, I missed the ranch and I wanted to come back and give it a try.”
She continued, “My dad said, ‘You don’t have to stay here if you don’t like it, but you’ll never know if you like it until you try. You’ll never know until you try. So that’s what I’m doing now, and so far, it’s been going really well.'”
Paige is the only woman among the Drummond family ranchers, but Lee said her youngest daughter’s upbringing laid the foundation for her to take on the role.
“She’s as good as the Cowboys,” Lee said in the post. “This isn’t her first lesson. She grew up doing this.”
Ree Drummond and her husband Rudd have five children. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Pioneer Woman Magazine)
In the video, which shows Paige herding cattle and working in the pens, Lee and Ladd’s youngest daughter acknowledged that life on the farm was tough.
“This is a hands-on job,” she says. “It’s physical work, it’s tiring, you get kicked by cows, you have bruises on your legs, you definitely feel and see the physical strain of this job.”
“Thankfully, no one treats me any 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.”
Page said waking up early in the morning to start work is “the hardest part of the job.”
Paige Drummond said working on the ranch was “physical” and “exhausting.” (Paige Drummond’s Instagram)
Did you enjoy reading this? For more entertainment news click here
“This job involves waking up at 4 a.m. multiple times a day and working 12-13 hour days, so it’s pretty exhausting,” Page said.
But she said she’s “grateful” and loves being “out on the land.”
According to the blog post, a typical work day for Paige begins by waking up at 3:30 a.m. to feed the horses, then saddling her own horse and driving more than an hour to her farm in Kansas, where she cares for, vaccinates and brands calves.
Page said she wanted to make it clear that life on a ranch is not as idyllic as it is portrayed on television.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand what ranch life is really like,” she points out. “It’s glamorized on TV.”
Ree Drummond’s daughter says the work she does on the ranch is “glorified” on TV. (Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photobank via Getty Images)
“When you see people riding horses, it looks so cool,” Page added. “If you could ride horses all day every day, that’s the job you want to do.”
“But 90 percent of the time it’s just hard work – getting kicked, getting covered in filth, repairing fences, treating cows… It’s time-consuming and tiring, but it’s a rewarding job.”
Paige explained that her father made all of his children help out on the ranch from a young age.
App users click here to view the post
“My dad wanted us to work,” she said in the video, “and he worked a lot growing up. And we were homeschooled, so he would take us outside and work a lot.”
“But I’m learning new things that I didn’t do as a kid, like doing things on my own that I wasn’t responsible for when I was younger. So it’s definitely a lot different.”
Ree Drummond said Paige was living in her late grandparents’ home. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Pioneer Woman Magazine)
Paige said she was “proud” to be the first of her Drummond siblings to return to work full time on the family ranch, and believes her siblings will follow suit.
In addition to Paige, Lee and Ladd are survived by daughter Alex, 27, sons Bryce, 21, Jamar, 21, and Todd, 20.
Click here to sign up for our Entertainment Newsletter
“They’ll definitely be back,” she said of her siblings, “so I can’t wait for them to get older and graduate from college and come back here, so it’s great to be able to do this with my family.”
In a June interview with People magazine, Lee explained that Paige, who was recently engaged to boyfriend David Andersen, has returned to work on the ranch but is no longer living with her parents.
Paige Drummond is the first of the Drummond children to work full time on the ranch. (Paige Drummond’s Instagram)
“She actually lives in town in a house that used to be my parents-in-law’s house,” the Food Network star said, “so we still own that house, we didn’t sell it, and I think it’s cool that she moved in there and made it her own.”
Ladd’s mother, Nan, passed away in 2018 after a battle with cancer, and his father, Chuck, also known as Dad, passed away in 2021.
“We’re not trying to predict or think too far ahead in terms of how long she’ll stay or whether it’s just for a period of her life or if she’ll stay forever,” Lee told the outlet.
Ree Drummond said Paige “has the chops to go with the Cowboys.” (Tyler Essary/NBC/NBCU Photobank via Getty Images)
Click here to get the FOX News app
In the video, Paige explained that she isn’t sure if cattle ranching will ultimately become her full-time job.
“I definitely think I’m going to stay here,” she said. “I don’t know, I’m not sure, but so far, it’s great.”
